Greg Maddux Quotes

Baseball Almanac is pleased to present an unprecedented collection of baseball related quotations spoken by Greg Maddux and about Greg Maddux.

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"I was talking to Todd Helton after we both were 0-for-2," (Dante) Bichette said. "Todd goes, 'Man, he's just schooling me.' And I go, 'Yeah, Todd. It's kind of fun to watch. It's too bad we have to take 0-fors to watch it.'" - Greg Maddux's The Art of Pitching by Jack Etkin of Baseball Digest (May 2000)

Greg Maddux Quotes

Quotes From & About Greg Maddux

"Consistency is something you can always improve on. You can be more consistent with your mental approach, the things you do physically on the mound. Instead of doing 5 good pitches an inning, try to make six. You can always do more of what you are doing well and try to be as consistent as you can be."

"How did you think you pitched?" - Washington Post question after 1999 World Series Game 1 & Maddux replied, "Good enough to lose. We lost. It doesn't matter if I pitched good or I pitched bad. The bottom line is we lost the game."

"I could probably throw harder if I wanted, but why? When they're in a jam, a lot of pitchers...try to throw harder. Me, I try to locate better."

"I try to do two things: locate my fastball and change speeds. That's it. I try to keep as simple as possible. I just throw my fastball (to) both sides of the plate and change speed every now and then. There is no special food or anything like that, I just try to make quality pitches and try to be prepared each time I go out there."

"It's harder (to play in October / postseason) because you're facing the best teams. You're facing the best hitters. You're also facing the best pitchers. I mean, I don't think it's any secret that it's harder to be the first-place team than it is to be the last-place team. I feel like I've made mistakes in the post-season, but as I look at my post-season career overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I got beat up pretty bad when I was with the Cubs the first time through, but since then, I think I've had as many good games as bad games."

"Oh, poor me (jokingly, after being told that Randy Johnson & Pedro Martinez would make more in 2003 than he would). What do I do now? I guess I'll have to get a second job."

"Well, it's an honor. And you know it's an honor because it's the players that vote. I think sometimes you see it differently watching as opposed to going out there and actually facing these guys. I watched Kerry Wood pitch from the dugout, but until I actually got in the box — it was just something else experiencing it. You know I didn't really appreciate what he was doing until I went out there and did it. So, just from a player's standpoint, it means an awful lot when it (winning the Pitcher of the Year Player's Choice Award) comes from your peers."

"When people say (nice) things you take them as compliments and it's nice, but it won't help you win your next game. The thing I am trying to keep in mind is that relying on my past performance will not make me win my next game, it'll only get in my way."

"You play the game to win the World Series. Cy Young's are nice, they really are. They're great and I'm proud of them...but easily the biggest thing I've accomplished is getting that World Series ring."

"You're not going to win by automatically going out there. It's hard to know what people really expect of you, and I've never tried to live up to expectations anyway. That's no way to play baseball."

"August 14, 1995 - (Greg) Maddux hits mid-August with a 12-1 record and 1.74 ERA, pitching his way to a record fourth straight Cy Young Award. Not since Walter Johnson pitched for the Washington Senators in the Teens has baseball seen such a dominating right-hander. Using a formula that compares a pitcher's ERA to the leagues, Greg (Maddux) comes out as the best hurler ever." - 1998 Fleer Card

"Every pitch has a purpose. Sometimes he knows what he's going to throw two pitches ahead. I swear, he makes it look like guys are swinging foam bats against him." - John Smoltz

"He's like a meticulous surgeon out there...he puts the ball where he wants to. You see a pitch inside and wonder, 'Is it the fastball or the cutter?' That's where he's got you." - Tony Gwynn

"He makes it look easy. You wish there was another league he could get called up to." - Dwight Gooden

"It seems like he's inside your mind with you. When he knows you're not going to swing, he throws a straight one. He sees into the future. It's like he has a crystal ball hidden inside his glove." - Wade Boggs

"Greg Maddux is probably the best pitcher in all of baseball along with Roger Clemens. He's much more intelligent than I am because he doesn't have a 95 or 98 mph fastball. I would tell any pitcher who wants to be successful to watch him, because he's the true definition of a pitcher." - Randy Johnson

"Greg Maddux could put a baseball through a life saver if you asked him." - Joe Morgan

"Greg Maddux is used to setting records. On Monday (02-17-2003), he claimed another. The four-time Cy Young Award winner avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to the largest one-year contract in baseball history, a $14.75 million deal with the Atlanta Braves. The previous record for a one-year contract was pitcher David Cone's $12 million deal with the New York Yankees in 2000." - Associated Press

"Greg Maddux personally reviewed all the information, studied all the pitchers and told me where he thought he placed himself among the pitchers today. He just wanted to do something very fair, something very reserved ($16 million) in my mind." Agent Scott Boras

"(Greg) Maddux is a cerebral assassin on the mound. He knows his strengths and limitations as well as those of every hitter. That knowledge allows him to be more efficient than any hurler, resulting in the fewest pitches per start (77.9) in the National League. The righthander possesses pinpoint control, gets ahead in the count and mixes his pitches as well as anyone. He rarely tops the high 80s with his fastball, but his outstanding movement on the pitch produces groundball outs. Maddux also throws a cut fastball and a plus changeup at any time in the count. He refuses to waste pitches or give in to hitters, instead opting to keep his offerings low in the strike zone while moving his pitches off both corners of the plate." - Stats, Inc. (2003)

"(Greg) Maddux is a master. He carved us up. He didn't give us anything good to hit." - Cincinnati Reds Manager Jack McKeon

"(Greg) Maddux is so good, we all should be wearing tuxedos when he pitches" - Montreal Expo scout Phil Favia

"(Greg) Madduxwas a star pitcher in high school and was drafted and brought up to the major leagues by the Chicago Cubs (1986-92). He joined the Atlanta Braves in 1993 as a free agent and helped them win the World Series in 1995. Known for his amazing control and consistency, Maddux is the only pitcher ever to win the Cy Young pitching award four years in a row (1992-95)." - Encyclopedia Britannica

"One thing anyone can go through is a slump. Unless you're Greg Maddux, it's going to happen to everybody." - Mike Piazza

"We've never seen the likes of (Greg) Maddux before, and chances are most of us won't live long enough to see the likes of him again." - Rob Neyer on ESPN Sportszone (August 7, 1998)

"When he's on like this, it can be a boring game for the fans. It looks like you're not even trying." - Paul O'Neill

"When you think it's a ball, it's a strike. When you swing at what you think is a strike, it's in the dirt. He's a remarkable pitcher."-Yankee Manager Joe Torre

"You keep saying the same thing over and over and it sounds like a recording. Maddux was absolutely in command." - Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox

Greg Maddux's Art of Pitching

Author: Jack Etkin
Issue: May, 2000

Besides his exceptional control, Braves' right-hander wins with uncanny knowledge of opposing hitters

DANTE BICHETTE EXPECTED another fastball, one. more merciless sinker that would bore in on him. Greg Maddux already had jammed Bichette twice with that pitch, and it was shortly after that second fruitless at-bat last season when Bichette had a chance conversation with teammate Todd Helton about the challenge, both daunting and inspiring, of facing Maddux.

"I was talking to Todd Helton after we both were 0-for-2," Bichette said. "Todd goes, 'Man, he's just schooling me.' And I go, 'Yeah, Todd. It's kind of fun to watch. It's too bad we have to take 0-fors to watch it.'"

Now it was the eighth inning, and Bichette was leading off. The Colorado Rockies had just rallied for four runs in the seventh against Maddux, after he had breezed through six innings on 66 pitches, and cut the Atlanta Braves' lead to 7-5. Bichette fouled off three consecutive 0-2 pitches, took two balls and was expecting Maddux to throw a sinker.

"I'm thinking, `He got me out twice that way; he's going to throw it again,'" said Bichette, who has gone 10-for-34 lifetime against Maddux. "Most pitchers, once they get you out one way, they'll continuously do it. He throws a curveball and strikes me out. I tried to guess with him and paid the price.

"Greg Maddux understands that game between the pitcher and hitter. And he has got great instinct for pitch selection against the real good hitter."

Maddux has never thrown a no-hitter and has struck out 200 batters in a season only once (204 in 1998), petty flaws in a career marked by sustained excellence. Since 1992, Maddux's final year with the Chicago Cubs, his 2.32 earned run average is the lowest for any pitcher in a span of eight or more years since World War II.

Sandy Koufax posted a 2.49 ERA from 1959 through 1966; Tom Seaver held opponents to 2.43 runs per nine innings from 1968 through 1975; and Juan Marichal had a 2.46 ERA from 1962 through 1969.

Those three pitchers could overpower hitters in ways Maddux never will. His fastball is typically 89-90 mph, which is just average major league velocity. His slider isn't as sharp or as devastating as teammate John Smoltz's. And Maddux's curveball doesn't have a knee-buckling snap on the order of St. Louis' Darryl Kile. What Maddux possesses is an extraordinary changeup, along with exceptionally late movement on his pitches.

After Game 2 of the 1996 World Series, when Maddux held the Yankees scoreless for eight innings and won 6-0, Wade Boggs of the Yankees said, "Maddux has the illusionary ability to throw what looks like a strike, and it's really not. He's the David Copperfield of pitchers."

For five years, Atlanta shortstop Walt Weiss had to contend with Maddux. Being a switch-hitter didn't help Weiss much. He has gone 6-for-26 against Maddux, not bad, really, considering Weiss remembers going hitless in his first 14 at-bats. Maddux repeatedly got him out on changeups before Weiss started adjusting and forcing Maddux in turn to use a different approach. Onesided or otherwise, there was a real rack-your brain pleasure to hitting against Maddux.

"It was real frustrating facing him because he was tough," Weiss said. "But I almost enjoyed the challenge of trying to outthink the thinker."

Now that he is Maddux's teammate and is around him daily, Weiss has a greater appreciation for his uncanny feel for pitching.

"He's brilliant when it comes to the mental part of the game," Weiss said. "I've never seen anybody that cerebral in this game. He just has got an intuition that can't be taught."

Much to Weiss' amazement, Maddux is forever asking him about situations, quizzing Weiss about where a particular player might hit a certain pitch. Or, better yet, Weiss said Maddux will ask, "If I throw him this pitch, what do you think I'm going to do on the next pitch?"

"He tells me sometimes he throws a ball on purpose, and just watches the hitter to make sure where his balance is," Weiss said. "By the way a guy's opening up or diving, he can tell what a guy's trying to do. The guy didn't even have to swing. I'm not saying he can do that every time, but every once in a while he can see that and hell look for stuff like that."

Both Maddux and teammate Tom Glavine thrive by changing speeds and having superb command, although Maddux works both sides of the plate and the left-handed Glavine primarily keeps the ball away from right-handed hitters. There's another difference in how Glavine, whose lifetime record going into the 2000 season is 187-116, and Maddux, 221-126, approach their craft.

"He relies more on pitching to situations and pitching to what a hitter's showing him from at-bat to at-bat than anybody else," Glavine said. "That's part of the mystique of Greg. I think the hitters think he can go back and recall every pitch he has ever thrown. That's not the case, but I think he's probably better at remembering things than most people are. And that's why the technical side of the game is so much more important for him than it is for other guys.

"He's definitely better in the course of the game at making adjustments on a hitter based on what he's seen, whether it's one swing or a guy's last at-bat. He notices things that I've tried to pay attention to, and I just can't because for me, it takes away from what I'm trying to do, which is to get outs. It puts too many things in my head."

Maddux has astounded Weiss at times with his knowledge of hitters. An out-of town game will be on television in the Braves clubhouse. Maddux will glance toward the screen and, Weiss said, speak as though the opposing pitcher on the mound can hear him.

"He knows the hitters so well," Weiss said. "He'll be telling the guy what he needs to throw. He's just kind of in his own world, not even talking to anybody else."

If Maddux's memory is good, he maintains it's a matter of selective retention and something other pitchers can achieve.

"How many times does somebody give you a phone number, and you don't have anything to write it down with?" Maddux said. "You try hard to remember it, and you do. If you want to remember something, there's a pretty good chance you're going to be able to."

In the case of a certain pitch to a certain hitter, Maddux said technology facilitates recall. Pull out the videotape of a past game against a team. Pop it in the VCR. And the past becomes prologue.

"I don't remember every pitch," Maddux said. "I put the tape in. I can remember certain pitches I've thrown against guys. And you only need to remember a couple; you only need to remember the one he hit and the one he didn't hit."

Bichette still remembers a pitch Maddux threw him nearly six years ago at Mile High Stadium. There were runners in scoring position. Bichette fouled off several pitches and readied himself for a 3-2 pitch,

"Then all of a sudden," Bichette said, "he drops down and throws a slider and paints it on the black for strike three."

Speaking of the thrill such extreme pitches that deviate from the norm can bring, Maddux said, "I guess to go out there and have the confidence and the courage to try it and not be afraid to fail because of it and then pull it off, yeah, it gives you a good feeling."

Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone put it more bluntly. "The mental side of this game is vital, and it carries over into your physical execution," Mazzone said. "He relishes it. He gets a great thrill out of outfoxing somebody or setting them up for the kill."

Maddux became cognizant of the outside corner at Class A Peoria in 1985, in his first full professional season. It was there that pitching coach Jim Wright suggested he try to spot the ball away.

"He's the first guy who ever moved the catcher from the middle of the plate," Maddux said. "He kind of got me started."

Dick Pole had a lot to do with moving Maddux along. Maddux said Pole taught him it was possible to pitch inside to get outs, not just to move hitters off the plate. Pole helped Maddux develop his cut fastball that keeps left-handed hitters from diving over the plate and sets up his sinker that looks the same but snaps back over the inside corner. Maddux and Pole were together in the minors, in Venezuela after the 1987 season, and Pole was the Cubs pitching coach from 1988-91.

"He listens," said Pole. "That sounds like a trite thing to say, but a lot of people don't listen. They hear you, but they don't listen. When he was young, he was like a sponge. Everything you said, he paid attention to, and he put it to practice.

"He went down to winter ball in '87, and he could have blown that whole league away with his fastball. But we got him to throw 30 changeups a game."

That pitch has become particularly devastating to left-handed hitters, since it breaks down and away from them. Weiss, fed up over how easily Maddux was getting him out with his changeup, decided to look for that pitch and let the ball come to him.

"For a lefty, his changeup is real tough to hit," Weiss said. "If he sees guys sitting on it or trying to hit the ball deeper in the zone and he throws that cutter right in on your hands, he'll shatter your bat."

Maddux has been carving up hitters like this with phenomenal regularity. He won four consecutive Cy Young awards from 1992-1995, something no other pitcher in either league has done. Last year, Maddux went 19-9 with a 3.57 ERA--his highest since 1987 and first time over 3.00 since 1991—and in 219 innings allowed only 37 walks, eight of which were intentional.

Glavine was the Cy Young winner in 1991 and 1998, a pinnacle that lets him appreciate Maddux's virtuosity and staying power. Plenty of attention came Glavine's way in 1991 and didn't end that season.

"Every single day, even the next year, it's the same thing, because you want to prove to everybody it wasn't a fluke," Glavine said. "Greg has gone through it since he won his first Cy Young in 1992. If it has weighed on his brain, it hasn't affected what he has done on the mound. And that's a testimony to him."

COPYRIGHT 2000 Century Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

Quotes From & About Greg Maddux
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When the 1995 season ended, Greg Maddux became the first pitcher to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards AND the first to pitcher with back-to-back below 1.65 ERA seasons.

Did you know that Greg Maddux appeared in thirty-three games — pitching 232.2 innings — in 1997 and walked only twenty-batters (a 0.77 BB/9 ratio)? Did you know that this was the second time in his career where he had a walk per inning ratio lower than 1.0? Click his name to read more about this truly amazing future hall of famer.

Not one truly over-powering pitch in his arsenal, but the Mad Dog has been the master of control and consistency winning at least fifteen games for fifteen consecutive seasons.