Greg Maddux retired yesterday with 355 wins, four Cy Young and 17 consecutive seasons with at least 15 wins. He did his job, treated those around him with respect and went back to his anonymous life. How athletes treat the game and those around it matters to me as a fan. Some players just don’t get it. Maddux always seemed to get it. He was the anti-Clemens, as a personality and as a pitcher. I find it sublime that he finished with one more career win than the grounded Rocket.
SI’s Tom Verducci is appreciating the genius of Maddux
Every time I talked with Maddux I learned something, and not always about pitching. He understood hitting as well as any position player I ever met.
Think about the genius of that. If you want to catch a crook, you must think like one rather than a law-abiding citizen.
He is baseball’s beautiful mind, and yet Maddux kept his gift covered with a thick blanket of humility. Never in sports will you find this kind of greatness accompanied by such an utter lack of ego and entitlement. In 2004, when I asked him how much longer he might pitch, he told me, “I’m not worried about it. I’m already on extra credit.” I replied, “Greg, you’ve been telling me that for years.” He replied, “I’ve been meaning it for years, too.”
ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian,