Comments on: Happy Greg Maddux Day

By: allan davis

allan davis — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:25:42 +0000

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By: grateful clay

grateful clay — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:40:30 +0000

wonderful post.

By: PenFoe

PenFoe — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:56:30 +0000

We also celebrated Mitchell Report Day.
That day sucked.

Fukudome Day is still my favorite.

By: LizzieG

LizzieG — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:38:36 +0000

That was such a nice read after the Edmonds news *shudder* – thanks Mike.

By: BigFlax

BigFlax — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:07:48 +0000

However, it's also worth noting that Koufax's best years came during the start of an absolutely incredible time to be a pitcher in the major leagues. Just by way of comparison, in Koufax's ridiculous 1965 season (26-8, 2.04 ERA, 382 Ks, 0.86 WHIP) the NL batting average was .249 and teams scored 4.03 runs per game. In Maddux's ridiculous 1995 season (19-2, 1.63 ERA, 181 Ks to 23 BB, 0.81 WHIP), the NL batting average was .263 and teams scored 4.63 runs per game. The worst team ERA in the '65 NL was 4.06, by the expansion Mets, and they lost 112 games! In 1995, 4.06 was fifth-best out of 14 teams. Not that Koufax didn't have an awesome run (also, four no-hitters including a perfect game? Good God!). But I think Maddux's numbers were a little more impressive considering the era and the fact that he was never a power pitcher. Consider that Maddux's ERA+ in 1994 and 1995 were 271 and 262. He was more than two and a half times as good as the average pitcher in those years. Jesus. Koufax's best ERA+ year was 190, in 1966. It was just a different time to be a pitcher.

By: thehawk

thehawk — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:24:22 +0000

I was fairly surprised how close they were also. Its worth noting that the first year of Sandy’s numbers actually pulls down is averages a bit (his 62-66 numbers are just astounding).

By: flannj

flannj — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:14:22 +0000

“Maddux did get sent down to Iowa a few weeks later, in August. He was 6-10 at the time. After coming back up two weeks later, Maddux would go 0-4 the rest of the way, finishing his first full big-league season with a 6-14 record (and 8-18 to start his career).”

Using Greg Couch thinking (such as it is) Maddux was a bust, that’s why he was sent down.

By: djwoody

djwoody — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:11:44 +0000

On a day where one of the all-time biggest douchebags puts on the pinstipes, it was great to read about one of my all time favorites pitchers and ball players ever.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:47:54 +0000

Fantastic article. It really cleansed my palate after reading the first two paragraphs of Mariotti’s tripe in The Bright One.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:44:06 +0000

Yeah, it was late, I was tired and I had toothpicks propping up my eyelids. Koufax’s name immediately came to mind when I thought of “5 year stretches” because I had always heard how impeccable that stretch of Koufax’s was. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting on that one, Hawk.

I had suspected that Koufax had him beat but the fact that Maddux comes so close supports my appreciation for it.