We here at Hire Jim Essian! like our holidays. Just in the past month we’ve had Daryle Ward Day and Lee Elia Day. We’ve also celebrated Dusty Baker Week and even Armenian Appreciation Day.

So it’s only fitting that we take time to honor a man who will take to the hill later today after becoming only the 8th player in the last 117 years to register 350 wins.

If you mark the passage of time with Greg Maddux’s career, well, you feel pretty damn old. Maddux made his debut in the 18th inning of this game against the Houston Astros twenty-two years ago next September. Maddux served up a game-winning home run to Ex-Cub Billy Hatcher, and began his career 0-1. He evened his mark at 1-1 by throwing a complete game against Cincinnati for his first career win,and he would then lose three straight games before finishing the 1986 season with a “W” and a 2-4 record.

Maddux would begin the 1987 season as a member of the Cubs’ rotation. He showed a lot of promise in ‘87, although he took his share of lumps, too. A fan at the time could be forgiven for thinking that Maddux’s colleague, Jamie Moyer, would have the better career, as Moyer followed up his 7-4 ‘86 campaign by winning 12 games to Maddux’s 6 in 1987. I recall reading a Jerome Holtzman article early in the 1988 campaign–which turned out to be Maddux’s breakout season–where Holtzman recounts a conversation he was having with pitching coach Dick Pole while Maddux warmed up for that day’s game. Pole insisted that it would be Maddux, not Moyer who would win a Cy Young. Being 16 and stupid, I thought them two were crazy, considering that Moyer appeared to have a more favorable beginning to his career. After stumbling for a few years after ‘87, Moyer did, indeed, turn out to have a nice career, but Pole and Holtzman were right–it has been nowhere near Maddux’s career, who not only won a Cy Young as Pole had predicted to Holtzman, but 4. In a row. But only one with the Cubs. But you knew that. Dammit.

Aside from being occasionally used as a pinch-runner in 1987 by manager Gene Michael, what I remember most about Maddux’s first full season was the role he played in the infamous
Andrew Dawson Brawlgame.

As many hardcore fans will recall, Maddux was on the verge of being sent down to the minors when he took the hill on July 7th, 1987. After Dawson’s frightening beaning in the bottom of the third inning, Maddux went out with a 5-2 lead. Although a win would pull his season record to 6-7 and potentially save his spot on the roster, Maddux instead opted to take the path of most resistance, and defended his fallen teammate when, after striking out the first two hitters of the fourth inning, he plunked San Diego catcher Benito Santiago. The HBP earned Maddux an ejection, denying him a likely easy win, but it also cemented the youngster’s role with his veteran teammates. Dawson, for one, insisted on being in the starting lineup on days Maddux pitched, in spite of the fact that Dawson’s two bad knees often required a judicial use of his playing time. And, sure enough, Maddux avoided being sent down that week as feared.

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). Maddux would not end another season under .500 for 18 years.

Greg broke out in ‘88, winning 18 games and earning his first trip to the All-Star game. He won 19 in 1989, and was the ace of a young Cubs playoff team. Maddux’s career hit a lull after that, when he went 15-15 and 15-11 in 1990 and 1991, respectively. He finally put together a complete year in 1992, when he became the franchise’s first 20-game winner since Rick Reuschel in 1977. In addition to racking up 20 wins, Maddux also took home the National League Cy Young award.

And then? Well, we all know what happened then. Larry Himes and Stanton Cook managed to execute the single worst move in the history of the franchise. Worse than Brock-for-Broglio. Worse than cutting Joe McCarthy loose. Even worse than firing early Tribune architect Dallas Green. To wave goodbye to a 26-year old reigning Cy Young winner and get nothing in return is something that should have earned Himes some form of cruel and medieval punishment.

So Maddux went to Atlanta where he went from being one of the top National League pitchers to one of the greatest pitchers of his generation. Beginning wih his first year in Atlanta in 1993, Maddux enjoyed a 5-year run that is arguably one of the greatest put together. From 1993 to 1997, Maddux won 89 games. His average season during this time was:

18-6, 2.13 ERA, a 5.7/1 K/BB ratio and a .95 WHIP

A .95 WHIP? For a starter, for five years? What the fuck? Imagine getting a season like that for half of a decade. It was around this time that I remember hearing a very unsual stat for Maddux. Something like, in one of those seasons, Maddux had gone to a full count on something like two hitters all season.

Meanwhile, Cub fans watched with bitterness. While Maddux was cementing himself as a Pitcher for the Ages, we got to watch the likes of Mike Morgan, Kevin Foster, Jaime Navarro and Jim Bullinger–just to name a few–swallow up innings at Wrigley.

Maddux finally came back to the Cubs prior to the 2004 season. By this point, Maddux’s day of enshrinement in Cooperstown was a given, and his return to the Cubs was supposed to coincide with a Cubs pennant. Bad for Maddux, then, that he joined a team of surly, out-of-control, unfocused, arrogant pricks who, in adopting their idiotic manager’s “us against the world” credo, managed to scream themselves right out of playoff contention. For Maddux, it was the first time his team failed to make the playoffs since, well since the last time he was a Cub, in 1992. Another reminder at what a complete fucking embarassment 2004 was.

Maddux was effective enough to tie Carlos Zambrano for the team lead in wins with 16 in his first season back with his original team. The 16 victories extended Maddux’s streak–begun with the Cubs in 1988–of winning at least 15 games per season for 17 seasons. Of course, continuing to stick around the Cubs would only mean bad things for Greg, as the streak ended the following season when he finished with 13 wins. By 2006, his third season back, the Cubs were no longer contenders, and Maddux was traded for Cesar Izturis before the trade deadline.

So he was let go by the Cubs. Twice. And for both transactions, all we got was Cesar Izturis. Welp.

He did record his 300th win and 3,000 strikeout with the Cubs his second time around. That was nice, but of course both events also provided a bittersweet reminder as to what the Cubs missed for the bulk of Maddux’s career.

Since leaving the Cubs a second time, Maddux has won 23 games, with #350 coming last Friday. With the back-end of the Cubs rotation a question mark and San Diego struggling to maintain relevance in 2008, some have wondered if the Cubs ought to try to get Maddux for the third time. I really don’t know how much he would help. Even at his advanced age he’s be an upgrade over the Marquis de Suc, sure, but is that all the Cubs might be looking for? If the deal made sense, I’d be all for it, but I’m not sure how realistic or important it would be.

So barring any Maddux-back-the-Cubs-fantasy-scenarios, I’d like to take today for what it is. I, for one, am glad that Maddux finally notched #350 in his fourth attempt last week. Now we can honor him by giving him a nice ovation before the game, and hopefully knock him out by the third inning. Afterwards, I hope Maddux continues to win. In fact, I hope he comes back for two more years to make a run at Mathewson and Alexander (373). However, it appears just as likely as he’ll hang them up after this year and today will be the last chance to see him in person. Having scored a couple tickets to this game a few weeks ago without knowing that Maddux would be pitching, I’m feeling pretty fortunate to get a chance to see him for what could be the last time.

Happy Greg Maddux Day.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 1:45 am and is filed under Cubs, Ex-Cubs, HJE Events.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.