What is with the dirty looks from the folks at the craps table when I throw the dice and scream, “Yahtze!” just before they tumble over on to the hard eight?
LAS VEGAS – Everyone has a Greg Maddux story. Better yet, everyone has a Greg Maddux story that involves loud, bawdy laughter with punch lines that are often not repeatable in mixed company or fit for print.
The guy has the most interesting and warped sense of humor in the game, which is enough to make him the all time favorite of this little corner of this web site.
More importantly, Maddux is also known as the game’s best ambassadors. Low key and unassuming, Maddux doesn’t bowl people over with his presence in the physical sense. However, when he enters a room of baseball people everyone knows it. His teammates adore him and he always seems to have time for the fans and the press for a good quote or one of those stories he’s famous for.
As it turned out, Greg Maddux’s last appearance in a Major League game came at Dodger Stadium in a relief role against the Phillies during the NLCS. Even then, in his last game, it looked as if Maddux, at 42, could pitch a few more seasons. Last year he made at least 30 starts for the 20th season in the last 22. Had it not been for the two strike-shortened seasons, it would have been a perfect 22-for-22.
He never got hurt, never skipped a start and never changed. It was a career that was so eerily consistent that it was almost boring. Think about it -- every year you knew Maddux was going to pitch every five days no matter what. There was no drama or any of that silliness. Just good pitching and good humor.
With 355 career wins and every other award and accomplishment on his ledger, Maddux officially announced his retirement on Monday afternoon at The Bellagio. And just like everything else during his sure Hall-of-Fame career, Maddux delivered the goods.
“I never changed,” he said in summing up his career. “I think, ‘Hey, you can locate your fastball and you change speeds no matter who is hitting strikes or what is going on around you.’”
Maddux took special pride in mentoring young players, but made sure that the lessons weren’t one sided or exclusive to just the players on his team. Just this past season, in fact, Maddux famously took Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick aside during batting practice before a game in San Diego and schooled the kid on the finer points of pitching. Sure enough, the lesson was absorbed and Kendrick went out and beat Maddux in their next start.
Maddux says he was learning all the way up to the very end of his career.
“I just think the best way to learn is to screw up and not do it again,” Maddux said. “I think it’s OK to make mistakes. Hopefully you learn by it and you don’t make those mistakes again. I think it’s the easiest way to learn.”
Why the Hall not?
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, the Major League Baseball Veterans Committee announced the results in the balloting for enshrinement and once again the club is quite exclusive.
Former Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon was the only man elected to the Hall on Monday in a pair of votes from committees that selected players whose careers began before 1943 and one that focused on players who played after 1943.
On the pre-1943 side, former Yankee Allie Reynolds just missed out on the Hall of Fame by just one vote. Former Phillie Sherry Magee received just 25 percent of the ballots cast, while Mickey Vernon, the recently departed native of Marcus Hook, Pa. (and Harry Kalas’ boyhood hero), got 41.7 percent.
In the post-1943 election, no one came close. Once again Ron Santo fell way short garnering just 60.9 percent while ex-Phillie Jim Kaat finished second with 59.4 percent. The other notable miss was Dick Allen who got just 10.9 percent. Of the 10 ex-players that received votes, Allen got the fewest.
Rumors, rumors and rumors
Here’s what you waited for:
The Cubs are said to be in the hunt to sign free agent Bobby Abreu. … The Mets meet with closers Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman today. Mets’ COO Jeffrey Wilpon was in on the talks with Francisco Rodriguez last night which reportedly lasted over four hours. The Mets are also interested in starting pitcher Jon Garland. … The Cardinals, Mets and Phillies have talked to right-hander A.J. Burnett. ... Charlie Manuel is here. Whispers are that he was cleaning up at the craps tables. We will attempt to get verification on that one this afternoon.