I'll give these to my kids one day...maybe.

All right kids. You've been coming to my house long enough. It's time grandpa sat you down and showed you what grandpa keeps hidden away from you grubby kids and another thing grandma likes to bitch about during commercials of Fox's hit 3rd spin-off, "74"—you know, the reruns. (Jack's got some blood thirsty moves for an old codger.) Anyway, his name was Gregory Alan (the way civilized people spell it) Maddux. He was the best pitcher the Atlanta Braves, those 21-time World Series Champions ever had. He was enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013 as an Atlanta Brave, making the shortest acceptance speech ever. But his career began a while before that. Here are some of the highlights of grandpa's collection...

The year was 1987, and a young kid with baseball dreams and Fu Manchu hopes burst onto the MLB scene.



















1987 Donruss Rated Rookie. The flagship of Maddux rookie cards.

Toward the end of the year, grandkids, card companies released "updates" to their sets that were called various things. It usually meant that someone was sent down or called up or had made changes to their facial hair. In this case, Donruss called a particular segment of their update "The Rookies."



















1987 Donruss "Rookies." On 3, ready? 1...click.

Eventually, the youngster found his way—and his change-up—and began to gain the respect of the fans, players and card companies. One (playing) card company, in a clever play on the baseball vernacular, released a set of team playing cards featuring current stars. Our protagonist was appropriately featured as "The Ace of Diamonds," along side the Queen, Dottie Henson.



1992 U.S. Playing Card Co.

At the end of the 1992 season, the retarded Chicago Cubs (who incidentally, haven't won a world series in 160 years—remember this is the future, kids) signed Jose Guzman and told our 1st time Cy Young Winner that they "didn't need him any more." So, the Great Schuerholtz decided that Atlanta was a perfect place for another lights out starting pitcher. He was signed, and everyone was so pleased, they later set the press box on fire. It was glorious. He was also featured in a higher quality set called, SP. Ooooooooh. I know! Now fetch grandpa some scotch...



1993 SP. A good looking card set.

Maddux proved to be a great asset to the Braves. And he liked to harrass the rookies. He used to wipe all sort of bodily fluids on what a young Chipper Jones thought were clean socks waiting in his fresh laundry bin. But he kept beating teams like the Dodgers and Giants all the time, and finally he was featured in a very limited edition set called "Elite Dominators."



1993 Donruss Elite Domiators. #ed out of 10,000. This is the only one to be graded "BGS 9.5" or better.

As Maddux progressed in the league, he made great friends and friendly rivalries with teammates like John Smoltz (the eventual longtime ESPN baseball color man) and Tom Glavine (the 4 term Senator from Ohio). Along with their pitching, they were pretty decent hitters in the National League. You kids don't rememeber, but along with the absense of the laser strikezone detector, there used to be this thing in the other league (the one with all the criminal arrests lately) called the designated hitter, who'd bat for the pitcher. But now, everyone has to hit. Back in nineteen nine three, Maddux was a good hitting pitcher, and was actually featured on this card taking batting practice...



















Back of Upper Deck's 1995 SP. Card number is actually #31. Neat.

Oh, some of the best memories of my youth were back in the 1990s, kids. In 1996, the Braves made it back to the World Series and faced a team called The New York Yankees. You know them better as the "Panasonics." They had some trouble back in 2012 when they went bankrupt and were bought by the Japanese. But back then, they were the mighty Yankees and they played the Braves. Every player got a patch on their sleeve, like the piece of this one from that 1996 World Series...



















2002 Leaf Certified Mirror Blue "Game Worn Jersey" Card. #43/75. All have a piece of a jersey worn by the player featured, but there can't be many that have this piece. 1996 WS Patch. Pretty cool.

Eventually, Greg Maddux left our beloved Braves. He went back to Wrigley Field—you know, that place where the fan committed suicide a few weeks ago? I know, it's tragic, kids... It's just a game. But his career also took him to San Diego and Los Angeles. He won 355 games when it was all said and done. 300 wins signed your ticket to the Hall of Fame back then. Luckily I have one of those 300th win tickets...









300th Win Game Ticket. Graded Full Mint.

He was a great player. One of the best, kids. If it proves one thing, it's that if you want something badly enough, and you're blessed with some talent and determination to improve, and if you combine that with a devotion to what you do and love to do it, you can be great. Kind of like how good you are at pouring grandpa's scotch. OK, you can have a sip but you won't like it... Told you so... And that Greg Maddux wasn't the biggest or the strongest, but he learned how to pitch—and not just throw. He was smart and realized he could always continue to learn. Stay in school, kids. You can grow up and do great things, no matter how people might percieve you. Just look at how scrawny Maddux was...



















1986 Pro Cards Minor League Double A Card. Maybe the most valuable rookie out there.

So, kids... If you eat your veggies, do your homework and lay off my scotch, you can grow up to be a ball player like Greg Maddux, too. It might help to grow a mustache early on.

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Maddux Retires.

You're a left-handed batter facing Greg Maddux, and the count is 2-2. You took a called first strike, but the proceeding pitches haven't looked nearly as good as that first one. Maddux missed outside with the 0-1—but barely. You got a piece of the 1-1, fouling it off toward the 3rd base dugout, and the last pitch missed again, low and away. You've seen that last one before, and you know if it gets to 3-2, you'll see it again. You're a smart batter, and you figure Maddux thinks he's got you if it gets to 3-2, so he'll probably waste a pitch, right? Here it is... That 2-2 pitch is an inside fastball aimed at your hip, but in the same instance in which you started to bail out, expecting to hear the umpire call "ball 3," the pitch tails back over the inside black of the plate, landing directly in the center of the catcher's motionless mit. You're out—and you're embarassed. That's what Greg Maddux does.


At the age of 42, Greg Maddux has decided to hang up the spikes. In 23 seasons, Maddux became a legend in baseball for his amazing control, his dogged competitiveness and his humor. He has incredible statistics, of course, and other immesasurable attributes that made him the player he was. Like the number of times he could be heard yelling, "SHIT!" from the mound when he missed his target by an inch and a half. For these reasons, he is my favorite baseball player of all-time and, in short, my sports God.

I'll let Peter Gammons and Tim Kurkjian fill you in on the ins-and-outs and historical significance of Maddux' HOF numbers—they get paid to put in the time for that reasearch. But I will end with a couple interesting tidbits and memories:

* In 1997, Maddux allowed just 20 bases on balls in 1997, including six intentional walks. Ignoring those six intentional walks, Maddux only went to a 3-0 count on one batter in all of 1997.

* Since the introduction of the live ball era in 1920, there have only been five pitchers to have full-season ERAs under 1.65: Gibson and Luis Tiant in the anomalous 1968 season, Gooden in 1985, and Greg Maddux, twice: 1.56 in 1994 and 1.63 in 1995.

* Who can forget the 1995 World Series? In Game 1, Maddux pitched a complete game victory beating the Indians 3-2 in what Maddux called the best game he ever pitched. Then in game 5, though he took the loss, he did have a remarkable moment facing Eddie Murray in a heated exchange. Maddux was battling during the game, and tensions were high. Murray hit a scorching line-drive right back at Maddux, but in true Maddux fashion, he caught the ball in his mit and stared down Murray. It was badass—editorializing, I know.

* On that note: Maddux won 18 Gold Gloves, his own record. He would have had 19 consecutive awards, but in 2003 the porcelin doll, Mike Hampton, eeked out a trophy.

* Maddux' pre-start meal: a Whopper.

* And of course: Chicks Dig the Long Ball.

Maddux improved every part of the Braves' rotation and enhanced every other pitching staff in which he was a part with his leadership and insight. He proved that you don't need steroids to be elite. He made us laugh. He made us laugh at the other team. He helped us win. Let's all hope there's an A on his cap in Cooperstown. Anyone else interested in making the trip, I'll see you there. Thanks, Mad Dog.

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