Ex-Padre Greg Maddux To Be Inducted Into HOF

Jul 26, 2014; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Hall of Fame Inductee Greg Maddux arrives at National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Greg Maddux will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday. The “Mad Dog” had a very illustrious career with 4 teams including the Padres from 2007-2008. He earned win number 350 as a Padre, I know, I was there in the stands.

He finished his career with 355 wins, a 3.16 ERA, 35 shutouts, and 3,371 strikeouts. He is an 18-time Gold Glove winner and won 4 consecutive Cy Young awards from 1992-1995. For the Padres, he won 20 games with a 4.07 ERA and 184 strikeouts in 60 starts.

He finished 8th all-time in wins, 10th in strikeouts, 13th in innings pitched and he made it to Cooperstown on his first try. He was a master at his craft. He could locate any pitch, anywhere, anytime. He had instincts like no one else. There will never be anyone quite like Greg Maddux ever again. “As his career moved forward, he lost a little bit of the velocity…but he still had the movement and location. You combine that with the experience and the pitching wisdom that he had moving forward — again, it just adds to the Hall of Fame status,” Bud Black told MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer, regarding Maddux.

He will go into the Hall as a Brave but he also made a serious splash with the Cubs, the team that drafted him in 1984. He won a championship with the Braves and his trophy case is bursting at the seams. He finally gets what he deserves, a place beside the all-time greats in Cooperstown.