The Fan Hates Being Wrong

Which is pretty stupid when being wrong happens so often.

For years, Greg Maddux was hated. Hated with an almost ungodly passion. But first, Maddux was a Cub and he was a good Cub. Being a good Cub on bad Cub teams was an admirable thing. But then he became a Brave and that was the start of the negative passion.

His first sin in becoming a player with the Braves was having all those awe-inspiring years and being compared--often favorably--with Roger Clemens in the nod for best pitcher in the Major Leagues. Compound that fact with the knowledge that he first turned the Yankees down to go to the Braves was the beginning of the Fan's little passion play.

And then it was the Braves as a whole and the whole guilt by association thing. Let's face it, the Braves were an arrogant bunch in their early years of their incredible streak of success. The Fan falsely lumped Maddux in with the real arrogant SOBs like Chipper Jones. Can you even say, "Chipper" in an adult-like manner? It's like the Fan's aversion to buying cars by Mitsubishi. Any car or player that sounds like baby talk is to be avoided.

But you could see it in Chipper's demeanor. He thought he was the Hersey Syrup on the ice cream. He, and his pretty wife, Karin, who by association was also stuck up since she refused to spell her name traditionally, seemed to be above it all. Well, Karin later divorced him and got half his millions, so there was some justice in it all.

Anyway, Maddux was lumped into that whole angst thing about the Braves and the Fan really believes that the Braves arrogance led to their downfall in their series with the Yankees. Stories circulated later where the Yankee players were motivated by the Braves' belief they couldn't lose.

It did help some that the Yankees didn't treat Maddux with respect during that series and he got beat. But in the Fan's mind, Maddux was the same as Jones and Smoltz, an arrogant jerk.

The Fan realizes that some arrogance is needed, call it confidence if you will, to play successfully in the Major Leagues. I would not exactly call Clemens and Pedro cream puffs in that category. But darn, how did Maddux always get the favorable call on those questionable corners along with Glavine?

But slowly, as the years went by, the ice started melting in the ego-shrouded, Fan mania. First, there was the "Chicks dig the long ball" commercials. Those were fun and showed Maddux to be a regular guy. The Fan was watching the commercials with a jaundiced eye, waiting for the arrogance to show itself, but the commercials were just fun and Maddux seemed like a cool and decent guy. Crap!

Then stories started appearing on his legendary pranks in the clubhouse and his golf addiction and how he wouldn't retire because he just likes to play and fifteen years after the antipathy began, Maddux was embraced for what he truly was: One of the two best pitchers of the present era.

Consider a five year stretch from 1994 through 1998 where Maddux pitched 1140 innings, gave up only 990 hits, walked only 29 people a year (A YEAR!) and won 87 of his 119 decisions. Consider 1995 when he made 25 starts and only gave up 35 earned runs. The numbers are staggering. For a guy that was supposedly not a strikeout pitcher, he struck out the same number of batters that got hits off of him.

29 Walks a year! That's as many as Perez of the Mets throws in four starts. The real measure of the success of Greg Maddux is his consistency for all those years without trips to the training room or the DL. He won eight games his first two years and eight his last year, but in between, here are his yearly win totals: 18, 19, 15, 15, 20, 20, 16, 19, 15, 19, 18, 19, 19, 17, 16, 16, 13, 15 and 14. Remarkable.

You won the Fan over Mr. Maddux. Big deal, right? You will be remembered and you will be honored in those memories.