THE ARTISTRY OF MR. MADDUX

Maddux says laconically that when he came to the big leagues he threw between 80 and 90 miles per hour, and today he throws the same four pitches--fastball, change, slider, curve--75 to 85 today. But he throws them with uncanny control: Among 300-game winners since 1900, his walks-per-nine-innings ratio (1.87) is fourth best, behind only Cy Young (1.49), Christy Mathewson (1.59) and Grover Cleveland Alexander (1.65), who played all or most of their careers in the dead-ball era. And the key to his success has been less the speed of his arm than that of his mind.

One year in spring training, facing a Met who had hit him hard the previous season, Maddux told teammates he would throw dinky sliders to encourage the Met to hit a home run. Maddux figured that hitters remember, and subsequently look for, what they crush. The Met homered--then, always looking for the same pitch, went hitless against Maddux in the regular season.

Leading 8-0 in a regular-season game against the Astros, Maddux threw what he had said he would never throw to Jeff Bagwell--a fastball in. Bagwell did what Maddux wanted him to do: he homered. So two weeks later, when Maddux was facing Bagwell in a close game, Bagwell was looking for a fastball in, and Maddux fanned him on a change-up away.

Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci collects such stories demonstrating Maddux's knowledge of hitters. Four times in one season, Maddux, while in the dugout, warned the man sitting next to him that the batter would line a foul into the dugout. Three times the batter did. Another time Maddux said on the bench: "Watch this. The first-base coach may be going to the hospital." The batter lined the next pitch off the coach's chest. Once with runners on second and third and two outs, Maddux's manager suggested an intentional walk. "Don't worry," said Maddux, explaining that on the third of his next pitches the batter would pop out foul to third. Maddux was wrong: The pop was a few feet fair.

Maddux, who grew up in Las Vegas, is a formidable poker player. Amarillo Slim, former winner of the World Series of Poker, once said: "The results of one particular game doesn't mean a damn thing, and that's why one of my mantras has always been 'decisions, not results.' Do the right thing enough times and the results will take care of themselves in the long run." Maddux has had a long run pitching the way Slim played. But all runs end, so this year pay particular attention to the most artistic pitcher of the lively-ball era.

© 2005