Punch one more ticket for Cooperstown!

Las Vegas, NV

From behind the podium positioned in the front of a Bellagio Hotel ballroom, Greg Maddux officially said goodbye to the game he's played for more than two decades. Maddux will undoubtedly be a first ballot hall of famer. I can't wait until 2013 when I can see him in his new address, 25 Main Street. In his 22 seasons playing for the Cubs, Braves, Dodgers, and Padres, Mad-Dog put together some amazing numbers. His 355 wins are the most of any living pitcher. Throughout his tenure in the league he garnered 18 NL Gold Glove Awards, 4 NL Cy Young Awards, and a World Series Championship in 1995 as a member of the Braves organization. With 17 straight, he also broke Cy Young's streak of 15 win seasons. He left the mound for the last time in a relief appearance during Game 5 of the NLCS for Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley. On that cool mid-October Philadelphia night when Maddux asked plate umpire Mike Winters if he could have the ball, he walked off the field a Legend. 

Maddux had some things to say to the media, who gathered for his morning press conference.

"I'm just here, really, to say thank you - thank you to everybody in baseball. I appreciate everything the game has given me. It's going to be hard to walk away, obviously, but it's time. I still think I can play this game, but not as well as I would like to. So it's time to say goodbye."

Even his final GM, and long time friend Ned Colletti, watched his remarks like a fan. Even snapping shots of his go to pitcher on his cell phone from behind rows of reporters.

"It's a rare player who has the combination of talent, recall and execution, wrapped up in competition," said Colletti. "I saw his first pitch and his last pitch. I love the guy. We knew he was special when he showed up. The player development guys said, 'Wait till you see this guy.'"

He was an official with the Cubs when Maddux came into the league in 1986. 

This praise is bound to continue as Greg Maddux was a special pitcher for a long time in this league. Surely he was a joy to watch for many fans of his teams and their opponents alike. It's always a good time watching a great pitcher master his craft. Maddux was also a great generation gap between many fathers and sons and grandmothers and granddaughters alike. He helped embody what is good about baseball. It was my mother actually, who took me to my first Dodger game as a boy. Little did she know then what she had started. Even Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley admits that he watched Maddux pitch mostly on TBS as a kid in the early 90's when he played for the Braves. This is actually just how I got to see him pitch when I was a little guy. I was born in 1983, he was born in 1984, the same year Maddux was drafted. I remember when he almost pitched a no-hitter in his Dodger debut against the Reds after we acquired him at the trade deadline. I saw him change our rotation not with his pitching alone, but with his ability to connect and teach the rest of the  staff. I know for certain that Derek Lowe appreciated his ability to break down video of batters and apply that to a game. I'm also still certain that in a game pitched by Brad Penny, that it was Maddux that called the game from the dugout. I've seen an interview on TV where the guys were asked about it and they all played it down. I think Penny even said something like, 'yeah, we might have done that for an inning or two just playing around.' Come on, he was special. Greg Maddux was that good, his presence will always be felt. Sportscasters will surely remind us of his great games for years to come and young talent will be compared to him along with all the legends of the past. For now, let us keep him in the present, a present he gave to all of us that got to see him play. Thank you, Mr. Maddux, or should I say, Mad-Dog.