Greg Maddux: The Reincarnation of Cy Young

5. They changed teams.

Young pitched for four different teams.

Maddux pitched for four different teams.

And both came back to their original team for a second stint (Young with Cleveland, Maddux with Chicago).

6. They were durable. Both Maddux and Young pitched into their early 40s, and were still effective. Obviously, Maddux couldn't pitch the same number of innings as Cy Young, because times have changed and pitchers simply can't throw 400 per season anymore.

But both Maddux and Young are among the best workhorses of all-time. Each retired as the active career leader in almost all the major pitching categories: innings pitched, games started, complete games, wins, losses, hits allowed, and batters faced.

Young top 10 in innings pitched 19 straight seasons.

Maddux top 10 in innings pitched 18 straight seasons.

Young led league in complete games three times.

Maddux led league in complete games three times.

Young led league in shutouts seven times.

Maddux led league in shutouts five times.

7. They had similar postseason numbers. Each had career losing records in the playoffs (Maddux 11-14, Young 2-3) but it really wasn't their fault. Young posted a 2.36 ERA in the postseason and Maddux posted a 3.31 ERA.

The bottom line: These two guys were so similar—right-handed starters who pitched forever, had amazing control, and were extremely consistent and durable. Except that Young was a harder thrower than Maddux, their careers and statistics were eerily similar.

Few people initially think of two guys like Maddux and Cy Young as so comparable to each other, but it really amazed me when I dug deeper into their statistics that they were actually pretty similar pitchers. I wish that I could have been able to see Cy Young pitch.

But at least I got to see Maddux.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?