Come To Think Of It...Greg Maddux Retires: So Long Mad Dog, We'll Miss You

Perhaps the best compliment I can pay to Greg Maddux is to say he was one of only three pitchers I would have paid to watch pitch. In fact, I did and am the better for having done so. And for sharing the experience with my son.

The future Hall-of-Famer, Greg Maddux, is set to announce his retirement from baseball on Monday. And I could sit here and spend countless sentences and paragraphs extolling the virtues of Maddux by spouting statistic after statistic. But that would be too generic, too antiseptic, too predictable.

For experiencing Greg Maddux was about more than numbers. It was like watching a famous artist paint a masterpiece.

Hey, I remember the young Greg Maddux who first came up with the Cubs as a young pup when he actually threw hard. Yes, that's right, I said he threw hard.  Low to mid-90s at one time.  And he was a fast baserunner; I recall him being used as a pinch-runner on more than one occasion. I even remember him sliding into home plate head first.

And even later, when his fastball could no longer break a pane of glass, his control was something that was pure joy to watch. He could hit the outside black as well as any pitcher in baseball history. He practically invented that ball that seemed outside, yet would mysteriously bend back over the outside part of the plate to a right handed hitter.

In fact, he did everything well on a baseball field. He could hit, sacrifice, run and could he field his position? Well, does 18 gold gloves do anything for you?

Wait, I know I said I would avoid stats. I won't even mention his four Cy Young awards, 355 wins, 3.16 ERA, his 3,371 strikeouts to 999 walks. No sir, for this was more about a guy who seemed like a regular guy, a genuine person who by all accounts lived modestly despite great wealth. He loved his computer games. In many ways, he was like a kid. A big kid who could throw a round, white ball like few who ever tried.

As someone who I knew would always display professionalism, yet also had a competitive spirit, I used to sit my son down and ask him to watch Maddux pitch. I'm not sure he understood why his dad was so intent on watching this pitcher who didn't seem to do anything thrilling, like throw a baseball 100 mph or float a knuckler like a butterfly.

But, in time, he learned. He now understands.

And all these good feelings about the man even overshadow the bad feelings associated with his departure from my beloved Cubbies in 1992. Then-GM Larry Himes let one of the best pitchers in the history of the game leave as a free agent and he went on to have his best seasons with the Atlanta Braves.

So, yeah, we'll both miss him. No frilly prose, that wouldn't fit the pitcher they called "Mad Dog", just a goodbye to one fo the grand masters of this great game we call baseball.

Oh, by the way, the other pitchers I would have paid to watch? Nolan Ryan, for the anticipation that every start could be a no-hitter and Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout performance against the Astros in 1998.

Greg Maddux, you will be missed, come to think of it.