Just a little companion video to yesterday's upload on my main channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WHKo7f99kZE.html Also, go subscribe to This Is Where You Find Baseball: ru-vid.com
Yo I love how he wouldn't give Sosa SHIT to hit. The way kept throwing outside to make him reach and neutralize his power as much as possible. One of the greatest pitchers of all time man I freakin miss 90s baseball
Lol Yea he ain't getting those calls these days though. That ump was a big reason why this game went the way it did. And I'm a braves fan who grew up watching maddux.
@craigkennedy432 I just thought of how this was a hogging of the superstitions and how as a kid I'd do something like toggle between tbs and wgn just to get different perspectives. Wow, times like this I appreciate God for bringing my parents together to make me and have me live a life where I had these moments as a kid. I give my self crap today for never being the smartest, attractive, greatest, well celebrated, etc.. but to be alive and be able to look back on times like this is awesome. Now TBS has baseball for the whole nation.
*Fun Facts:* Maddux gave up that first hit in this game to Tyler Houston @ 2:35. They both attended the same high school, Valley in Las Vegas. Houston was drafted #2 overall by the Braves in ‘89. Maddux was drafted #31 overall by the Cubs in ‘84. It was interesting to see them face off against each other playing for the team that the other guy was drafted by.
Noticed that the pitch Houston hit was a first pitch 4 seam fastball. Smart hitting. He knew if he got deep in the count, Maddux would grab the advantage. Also, he served that ball into left field instead of trying to pull it. Awesome approach against Maddux. Houston never rec'd another outside fastball after that.
Dunston is a super nice guy. He autographed half a dozen things when I was a kid and was genuinely happy interacting with his fans. He’s the reason I played BB and SS.
There is a little bit of PITCHf/x data from 2007-2008 on Maddux. Obviously he was not throwing as hard then, but he was basically the same pitcher -- heavy reliance on a sinker, complemented with a cutter and circle change and occasional breaking ball.
@@sawmill035 Sure, though the strike zone has gotten taller as it's shrunk width-wise. More low and high called strikes than 20 years ago. Pitch tracking has actually grown the strike zone overall, rather than shrunk it.
The year Maddux pitched this game, there were 266 complete games pitched in the majors. The last time there were 200 complete games pitched in a year was 2003. The last time there were 100 complete games pitched in a year was 2015. This year might end with fewer complete games pitched than in *2020* -- a sixty-game season.
My takeaways from this: 1) I dunno why, but pitch 27 is my favorite. 2) The guy absolutely launched that bat away on pitch 58 3) Wow, that strike zone goes all the way to the batter's box on Maddux's left hand side and he definitely knew it cuz he kept pitching to that corner of the strike zone.
This is exactly my thing with Maddux too... you can say that pitchers generally got away with a lot in his era, and you can say that he got away with more than most of them due to his reputation, but does anyone REALLY doubt that Maddux is going to hit his spots if the refs force him to adjust his aim by six inches or so?
All of Maddux' pitches had movement which is why he was so effective. His two-seam fast ball was essentially a screw ball which moved from left to right and kept batters off balance.
He was a lot like a knuckleballer. Not much velocity at all... just different speeds all over the strike zone. In, out, up, down, break left, break right, and not enough velocity for anyone to crush anything. The fact that he was an outstanding fielder and a very good hitter for a pitcher probably gave him 30 more wins than he otherwise would have had.
Velocity is sexy, but it doesn't carry much weight in terms of keeping hitters off-balance. Major league hitters will turn around any fastball if they get a steady diet of them. Nolan Ryan had to feature a 12 to 6 curve ball thrown out of the same arm slot as his fastball to be effective. @@bradleyboyer9979
You just don't see the Grace, Boggs, Gwynn types anymore. Gwynn averaged 29 strikeouts a season. Boggs 49, Grace 78. 29 is an average month for some hitters. That's amazing.
Ryne Sandberg averaged 78 in his 16 years and over 8000 AB carreer. Don Mattingly took 3 SO in a game only once, and was in the very end of his carreer and averaged 31 per season.
Amazing to watch him stretch the strike zone in the first 2 innings, to suddenly in the 3rd inning throwing his 2seamer outside and getting the call or swings from the Cubs trying to protect. Grade A+ pitching
This was back when there was strategy in batting. Mark Grace (the #3 hitter) was up with a man on 2nd and no outs. His task was to advance the runner to third by hitting the ball to the right side which he did successfully by hitting an easy grounder to 2nd base after fouling one to the right initially. The game has changed. Very few 3 hole hitters are doing anything but swinging for the fences in this situation today. It's sad. I also miss strategies surrounding the pitcher batting 9th... Such as walking the 8th batter to get to the pitcher. Or the double switch when removing the pitcher because his spot was early in the lineup the next inning. Or taking a pitcher out early for a pinch hitter in a moment where the team needs a key hit with runners on. Watching these 30-year-old clips reminds me of when baseball used to be a great way to enjoy an afternoon.
The strike zone wasn’t as high, and was wider for sure. Its better now. This was just sort of accepted that every pitcher had to adapt to the ump’s zone for the game.
At least ten calls that were not strikes at all. I love Maddux but lets be fair. The outside corner with this umpire was strecthed out about 3 inches. With a smart pitcher that leaves hitters with a huge disadvantage.
@coreystone5370 seriously. Maddux is so overrated, can't even break 90, gets help from umpires, totally pushed by mlb to counter the steroid narrative. You have to wonder how much he really did to earn it.
Absolutely loved watching the Braves of the 90s. Their line up was unreal. Tom Glavine and Maddux start the game and watch crazy ass Rocker sprint from the bullpen to close it out lol. Great team to watch.
It is insane how accurate he was. Like a pitching machine. And once he got the outside corner, the ump gave him a few calls. He frustrated the hell out of hitters.
Was that a curveball? Looks more like a slider. Definitely a nasty sequence, especially how both breaking balls were set up by the back door sinker. Servais had no shot at that outside half of the plate.
Greg Maddux the greatest pitcher of all time Master of the mount he had unbelievable great stuff perfect locations changing speeds and Maddox had control of the ball almost like he had a string hooked to it they will never ever be another picture that can do what Greg Maddux done
its almost like he's throwing it like a wiffle ball, it has so much movement and speed variations that it's really hard to know what he's throwing and where it's going. that 2 seamer is a thing to behold... it starts way outside the zone but just tails back.
I so miss the days of Greg Maddux,Tom Glavine,and John Smoltz!!! Three of the best pitchers ever let alone on the same team!! Thank you for that fun fast walk down Braves memory lane⚾❤️🤍💙
That's an Eric Gregg strikezone. The guy was a known gambler. Look at his infamous 1997 NLCS game Braves vs Marlins when Livan Hernandez was on the mound against Maddux. He had the fix on against the Braves. It was obvious and there was nothing the Braves could do... but just take it. I remember watching it and being fumed. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mR3eK5gCChM.html
I know everyone is complaining about the expanded strike zone; but with the camera angle being from Maddux’s right side, anything on the left inside corner of the plate is going to look further inside than it is. We’re not seeing the pitches straight on like the umpire is. I’m not saying all of them were actually strikes, but they were closer than we’re seeing from our angle. Either way, it was a dominant performance.
Yeah that strike zone on the left side of the plate was about two inches too wide all game long. And that strike one call against Dunston in the ninth grazed the inside chalk of the left handed batter's box.
@@RickPerry-ve1vs Ok so the home plate umpire sucked the whole game then. Look, I love Greg Maddux, so let's just move on past all that. I'm not saying you're making this specific argument, but there's been a narrative among baseball broadcasters/analysts that assumes if an umpire's strike zone, however terrible, is called evenly between the two teams, then no harm done. I hate that. The strike zone is defined, not up for interpretation by douchebags like Angel Hernandez or whoever this idiot is. That is the end of my rant.
Maddox was getting the outside pitch called a strike the entire game by the home plate umpire Eric Gregg. Watch the call at 11:34. The catcher actually sets up outside the plate by an inch or two, and Maddox throws it about a foot outside the plate (based on the plate being 17 inches and the ball appears to be outside about 2/3 the plate width), and Gregg calls it a strike. I believe that was the most egregious called strike in this game, but there may have been a few more egregious ones.
Every one of his pitches complement each other perfectly. Helps when you get those calls for strikes that far off the corner as well. I don't know who the home plate ump was but goddamn man
I remember SportsCenter doing this that night, only it was each pitch without the result of each. It ran about one second per pitch for the reel. Impressive stuff. To this day as an official scorer, I refer to any completedd inning of less than 10 pitches as a "Maddux" (Sorry, Red Barrett, only learned of you about a year ago.)
Even the pitches that mistakenly leak-out over the middle surprise the hitters, because of the frisbee-like movement. He maybe had 3 leakers the whole game.
The players in this game: the HOFers Sandberg and Chipper in addition to Maddux. Add in Sosa and A. Jones and you've got 5 starters with more than 60 fWAR a piece. Edit: Mark Grace was pretty good, too.
Beautiful pitching to Mark Grace. Hit's outside corner for a strike, the comes inside and his the corner for strike 3. So too, Maddux knew this Cubbie team would try to pull every outside pitch ... the result being a lot of ground ball outs.
Remarkable performance, but home plate umpire Eric Gregg should get credit also. His strike zone was wider than he is! I love the look on the face of the reliever the Braves had up in the bullpen in the 9th. I'm sure he's thinking, "What the heck am I doing this for?!!!"
This is the most amazing pitching performance in history. Most pitchers throw more than this in 6-7 innings. Goes to show just how his pitches made hitters just look and feel silly. Something about his style makes people swing and make minimal contact.
With Maddux, you get to see only the top half of the ball as a hitter, because everything he throws stays down, and has downward movement. This induces ground balls. He generally gave-up very few fly ball outs as a result.
Eric "Hamburger" Gregg's strike zone was almost as wide as himself.. But, he called it for both pitchers. Maddux was smart enough to take advantage of it and throw one of the best pitching performances I have ever seen. 78 freaking pitches, lol Unreal.
I was at this game with my dad - the first of a doubleheader. We didn't even realize that we had seen this game because, as a young Cubs fan, all I cared about was the fact that the Cubs lost and not that we had just witnessed a pitching masterpiece.
Man, I'm struck by how "clean" and "peaceful" watching a game on television was back then. No tickers, no watermarks, heck there aren't even any advertisements lining the ballfield.
