The Artistry Of Mr. Maddux

摘要

Baseball's almost seamless history has had only one stark disjunction, the one about 1920, between the dead-ball and lively-ball eras. But within the lively-ball era there has been the steroids parenthesis—the era of some synthetically lively players—which now is closing. Greg Maddux has thrived throughout it. Only two pitchers in the lively-ball era have had four consecutive seasons with an earned run average under 2.40—Maddux and Sandy Koufax, who threw from a mound five inches higher than today's. In Maddux's four seasons (1992-95) his ERA was an astonishing 1.98, two runs per game lower than the National League's 3.99 over the same period. Today, as he prepares to win at least 15 games for a record 18th consecutive year, he represents physical normality in baseball.