Greg Maddux on “the Maddux”, 90’s Braves, Tony Gwynn, Prank humor

00:00:02
Speaker 1: We have Hall of Fame or Greg Maddox with us right now. We haven't had you on. We've been looking forward to talking to you. Well, happy to be here. Yeah, I don't know what you've heard about us, but we've been looking forward to talking to you. We've talked to Glad and we've talked to Smoltz. How he smelted at golf event. By the way, versus Smoltz when you played with.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: Him, it's just like he's pitching. It's like he's starting today. He's kind of the same person. So yeah, you know, you always have you know, you always on a little different level on game day, and that's that's where he's.

00:00:30
Speaker 3: At right now. Are you like that too.

00:00:34
Speaker 2: I think I'm a little more mellow than Smoltzy, you know. I think I realize I'm here to have fun and enjoy the guys in the golf trip and.

00:00:42
Speaker 3: Smoltzy's trying to win.

00:00:43
Speaker 2: It's kind of a different you know, it's a different beast for the both of us. And I think I'm having more fun than him, that's for sure.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, you think.

00:00:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we had Pavelski on and he played with Smolts yesterday. Uh huh, And I said, what's Smoltz trash talk like? So you ever heard Smoltz trash talk?

00:01:02
Speaker 2: Uh, I've heard him talk a little trash for over the years. Uh you know it's pretty clean. You know, he's he keeps it clean, and uh uh he's fun to play with.

00:01:13
Speaker 5: Obviously, were like, what was he like on star bas what was what was Smoltzy like on stardas You just you mentioned that he was kind of locked in? What did that look like?

00:01:24
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you're just a little bit more serious, you know, with your attitude and you look the way you walk around the clubhouse and all that as opposed to the four days off and and uh you can kind of see it on just about every starting pitcher. Uh there's a couple that, you know, you don't notice much of a difference, but uh, you know there in Atlanta when it was Moltzi's turn to pitch, he was definitely moving a little bit quicker and uh uh not quite as talkative as.

00:01:48
Speaker 3: He normally is. And what about you.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: I like to just kind of chill out and get in a card game and and uh, you know, get the lineup card, look at the lineup card and kind of go over my notes and uh, you know, play a game of Hearts or pluck with the boys.

00:02:02
Speaker 3: Did you walk around in your white underwear? You didn't? You know you're in a tidy whitey guy. You were? Uh, you were the long underwear, the old man white you know. Uh I had the.

00:02:13
Speaker 2: Half size on maybe. Uh yeah, I guess Hell, the whole team did I know?

00:02:19
Speaker 3: That's true? That's true. That's what we.

00:02:21
Speaker 4: Said, Chipper, Because did Schipper wear like nine pairs of sliding shorts?

00:02:25
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:02:25
Speaker 2: Chip, Yeah, Chipper was Yeah, he goes, I don't want to slide and get scabbed up for two months, so he uh yeah, he was very protected in case he had to slide.

00:02:35
Speaker 1: Hey, I've been watching Oh go ahead, crats.

00:02:39
Speaker 5: You said you said you would. You would get the lineup card and you'd take a look at that. It's way more extensive.

00:02:45
Speaker 3: Now.

00:02:46
Speaker 5: Would you have done the more extensive stuff now or would that have gotten in the way of what you were? What you know, what made you better?

00:02:57
Speaker 3: Uh?

00:02:59
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I I did most of my own scouting. I think the stuff now today is great. I think I would pull bits and pieces up. But for sure, you know, I'd love to know if aj hits, you know one twenty on two to one count changeups as opposed to you know for twenty You know you get you get stuff like that.

00:03:14
Speaker 3: It's pretty valuable.

00:03:15
Speaker 2: So uh, I think you would pull out the stuff that you think you can actually execute and uh use it.

00:03:22
Speaker 4: Your advantage wouldn't have helped them. Crouds wouldn't help them against me at nine for seventeen.

00:03:28
Speaker 3: That's sorry about nine seventeen. That's why for this I I was like, but no walks. You didn't walk at some point, I figured you would intentionally walked me. Well, you were hitting eight.

00:03:41
Speaker 1: There it is.

00:03:43
Speaker 3: There, it is, Yeah, but the picture was behind me at some point. That's true. But then again, you probably couldn't have walked because they were throwing it up.

00:03:49
Speaker 2: Here and then I have to face the lead off hitter, know you.

00:03:54
Speaker 4: That's why I said he couldn't That's why he didn't want me, because he couldn't have physically thrown it far enough outside for me to swing.

00:04:01
Speaker 3: That's good.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: Are you watching the Braves or any other Do you watch a lot of ball?

00:04:05
Speaker 2: I watched a little bit of the Rangers. You know, my brother's over there in Texas, and uh, what do I got.

00:04:10
Speaker 1: Wait, he's doing this.

00:04:11
Speaker 3: For a reason out here, for to check your heart rebate and I'm getting the warm fuzzy Yeah, your brother and everything he comes to money.

00:04:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, he asks a lot of the guys about it.

00:04:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, we uh, we have fun with that at Thanksgiving holidays. Well we'll do the like the run, you know, he's got that run, and we'll do the run and we try to give him running practice I think one holiday and just so he wouldn't embarrass a family as much. But uh, yeah, he's good and uh, he's good at what he does. And you know, I know he's uh taught me an awful lot about baseball growing up, being the older brother. And uh, it's always nice to have that resource, you know, in your back pocket when you need a little help. Sometimes your brother's a little bit better than the coaches you got.

00:04:55
Speaker 1: So how often do you have conversations about work? Obviously in the thing, but yeah, what's going on? What's wrong right now?

00:05:02
Speaker 3: You know?

00:05:03
Speaker 2: We you know, we used to talk a lot when we were playing together. You know, that was before all the scouting. And you know, if if his team played, say the Brewers, and our team was playing the Cubs. We'd cross and I'd give him the Cub Report and he'd give me the Brewer Report, and we shared a lot of information and I think we helped on one another out tremendously during our careers.

00:05:28
Speaker 3: When you look at baseball now, when you see guys like Schoob go through the Mattocks, is it cool that there's something called the Matti Yeah, that's kind of cool. Cool.

00:05:37
Speaker 2: I mean you like, you know, you're out of the game for twenty years now, and it gets brought up because somebody did something good.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.

00:05:43
Speaker 2: And you know, I like watching that guy pitch, like I can just prep sure that guy actually pitches.

00:05:49
Speaker 4: He has fun too, Yeah, he talks a little trash, Yeah, yeah, I see that.

00:05:55
Speaker 1: Okay, KP, this is your first arena club experience. We're going to open this lab pack together. So first off, if we're gonna buy one of those twenty five dollars slab packs and we get to see what is in the pack. There, it is the Grail, which is the best card in the pack and worth the most. There are some other cards that we're chasing, and you can see the entire lineup, so that you know what you're in the running for. There's the Yamamoto signed card. Now let's open up our pack and see how we do. We have ourselves a really cool graphic and then a show Heyo Tani fifty to fifty card from last year. What do you want to do? Should we sell it right back to them for sixteen or should.

00:06:35
Speaker 3: We keep it? You should give it to me, I'll keep.

00:06:39
Speaker 1: Good answer, Fine, I will give it to you. Since the Blue Jays didn't getto Tani, you can get this fifty to fifty card instead and use the code foul foul to get yourself twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase. Yes, you get to keep that card if you want it. They send it to you foul at Arena club dot com slash foul.

00:06:58
Speaker 3: I've always wanted to know this, is it true? Well? I saw all the documentaris Eddie Peretz.

00:07:02
Speaker 4: The reason you had to call the pitches for Eddie perets because he didn't remember what fingers he put down. So that's why I know, because Eddie's Eddie. But this is how I could hit youse. Every time he went like this, he threw me a change up. So I was like, oh, change ups.

00:07:16
Speaker 3: Coming, probably a fastball.

00:07:17
Speaker 2: He probably.

00:07:21
Speaker 3: You probably just thought it was a gan. But how did you get the ball to move so much?

00:07:28
Speaker 4: Because you were the originator really of the front of the front hip sinker.

00:07:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was very fortunate in high school. I had a pitching coach that taught me that movement was more important than velocity, and he kind of changed my arm mangaled when I was, you know, fifteen, sixteen years old to create movement, and that was how I learned. I learned movement was more important than velocity. I learned location was more important than velocity. And I learned changing speeds it was more important than velocity. So you know, for me, it was obviously you want to throw hard, harder the better, but you know there's things more important than that in order to get hitters out. And uh, that's the way I was raised and brought up.

00:08:09
Speaker 1: Now, some guys won't get noticed if I understand throw hard enough. They feel that kids kids will be like, I don't think I'm going to get a look because there's just a barometer where they're like, we don't think he's going to be able to throw hard enough. Even though you can do a lot of other things.

00:08:24
Speaker 2: I understand. I understand that part of it. But uh, you know, in the day I threw hard. I mean I I came up, I threw hard. I threw hard enough to get drafted, and uh you know I was. I was taught your fastball is going to get you drafted, and if you learn how to pitch, that's how you make your money.

00:08:42
Speaker 4: You could throw ninety five though, right, No, you don't think how about with today's radar guns, today's radar guns, I might be a tick or two higher, obviously, but uh.

00:08:52
Speaker 2: You know, I think you know, when I was throwing hard, I was you know, ninety one to ninety three when I was thrown hard, and uh yeah, but when like this, yeah, you get older, you start losing stuff, and then.

00:09:04
Speaker 3: The strike zone was we a bit wlighter?

00:09:06
Speaker 2: Well I would like to got the high strike they're getting today, but that would have been nice. You know, we might have got you know, a couple of inches off the plate, and you know, I'd like to have the foot and a half up too, But you know, it is what it is. You always adapt to whatever the strikes one is that day, you know how it is.

00:09:21
Speaker 3: I mean you. I mean it changes day.

00:09:23
Speaker 5: To day, different era, different errors. Always hate on other eras, whether it's the older guys or the newer guys. Some people were like, well, Crang Maddox, he wouldn't have survived with the ABS system that's coming in next year. How do you think you would have been able to had success with that or even like you just mentioned, with the with the zone that's consistent that's called right now.

00:09:46
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I'd like to think I could have adapted to it. I mean, I think if you look at every generation, all the top players were top players for a reason. They during their time, they were able to have a little more success. And uh, you know, it's just like the pitchers today. I mean, they could have pitched in our air and then and you know, twenty years from now, they'll probably saying the same thing about them.

00:10:10
Speaker 3: You would have been fine.

00:10:11
Speaker 4: He would have been fine because he just would have brought the ball back a little bit more. I mean, he started the sinker off the plate like this bar and it would just and Charlie O'Brien's back there like this, and he just never moves his globe.

00:10:23
Speaker 3: Oh, ball's alf far off this plate. Stright the old time.

00:10:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, hey, the other pitcher got it too. That's one of the things. You know, I like everyone says Atlanta. You know, we got more pitches than anybody. And you know, when you sit there and you watch our games, if we're getting a little bit off the plate, well the other guy was getting it too.

00:10:44
Speaker 3: We just threw more there.

00:10:45
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, we were able to adapt to the strike zone a little bit better than most of the guys we faced. Uh, you know, it wasn't like the other guy didn't get it too.

00:10:55
Speaker 3: That's true. Uh.

00:10:57
Speaker 1: We have spoken to hundreds and hundreds of current and former players on this show, and I think you still stand tall as the best prankster you know baseball history.

00:11:07
Speaker 3: So I'm not sure where I got that rep at. Really, you've heard it many times.

00:11:13
Speaker 1: I mean, you just you must have had at least you just had a few good ones that that were like, there's all timers and people just kept talking about it.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: I think over the years, guys like do embellish to be honest with you, you know how that goes. You know, the older I get, the funnier it was or whatever. And yeah, you you.

00:11:29
Speaker 4: Are a jokester though, Like, I know you're playing it down right now, but you are because you put the glasses on. You know, if someone saw you walking down the street, have no idea that you were a Hall of Fame picture with three hundred and fifty wins. Yeah, but you're a joke You're a jokester. But uh, I like to have fun the jokester too, So you must run in the fans.

00:11:48
Speaker 3: He's sick.

00:11:49
Speaker 2: He's the sick one of the fans, the sick one one. I mean, everything I learned, he taught me right, and you still got to going in the game today.

00:11:59
Speaker 3: That's true, all.

00:12:00
Speaker 4: Right, So we got to ask Tony Gwynn, toughest guy for you to get out. Four point fifteen, one hundred and seven plate appearances, zero strikeouts.

00:12:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I struck him out once and the Yump didn't call it. I thought I got him, and I think the yump kind of didn't give it to me. But uh, the best pure hitter obviously. I mean, if if a single is going to beat you, that's the guy you didn't want to. But I think obviously Barry was hands down the best. You know during the time. You know, Chef had Barry, okay, because I walked him all the time. But uh yeah, I mean you pretty much had to pitch to Tony because he hit second. And you know, Tony Gwinn was cool because he's a guy that you know how you beat lineups and not hitters. That was like the first time that you have to learn that when you face the padres, because uh you know, you got to find your twenty seven outs and you know they're not going to be with Tony, so you know, you better make sure you get the guys out in front of him and after him, and then you got a pretty good chance to win.

00:13:05
Speaker 3: Is the story about, was it bag? Well?

00:13:08
Speaker 4: That that story is? That story is correct about you gave up a homer to get him later.

00:13:14
Speaker 2: It's not that you're trying to give up a homer. You're trying to throw a pitch that he might be looking forward to try to keep him there. You know, I always thought hitters remember success, you know, and if they have success off you, that's what they're gonna remember, and that's probably where their eyes are going to be looking during the game.

00:13:32
Speaker 4: That's smart because when I first came up, I had a backup catcher was a guy named Tom Prince, and he used to tell me, hey, every once in a while, if there's two outs, nobody on, you have a really good hitter. You're right to the stuff to get him out. You kind of give him a little something m early series, early in a game, like you said, to get them excited, like, oh, they are gonna throw me a sinker in where I crush it.

00:13:54
Speaker 3: Every once in a while.

00:13:55
Speaker 4: He's like, yeah, do with two outs and nobody on, you have a lead, just so when you need to go the slider, you haven't used it yet.

00:14:01
Speaker 3: And then when I heard that story, I was like, oh, that's where that came from.

00:14:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, uh, you remember success. I mean I remember my first home run that was thirty years ago. I mean it was a hitter middle right. You know, you don't forget stuff like that. You know, it's like making a hole in one.

00:14:17
Speaker 5: Greg, you were and I'll say this with all due respect, you were only an All Star eight times. I had no idea.

00:14:24
Speaker 3: That is a.

00:14:25
Speaker 5: Crazy number to me. How during those times do you feel like you were slighted a couple of times? I mean we're talking. This is a four time cy Young Award winner and only an eight time All Star.

00:14:40
Speaker 2: Uh not really, I mean, uh, pictures had to earn it. We weren't voted in by the fans. We got picked and uh, you know, the best you know, six or seven starting pitchers that had the first half were the ones going in. Uh you know, I think, uh, you know, I don't think I ever really felt slighted, you know, by by not being selected.

00:15:04
Speaker 3: Uh. You know, all Star games are fun. They're exciting to go to.

00:15:07
Speaker 2: But it's also kind of cool to have the three days off as well, and and uh, you know, it is what it is.

00:15:13
Speaker 3: No, I don't feel slight at all. Yeah, you're in the Hall of Fame. You did, okay, Yeah, yeah, we're all spallid Hall of Famer. Three hundred and fifty five wins were.

00:15:20
Speaker 1: To pitch your All Stars back then because they pitched. Yeah, I know now they don't pitch most of them.

00:15:26
Speaker 3: Another one. Here's another one, here's another one. Yeah.

00:15:29
Speaker 1: Well, Greg, thank you so much for time, Thank you, good luck out there. I thank you, appreciate it.