Presented by HARMON TRAVEL.
This Day In Sports…July 22, 1997:
It isn’t a perfect game, but Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves turns perhaps the most spectacular pitching performances of his career. Maddux threw a complete game against the Chicago Cubs using just 76 pitches in a 4-1 victory. Only 13 of the throws were balls (and, not surprisingly, he didn’t issue a walk). Maddux got to two balls on a batter only twice—Mark Grace in the second and Sammy Sosa in the seventh. The game lasted only two hours and seven minutes, an unthinkably short time in that era.
The most pitches Maddux threw in an inning was 12 in the fourth, when a seeing-eye single, a stolen base and two grounders manufactured a run. And the efficiency was not an anomaly, as within the preceding month Maddux had spun an 84-pitch shutout against the defending world champion New York Yankees and a 90-pitch complete game in a win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Maddux was the greatest pitcher of the 1990s, when he notched 176 of his 355 career victories.
The fewest pitches on record in a complete game is a stunning 58 by Charlie “Red” Barrett of the Boston Braves in a 2-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Barrett allowed two hits and walked no one in a game that lasted just one hour and 15 minutes, the shortest night game in MLB history. Only two pitchers have bested Maddux’s 76 pitches since. Carlos Silva of the Minnesota Twins needed just 74 pitches to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005, and Aaron Cook of the Colorado Rockies likewise tossed only 74 pitches in a win over the San Diego Padres in 2007.
One of Maddux’s nicknames is “Mad Dog,” and maybe you’ve heard that Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen is indeed named after Greg Maddux. Madsen’s parents are consummate baseball fans. Madsen has five brothers: Mays (after Willie Mays), Mick (Mickey Mantle), McGwire (Mark McGwire) and Murphy (Dale Murphy). There’s one daughter in the Madsen family, Macy Jo (Joe DiMaggio).
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
