The Glove After the Pitch

We remember Greg Maddux for the pitches. The painted corners, the late movement, the hitters walking back to the dugout shaking their heads. But the part of his game that aged best might have been what happened after the ball left his hand.

Pitchers are supposed to be the weak link on defense. The ball comes back at them faster than it comes at anyone else, and most are still falling off the mound when it does. Maddux finished every delivery balanced and ready, like fielding was part of the pitch.

He won the award every year from 1990 through 2008 except one. He passed Jim Kaat and Brooks Robinson in 2007, then added one more the next year at age 42, in his final season. The glove never slowed down, even when the fastball did.

Nobody at any position, not the shortstops, not the center fielders, has more. It came from the guy who looked least like an athlete on the field, and that's about as Maddux as it gets.