Baseball Notes: Maddux, 42, to retire; Hall spot appears safe
Greg Maddux, the four-time Cy Young Award winner, will announce his retirement Monday at the baseball winter meetings, near his home in Las Vegas.
Greg Maddux, the four-time Cy Young Award winner, will announce his retirement Monday at the baseball winter meetings, near his home in Las Vegas.
Maddux, who turns 43 in April, ranks eighth on the career list with 355 wins. The righthander was 8-13 with a 4.22 earned run average last season with San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Maddux made three relief appearances in the playoffs for the Dodgers this year - he had an 0.00 ERA in four innings - and then filed for free agency amid speculation that he would retire.
Yesterday, confirmation came from the office of Maddux's agent, Scott Boras.
Maddux is one win ahead of Roger Clemens on the career list. Overall, "Mad Dog" is 355-227 with a 3.16 ERA and is considered a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible after five years.
He won Cy Young Awards from 1992 to '95 and a record 18 Gold Gloves while with the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta, the Dodgers and the Padres.
Maddux was an eight-time all-star and won at least 13 games in 20 straight seasons, a streak that ended this year.
He always will be associated with top teams in Atlanta. With fellow 300-game winner Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, Maddux helped the Braves win division titles for more than a decade and their lone World Series championship in Atlanta, in 1995.
Maddux made his major-league debut in September 1986 with the Cubs - as a pinch-runner. He wound up losing the game in relief.
His brother Mike started his big-league career three months earlier as a pitcher for the Phillies.
Elsewhere.
The Braves added catching depth by signing free agent David Ross, 31, formerly with Cincinnati and Boston, to a two-year, $3 million contract. . . . The Los Angeles Angels signed Pil Joon Jang, a 20-year-old righthander from South Korea, to a minor-league contract. . . . The Cleveland Indians signed righthander Tomo Ohka, 32, to a minor-league deal. He has won 50 games in nine major-league seasons with Boston, Washington, Milwaukee and Toronto.