For the Greg Maddux fans

Goldenage

Give us a HOFamer who hit over .400
against him. Minimum 100 ABs.

AFLfan

Tony Gwynn?

Goldenage

@AFLfan said:
Tony Gwynn?

I thought of you when I asked the question.

I was hoping you would guess.

Mr. Gwynn is it.

What a swing.

AFLfan

I might not have known had it not been for Super70s Sports on Twitter. He must be a big Gwynn fan as he posts a lot of positive things about him, including some stuff about Gwynn and Maddux.

thisistheshow

@AFLfan said:
Tony Gwynn?

..
This would have to be the answer. Good guess!

LandrysFedora

Gwynn raked against the big 3 of that 90's Braves rotation, Glavine, Smoltz, and Maddux. I could be mistaken but I believe he hit north of .300 against all 3. And if not, as a lifelong Braves fan it sure felt like it! It was a privilege to watch Mr Gwynn hit during his great career.

craig44

I really miss watching Greg pitch and Tony hit.

Darin

I miss those guys who took pride in not striking out.
Gwynn, Brett, Boggs, Carew, etc.

craig44

@Darin said:
I miss those guys who took pride in not striking out.
Gwynn, Brett, Boggs, Carew, etc.

I do too. those guys get knocked nowadays by the WAR crews because some of them didnt walk enough. (except for Boggs, he walked a ton) But in context, that is not how the game was viewed back then. the best hitters were expected to swing the bat and not walk down to first base after a walk. They were all good enough hitters to adjust to how the game is played today.

As a Boston fan, I can remember watching Boggs take BP before games at Fenway. he actually had tremendous power. hit tons of balls out. but that wasnt the type of hitter he chose to be in game.

watching Brett play, as I recall, he was a screaming line drive hitter. I am positive, had he played today, the coaches would have adjusted his "launch angle" and he would probably have his many more home runs.

galaxy27

Maddux was Picasso on a diamond. the movement on his pitches was mesmerizing. dude probably never hit the gun harder than the low 90s, but it might as well have been 105.

i've never forget the 77-pitch complete game he tossed back in the late 90s. 8.5 pitches per inning on average. that, my friends, is a sick feat.

thisistheshow

@galaxy27 said:
Maddux was Picasso on a diamond. the movement on his pitches was mesmerizing. dude probably never hit the gun harder than the low 90s, but it might as well have been 105.

i've never forget the 77-pitch complete game he tossed back in the late 90s. 8.5 pitches per inning on average. that, my friends, is a sick feat.

...
Apparently there was a bit of controversy on the number of pitches thrown, and I believe it is now described as a 78 pitch complete game. lol. Here is a video showing all 78, if anyone wants to watch. https://youtu.be/oh-AxpN3c6w

Alfonz24

@Darin said:
I miss those guys who took pride in not striking out.
Gwynn, Brett, Boggs, Carew, etc.

Tony never did strikeout against Maddog.

What would go through a pitcher's mind knowing he could not strike out someone.

galaxy27

very interesting showstopper. even baseball reference has him @ 77, but it was indeed 78

Darin

@craig44 said:

@Darin said:
I miss those guys who took pride in not striking out.
Gwynn, Brett, Boggs, Carew, etc.

I do too. those guys get knocked nowadays by the WAR crews because some of them didnt walk enough. (except for Boggs, he walked a ton) But in context, that is not how the game was viewed back then. the best hitters were expected to swing the bat and not walk down to first base after a walk. They were all good enough hitters to adjust to how the game is played today.

As a Boston fan, I can remember watching Boggs take BP before games at Fenway. he actually had tremendous power. hit tons of balls out. but that wasnt the type of hitter he chose to be in game.

watching Brett play, as I recall, he was a screaming line drive hitter. I am positive, had he played today, the coaches would have adjusted his "launch angle" and he would probably have his many more home runs.

When Brett was in a slump he hit a lot of grounders to second base, especially balls on the outside part of the plate.
His timing was off and he would be pulling outside pitches.
When he was hitting well, he would hit those outside pitches hard to left field. Those screaming line drives as you said.
Brett and Willie Wilson are the two Royals I remember most who took full advantage of spacious Royals Stadium outfield.
If you count just doubles and triples I would guess Brett is ahead of probably everyone from the 70's until now.
Glad he didn't try to hit more home runs, Royals Stadium just wasn't the home park to do that in.