Continuing to capture endless accolades, Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux won the 18th Gold Glove Award of his career on this day in Los Angeles Dodgers history. The announcement on November 5, 2008, gave Maddux two Gold Gloves with the Dodgers.
Coupled with eight All-Star Game nods and four Cy Young Awards (earned in consecutive seasons for the first time in MLB history), Maddux’s 18th Gold Glove extended a Major League record. It was two more than Brooks Robinson and Jim Kaat both had.
Maddux, playing in his 23rd and final season in the Major Leagues, began 2008 with the San Diego Padres but was traded to Dodgers just before that’ year’s deadline. The eight-time All-Star made seven starts for L.A., posting a 2-4 record with a 5.09 ERA.
The Texas native also reached 5,000 innings while with the Dodgers, and earned his 355th career win to surpass Roger Clemens for eighth all-time in MLB history.
Maddux, whose career will always be decorated with endless accomplishments and praise, is regarded as perhaps the best fielding pitcher in baseball history. Not only does he own the most Gold Glove Awards for a pitcher, but his 546 putouts are the most ever recorded by the position.
Greg Maddux’s legacy
Arguably one of the best pitchers in the game’s history, Maddux’s career accomplishments and figures still dazzle well after his retirement.
With a career 3.16 ERA, Maddux is the only pitcher in the history of baseball to win at least 15 games in a span of 17 seasons. His career WHIP is an astonishingly low 1.14, highlighted by an era in which he won his four consecutive Cy Young Awards, it was consistently below 1.00 each season.
Maddux’s 3,371 strikeouts rank 10th all-time.
In February 2016, the Dodgers hired Maddux as a special assistant, and that July he joined the University of Nevada, Las Vegas baseball team as pitching coach.
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