Maddux is one of the more fascinating pitchers in history. He hit his prime as hitting was getting better, but he was nearly unhittable for a good 10 years.

Did he change the game, i.e., was the game any different because of him after his heyday, or was he basically an anomaly such that the game evolved irrespective o' Maddux's influence??

As an analogy think about how Steph Curry changed the NBA with his 3-point prowess. Same concept but applied to Maddux and baseball.

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no. He was unique.

It would be a longshot for a pitcher with his skills to even be given a chance today. Heck, the Cubs didn't even value him in his prime.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Maddux threw 93 in his early days, he wasn't some soft tosser.

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Kyle Hendricks.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

best pitcher on the team and he gets stuck behind all the guys with "stuff"

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Did Greg Maddux change the game at all?
Nope. Off the top of my head, there's Babe Ruth, Bob Gibson, and Bill James/Billy Beane. I'd like to say Earl Weaver but he mostly got ignored.

Maddux was fucking awesome, but I don't think he changed the game.

I like the Hendricks comp....Hendricks isn't Maddux but they're comparable in terms of being RH pin-point precision pitchers.

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Two seamers were rare before Maddux. Now many pitchers throw two seamers.

He was to the two seam fastball what Mariano Rivera was to the cutter.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

they showed some Maddux games today.

Playoff game in 1995, and another in 1996, and in 2001 all with the Braves.

Amazing pitcher.

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Really? Maddux's was a hybrid. Everybody else's was just a tiny little tailer compared to his. Seaver's was pretty good though. Buehrle had one. Richard Dotson had one. I figured everybody had one since it's so easy to throw.

Actually, a lot of Joe Maddon's game philosophy seemed to be taken heavily from Weaver.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

He changed the game by being beloved by two organizations even though he only succeeded at one of them.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I can't say I saw any baseball live pre-Maddux, but if you go off of lists of 'greatest pitchers with 2-seamers', you only see about two pitchers that pre-date Maddux. Post-Maddux, especially from the mid 90's on, the number jumps up.

Certainly not the scientific method, but it seems as if he had an impact on the use of the pitch increasing tenfold.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.