Among the great things about baseball are some that its critics most disparage — too slow and too many statistics. Many of us that love baseball cherish most that it moves at a pace that allows us to revel in the inside stuff.
Joe Posnanski has written another piece that shows what I mean. There are human beings that despite the great effort it takes to pitch, can throw the ball with various speeds and spins and move it around within a finite space. Read about Glavine and Maddux deep in his story and think of the mastery it takes. The Ball-Strike Machine.
I don’t think there’s really any question that Maddux in his prime was the beneficiary of a wide strike zone. He didn’t just achieve this with his name or reputation. He achieved it by expanding the zone with his almost ludicrous command of pitching. He pitched the way a brilliant shell-game operator works the cup and balls — he showed the umpire a pitch a tenth of an inch outside, then pitch a half inch outside, then a pitch three-quarters of an inch outside, and so on, until he could throw a pitch into Centennial Park and the umpire would think it grazed the corner.