Control Freaks

Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux, one of my childhood heroes, retired today after 23 seasons, including nine and a half with the Cubs.

Maddux, no. 13 on the all-time innings pitched list, was a control freak: He walked only 999 batters in 5008 1/3 innings. That’s an average 1.80 batters per nine innings pitched.

The next closest whose career overlapped at least one season with Maddux’s: Mike Mussina, no. 66 on the all-time innings pitched list. Mussina walked 785 batters in 3562 2/3 innings, or an average 1.98 batters per nine innings pitched. (Like Maddux, he’s retiring.)

Neither compares to legend Cy Young, no. 1 on the all-time innings pitched list, who played from 1890 through 1911. Young walked just 1217 batters in 7354 2/3 innings pitched, or an average 1.49 batters per nine innings pitched.

But here’s a real freak: Tommy Bond, who played for the Brooklyn Atlantics, Hartford Dark Blues, Boston Red Caps and Worcester Ruby Legs in the 1870s and 1880s. Bond walked just 198 batters in 3628 2/3 innings (including three crazy seasons with more than 520 innings pitched). That’s an average 0.49 walks per nine innings pitched.

The two active players ahead of Maddux: Carlos Silva, with 1.66 walks per nine innings, and two-time Cubs pitcher Jon Lieber, with 1.73 walks per nine innings pitched.