We all know how it turned out: Greg Maddux (along with longtime teammate Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas) swept into the Hall of Fame, his name appearing on over 97% of ballots. Amidst a week of debate, controversy, anger, and scandal, the Professor’s election was entirely justified and surprised exactly no one.

Maddux’s resume has something for everyone. Fans of advanced metrics point to his 107 career Wins Above Replacement, or the fact that he led the league in adjusted ERA+ each year of his historic run of four consecutive Cy Young Awards (1992-95). For the counters, his 355 wins trail only Warren Spahn among pitchers who were born after 1900. He threw over 5,000 innings, and started at least 25 games twenty-two years in a row. He handled a bat with skill, fielded his position as well as any pitcher in history, and dominated hitters during an era of video-game offensive output with middling velocity and a slight, 170-pound frame. Greg Maddux is a living legend, one of the greatest baseball players of anyone’s lifetime, and any person harboring even a shred of doubt about his Hall of Fame candidacy needs to have their head checked.

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