Why Greg Maddux, known for elite command, says he threw a wild first pitch at Wrigley Field
Greg Maddux was known for two things in his Hall of Fame pitching career: immaculate command of the strike zone and a love of practical jokes.
On Saturday, it was the latter that was apparently on full display.
Maddux, who had two tours with the Chicago Cubs, threw out the first pitch before Saturday’s game at Wrigley Field as part of the franchise’s 150th anniversary celebration. But instead of dotting the outside corner or looping one in the middle of the zone, he casually threw a pitch about five feet wide of the plate and a few feet behind it that bounced between the legs of a cameraman.
The cameraman seemed to enjoy it, and so did the former and current Cubs who were on the field getting honored as part of the club’s 150th-anniversary team. Derrek Lee, who played with Maddux from 2004 through 2006, was doubled over in laughter.
Maddux, who threw it in front of the mound, flashed a wide grin before and after the pitch. He then walked over to share a chuckle with his ex-teammates Kerry Wood and Rick Sutcliffe before lining up between Sutcliffe and Jon Lester.
Jon Lester on Greg Maddux’s errant first pitch: “It was good spin rate. I think that’s the first 4-seamer he’s ever thrown in his life.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/wv5F3lCBVa
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 29, 2026
So did he do that on purpose?
In the bottom of the second inning, Maddux visited the Cubs’ TV booth and play-by-play man Jon “Boog” Sciambi started the interview by asking if someone paid him off to hit a guy in the leg.
“A couple reasons,” he said with a laugh. “Sutcliffe was going to give me a hundred bucks if I hit one of the camera guys. Then I decided the way the game is going today, I was going for spin rate as opposed to location.”
“We figured there had to be money on the line,” said Cubs color analyst Jim Deshaies, a former big-league pitcher himself.
After they watched a replay of the pitch, Maddux said in his classic deadpan delivery, “Yeah, that was brutal.”
Maddux just turned 60 this year, but it’s hard to believe his command disappeared. He threw just 70 wild pitches in his 23-year major-league career, with 38 coming in 302 games with the Cubs. He rarely faced a hitter with a 3-0 count and walked just 999 hitters in 5,008 1/3 innings (1.8 walks per nine innings).
The Cubs chose Maddux in the second round of the 1984 draft, and he made his big-league debut in 1986. He won his first of four straight Cy Young Awards in 1992, his last year with the team. He signed as a free agent with the Braves after the season, and led the NL in walk rate seven times in his 11 seasons with Atlanta. Maddux returned to the Cubs in 2004 and was traded to the Dodgers when the Cubs were out of contention in 2006. The Cubs did a joint number retirement for Maddux and Fergie Jenkins in 2009, and in 2014, Maddux was an easy first-ballot selection for the Hall of Fame.