They swung and missed on Maddux

Greg Maddux, who will likely go down as the best pitcher of the final decade of the 20th century, will announce his retirement on Monday at the winter meetings in Las Vegas after 23 big-league seasons. Some memorable quotes by and about Maddux:

(And check out his career highlights in this special gallery.)

• "He's not a strikeout pitcher, and he probably won't ever win 25 or 30 games in the big leagues. But he should have a good big-league career." - Jim Colburn, a minor-league coach of Maddux, who won 355 games and ranked 10th all-time in strikeouts (from ESPN.com)
• "I try to do two things: locate my fastball and change speeds. That's it. I try to keep it as simple as possible. I just throw my fastball [to] both sides of the plate and change speed every now and then. There's no special food or anything like that. I just try to make quality pitches and try to be prepared each time I go out there." - Maddux (from MLB.com)
• "He's remarkable. I've watched and admired him from across the field. Tonight was, you could say, vintage." - Dodgers manager Joe Torre, after Maddux's final victory, a 2-1 win in September (from the Associated Press)
• "In all honesty, I have felt this game has given me more than I ever thought it would in the first place. I just wanted to have a good game. I haven't had many since I got here." - Maddux, after his final win (from MLB.com)
• “I’m 42, and I have two kids and a wife. Those are really the only reasons. I’m getting too old, and my kids are getting too old. It’s a combination of those two.” - Maddux, to the Las Vegas Sun, on Dec. 5.

And from Rob Meyer of ESPN.com, on Maddux and Roger Clemens:

• "I don't know which of them was the better pitcher, because their career records are, if not indistinguishable, close enough for government work. Clemens was slightly more effective, Maddux slightly more durable (and thus dependable). But the most interesting thing about Maddux isn't that he's one of the two greatest pitchers most of [us] have ever seen. The most interesting thing about Greg Maddux is that he proved, for 22 years, that there's more than one way to get there."