My vintage card of the week: The 1987 Topps Traded Tiffany Greg Maddux. It’s not technically “vintage” by most standards, but the Professor is my favorite player of all time, so I figured I’d squeeze him in here. I watched every Mad Dog start I could on TBS and WGN back in the ‘90s and ‘00s. Saw him pitch a couple times at Wrigley when I was in grad school. He absolutely dominated the steroid era with a fastball that might touch 90 mph, because he changed speeds with movement and precise location. His advantage was outsmarting the hitters, so their chemically enlarged muscles couldn’t really help them. Four Cy Young awards (first ever to win four in a row); 355 wins; 3371 Ks; and a career WHIP of 1.143 over 23 years. Oh yeah, and 18 gold gloves. Baseball Egg has him ranked as the second-best starting pitcher of all time behind Walter Johnson, and I won’t argue against their statistical process. He was certainly the best I ever witnessed.

Vintage Rookie Card

At a card show this weekend and I picked this up. Just really cool to see game-worn material when so much of what we see is not even related to the player.

Greg Maddux

— 2000 Season

In 2000, Greg Maddux continued to show why he was one of the most reliable and intelligent pitchers of his era, anchoring the rotation for the Atlanta Braves during their run of dominant division titles.

Maddux finished the season with a 19–9 record and a 3.00 ERA over 249.1 innings, once again demonstrating his incredible durability and efficiency. At age 34, he remained the workhorse of the Braves staff, throwing over 240 innings for the 13th consecutive season, a remarkable streak in modern baseball.

While Maddux was never known for overpowering hitters, his command and pitch movement were exceptional. In 2000 he struck out 165 batters while issuing only 38 walks, continuing his career-long mastery of control. His ability to change speeds and locate pitches allowed him to dominate hitters despite average fastball velocity.

Maddux was a key part of a legendary rotation that also featured Tom Glavine and John Smoltz (though Smoltz missed the season due to injury). The Braves finished first in the NL East with 95 wins, and Maddux’s consistency helped guide the team into the postseason.

One of Maddux’s most impressive traits in 2000 was efficiency. He frequently worked deep into games with low pitch counts, relying on weak contact and pinpoint accuracy rather than strikeouts. His ability to control the tempo of a game and keep hitters off balance remained elite.

Although he did not win the Cy Young Award that year (it went to Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks), Maddux still finished among the league’s top pitchers and added another chapter to his Hall of Fame résumé.

In short: the 2000 season showcased classic Greg Maddux—durable, efficient, and surgically precise. Even as power pitching became more common in baseball, Maddux proved that intelligence, command, and movement could still dominate the game.

I had this ticket raw. But found someone willing to trade for an auto/graded version & some $. This is a Grail Maddux ticket for me. His best “Maddux” game and arguably his best pitching performance of his career.

still lack these 9 tickets to finish his 35 ticket shutout run:

#Shutouts(win total)Needed:

#2(7)  - 4/6/88 @ ATL

#6(34) - 6/21/89 @ PIT (10IP)

#10(68)- 7/20/91 @ HOU

#15(95)- 9/30/92 vs PIT

#20(136)- 6/15/95 @ MON

#21(144)- 8/20/95 @ STL

#22(161)- 8/13/96 @ PHI

#24(186)- 4/15/98 vs PIT

#28(199)- 8/6/98 vs CIN

Any hep is appreciated….