ARLINGTON — Everything around him was loud. The music at Globe Life Field bumped. The throng in front of him doing interviews, creating content and just generally milling about was a cacophonous mess. The uniform he wore was positively garish. Neon salmon lettering? C’mon.
It didn’t seem like the best atmosphere for reflection.
Then again, it was a baseball field. Doesn’t matter if it’s everything that goes along with the All-Star Game or the back fields at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. The baseball field has always been where Mike Maddux has felt most at home. And, on Tuesday, after more than two weeks of dealing with his father’s illness, death and burial, it felt good to be home.
“The baseball field was always our safe spot, our sanctuary,” said Maddux, the Rangers pitching coach for nine of the last 16 seasons and all three of the franchise’s trips to the World Series. “You’ve got your family and that’s one safe spot. Then there was the field. That was always a good, safe place to come. And he loved being there.
“I know my pops is watching tonight. And rooting for the American League.”
Which is saying something considering David Maddux grew up an hour from Cincinnati, a hardcore Reds fan, then watched his two sons, Greg and Mike, win 386 of their 394 career wins for nine different NL clubs. Together, the Maddux boys won four Cy Young Awards, 18 Gold Gloves, have a plaque in the Hall of Fame and more than two decades as a professor of pitching. At least you get the feeling that’s how “Poker Dave,” according to his obituary, would have looked at things.
The elder Maddux, 85, passed away on July 4, which seems poetically proper for a man who served 22 years in the Air Force, retiring as a Master Sergeant. He was buried with full military honors on Monday. Maddux was there when he passed and again Monday. He had left the Rangers at the end of June to spend time with his dad. Returned when things seemed headed in a positive direction and then they suddenly turned again. It’s been a hard two weeks.
Over the last two weeks, Major League Baseball had stepped in to help keep in contact with clubs about pitching availability. After the burial Monday, while delayed on a tarmac, Maddux finalized the plans behind starter Corbin Burnes. He certainly could have begged out. But that’s not Mike Maddux. Or who his dad was.
“I know this is what my dad would have wanted,” Maddux said. “So, it made it very easy.
“It’s been a roller coaster for me personally,” he added. “Just a string of emotions and the separation you have to have. We get so engrossed in this game and so involved and it’s kind of your life schedule. Now all of a sudden you have another schedule that’s more important than your game schedule. And the game took a heavy, heavy second place. I had the games on TV and rooted for the boys, but you’ve got bigger things going on.”
And then Maddux went on.
“You have things you love to do and things you love. You aren’t always going to have the people you love.”
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It was at that point that you figured Mike Maddux gives out so many reassuring shoulder rubs, maybe he could use one for a change.
On Tuesday, though, he was back to the things he loves to do in the American League’s 5-3 win.
He started with Cole Ragans, the former Ranger, now a Royals All-Star. It was 13 months ago Maddux told Ragans in the meeting in which the Rangers informed him he was being traded that it would be a great opportunity for him. Sounded like lip service at the time. Maddux doesn’t do lip service.
“I had told him when we traded him that sometimes you wear this heavy blanket of pressure to succeed because you are this first-round pick and you just put pressure on yourself, but that this would be a blank slate,” Maddux said. “I told him he was going there and would be just one of the guys and that he’s going to do great.
“So, today, one of the first questions I asked him when I saw him was: ‘You remember what I told you 13 months ago? You know we were telling you the truth, right?”
Ragans smiled.
Maddux had another priority, too: Kirby Yates.
Look, Maddux is a fierce advocate for all his pitchers, but he’s also got a real soft spot for veterans who’ve gone through adversity. He was one of them. Yates was an All-Star in 2019, but didn’t get to pitch in the game. He spent most of the next four years rehabbing elbow injuries. He’s been perfect for the Rangers this year. The game was in Arlington. There was no way Maddux would let the game go by without Yates getting in.
Yates pitched a perfect eighth.
“It’s only fitting,” said Maddux and whoever said he’s not a romantic?
You know what else is fitting: Maddux is his dad’s son. After the elder Maddux retired from the Air Force, he raised a family in Las Vegas. Started dealing poker. Dealt for another 20 years as “Poker Dave.” Played a lot of golf. Always loved baseball. Just like his son.
“He raised us to be upstanding men,” Maddux said. “Now, he probably succeeded more in making us ballplayers than in making us upstanding.”
There is no doubt Poker Dave Maddux did a fine job of raising baseball players. Seems like he did a fine job on the other front, too.
Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant
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