Greg Maddux Makes Hall of Fame

Maddux goes to Work

The selection of Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas surprised nobody--the shocker for me was that 15 people did not vote for him.  Something about the first round and the taboo of unanimous selection.  The stats speak for all three. The Maddux story for me could be the 2 hitter he tossed against the Indians in game 1 of the World Series. But, the unreported story as he made the Hall of Fame is the 7th inning in Atlanta with 2 outs, 2 strikes, and Maddux just steps off the mound!
The trainer came out, spoke for a while, out came Bobby Cox (Hall of Fame Coach '14) --and out of the game went Maddux.  Just like that.  He knew when to take himself out of the game.  How many people know when to get out of the game?  The report in the papers was that his arm did not "feel right to him" --and given that he was making about 3K+ per pitch--probably a good idea, and the Braves valued that investment as well. But how do we override our egos and pride to get off the mound? 

There is no getting around the fact that Jesus took himself out of his public ministry precisely at the times when the crowd "wanted to make him a king; he went off into the hills to pray."  He was known for getting up long before dawn and going out to a very isolated place to pray.  Maybe we should not say--took himself out of the game--but rather, reassessed himself, recentered and then, only then got back into the game.