Memories abound on 300 march

Commissioner Bud Selig is a history buff, especially when itinvolves numbers.

"I've been enchanted by the number 300 since watching Warren Spahnwin his 300th in 1961 in Milwaukee when I was a boy," said Selig, whowas at Wrigley Field on Sunday to watch Greg Maddux's bid to join theelite club. "I can tell you all about the game. It was 2-1 over theCubs, and Gino Cimoli made a great catch in the outfield.

"I was just thinking about who Maddux reminds me of, and I'd haveto say Warren himself. Maddux is professional like Warren and was atrue pitcher like Warren."

Maddux wasn't the pitcher of record in the Cubs' 6-3 victory,leaving after six innings with the Cubs trailing 3-2. Selig said heprobably will watch Maddux's next attempt at 300 this weekend in SanFrancisco against the Giants.

Phillies manager Larry Bowa was two years removed from the Cubs asa player when Maddux made his debut.

"I don't want to say he was cocky when he first came up, but youcould tell he believed in himself," Bowa said. "Few pitchers changespeeds like he does. He's particularly tough when he has two strikeson the batter.

"He's a good athlete, too. He likes to hit and run the bases, andhe's great with his glove. I've seen him make plays you wouldn'tbelieve.

"He's a pretty special guy as a player and a person, certainly thekind you'd want on your team."

Phillies coach John Vukovich was a Cubs coach when Maddux, then20, beat the Reds 11-3 in Cincinnati on Sept. 7, 1986, for his firstvictory.

"I'd heard a lot about him, but I wasn't smart enough to say atthe time, Hey, this guy is going to win 300 games,"' Vukovich said."He threw harder then, but he didn't have the assortment of pitchesyou need to win consistently up here."

Vukovich remembers the first pregame meeting he had with Madduxand catcher Keith Moreland to go over Reds hitters.

"We were going over the signs -- one for a fastball, two for acurve, three for a slider," Vukovich said. "Maddux felt we shouldhave a sign for the cutter, but Moreland said, I can catch whateveryou throw.'

"Right away, Greg said, You can't catch this one if you don't knowit's coming.'

"What impresses me is, he hasn't changed a bit. He loves to pitch,he likes swinging the bat. He even likes shagging flies."

Cubs bench coach Dick Pole thinks Maddux's boyish looks havehelped his career.

"He doesn't look like a hit man," Pole said. "I've seen a lot ofguys go out to the mound looking like they could kill the batter, butit's the other way around. Greg goes out looking like he's going toget killed, but he's the one doing the slaying."