The end of an era came on Friday when Greg Maddux announced that he will retire. The 42-year old right-hander WAS the best pitcher of his generation. He didn’t have the blazing fastball that others that dominated during the time, but few pitchers in the history of the game had a better grip on the fundamentals of pitching.

Maddux started his career in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs and finished it last season playing for two teams, the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. Maybe it was the fact that by the end of the year he was handling mop-up duties out of L.A.’s bullpen that finally broke the straw.

The nine-time All-Star ranks eighth in Major League history with 355 wins. The prime of his career was spent with the Atlanta Braves when he joined fellow future Hall of Famers Tom Glavine and John Smoltz to help lead the Braves to a decade of dominance.

Maddux didn’t need steroids, or a hot-temper to intimidate opposing hitters, he did with his brains. He is arguably the smartest baseball alive and that’s a big reason he was able to pitch 23 years at the big-league level. Being on the mound was more like a game a chess than it was a sport for Maddux, and more often than not he left hitters in check mate.

SI.com’s Tom Verducci shared some classic Maddux quotes that say it all:

The key to pitching: "Make the strikes look like balls and the balls look like strikes."

How to get out of a jam: "When you're in trouble, think softer. Take advantage of the hitter's eagerness. Don't throw harder. Locate better."

Why he throws more warmup and bullpen pitches out of the stretch than the windup: "Think about it: when is it most important to execute a pitch? With runners on base."

On radar guns: "I'd rather have movement and location than velocity any time."

On getting to the majors: "In the minor leagues, it was always about getting better. I was never too worried about results."

On out-thinking hitters: "You have to alter patterns. I don't surprise anybody with what I throw. You just have to mix your pitches up. Even if the hitter is guessing right, if you locate it you won't get hurt. You might give up a single or a double, but it's not the end of the world."

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