The Legends of My Youth: A Fond Farewell to the Big Three

This has been a very up-and-down baseball season. No, not only because my Atlanta Braves have been terribly inconsistent all season long. Not just because of all the latest steroid allegations. Not because future legends such as A-Rod, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz have been outted as “users.” I consider this an up-and-down season in large part because the legends of my youth are leaving the game.   It began early this year when Greg Maddux announced he was retiring from baseball. Growing up a Braves fan who lives and dies with every play I was able to witness Greg Maddux throw every fifth day for 10 seasons. I was in the stands for many of those brilliant outings that Maddux used to notch regularly.   Greg Maddux was quite possibly the greatest baseball player of this generation. The comparisons to Cy Young are reason enough to make this a logical statement. His 17 consecutive 15-plus win seasons surpassed Young’s 15 consecutive such seasons. ...