Early in is his Cub career Greg Maddux acquired one of the best baseball nicknames, "Mad Dog." Maddux's nickname is a combination of truth and irony. His looks are deceiving; a slightly-built boyish looking player with a voice that barely went over a whisper. He hardly looked like a "Mad Dog."

He was, however a tenacious Mad Dog on the mound who mercilessly used every flaw he could find in an opponent and famously raised his hand at one of his first club meetings to ask what the brushback sign was.

Maddux is not all warm and cuddly. He is quite simply the best pitcher to ever come out of the Cubs farm system (No-one else is even close), and will go to the Hall of Fame for his 350+ wins, 3000+ strikeouts, and 4 Cy Young awards.

But to Cubs fans, Mad Dog will also symbolize what is wrong with the Cubs. They let him go in free agency for a petty amount of money, and he had his greatest years with the Braves. He did win one Cy Young with the Cubs ('92), and five gold gloves, 15 games or more five straight years, and a total of 133 wins, but in his only postseason appearance with the Cubs ('89), he was rocked hard twice, and finished with an ERA of 13.50.

It's sad to say, but Maddux will probably go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Braves hat.