Greg Maddux Had A Running Gag Where He Insulted A Reporter's Mother

Since he was voted into the Hall of Fame, there's been a bit of a cottage industry of Weirdo Greg Maddux stories and, flood the market, we say; the more Maddux stories the better. Yahoo's Tim Brown has a nice profile of Maddux that you should check out, but we'd like to point out the part where Maddux and another reporter have a running gag where Maddux insults his mother.

The setup is: when Maddux went to the Dodgers, Brown spoke to a reporter who covered him in Chicago to ask for any advice in getting to know him and getting him to open up.

Near the end of the conversation, he said, "Tell him I said hi. And then he'll say something uncomplimentary about my mother."

"What? Why?"

"It's our goofy joke. Been going on for years. Doesn't mean anything."

"OK."

Already, this is pretty weird. Greg Maddux is apparently a Pavlovian Yo Momma jokester. Brown eventually got to chat with Maddux and mentioned that the unnamed reporter said to say "hello." He also spilled the beans about the pending insult.

"What? Why would I say something about his mother?"

"Oh, well, I don't know, uh, it's just that he said …"

By now I'm skulking away, sure I'd been set up, my mumbled half-explanation losing itself – I hope – in the clubhouse's regular racket. Maddux is half-watching me go.

And just as I'm escaping, I hear him say over his shoulder, just loud enough for him and me, "… the lousy tramp."

I look back and he's grinning.

This is like an Aaron Sorkin scene—a little bit of drama between two people that appears unresolved, until one character gets to the door, readying himself to leave, and then the other character says something incredibly significant—but with an insulted mother.

Greg Maddux entering Hall of Fame as he played: humble, brilliant yet common [Yahoo]