Published: July 16, 2009 12:01 am         

Braves will honor Maddux

The Atlanta Braves will honor Greg Maddux on Friday by inducting him into the Braves Hall of Fame and retiring his uniform number.

The induction will take place at the Braves Hall of Fame Luncheon at the Omni Hotel at the CNN Center during the day and the uniform number retirement will occur in a pregame ceremony that night before the Braves take on the New York Mets.

Maddux’s No. 31 will be the sixth Braves uniform number to be retired, joining Hank Aaron (44), Eddie Mathews (41), Dale Murphy (3), Phil Niekro (35) and Warren Spahn (21). The Braves also retired the number 42, along with all teams in Major League Baseball to honor Jackie Robinson.

The recently retired Maddux spent 11 seasons with the Braves beginning in 1993, and was a member of the 1995 World Championship team. He was named the National League Cy Young winner four consecutive years (1992-95) as the first pitcher to win the award in four consecutive seasons.

With 355 career wins, Maddux ranks eighth on Major League Baseball’s all-time wins list. In 2008, he collected his 18th Gold Glove Award, a Major League record.

He will join Hank Aaron, Bill Bartholomay, Lew Burdette, Skip Caray, Del Crandall, Ralph Garr, Tommy Holmes, Ernie Johnson, David Justice, Herman Long, Bill Lucas, Eddie Mathews, Dale Murphy, Kid Nichols, Phil Niekro, John Sain, Paul Snyder, Warren Spahn, Ted Turner, and Pete Van Wieren in the Braves Hall of Fame.

The pregame ceremony will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. — first pitch has been moved to 7:45 — so fans should plan on being in their seats no later than that time to witness the event. Tickets are still available for the game at braves.com/tickets, the ticket office at Turner Field, all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.

Thanks to an overwhelming response from fans, the Braves Hall of Fame Luncheon has sold out.

     

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