5/22 Maddux checks in

Greg Maddux took advantage of the Cubs’ Interleague trip to Texas to catch up with his brother, Mike, who is the pitching coach for the Rangers. More important, Maddux has been spending time with the Cubs’ Minor League pitchers to share some advice. He spent one week with the Class A Daytona team and will get a promotion to Double-A. When a four-time Cy Young award winner talks, people listen.

However, he’s chosen to sit in the dugout, not the stands.

“I want to watch the game,” Maddux said Saturday. “You sit in the stands sometimes and you don’t want to be rude to people, but you want to watch the game.”

Apparently, he’s encountered a few autograph seekers. Plus, sitting in the dugout is how Maddux has watched baseball for most of his life.

After this weekend, he’ll head to Birmingham, Ala., to catch up with the Cubs’ Double-A team, the Tennessee Smokies. The feedback he’s gotten from the Minor League pitchers has been good so far.

“They’re cool,” Maddux said. “They want to learn, they want to move up, they want to get better. Hopefully I’ve had an experience or two that might help that. That’s all you try to do is try to help the players help themselves. When they start learning how to help themselves they get better faster.”

And getting the chance to see Mike?

“We told some war stories,” Greg said.

– Carrie Muskat