Back at home

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 9:32 a.m.

Even two days before his 38th birthday, Greg Maddux will learn something new about himself today when he makes his first start at Wrigley Field as a Chicago Cubs pitcher in 12 years.

Maddux, a Valley High graduate, expects goose bumps this afternoon when he faces the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"I'm sure there will be," Maddux said. "You know, I'll experience something that I've never had to experience before. Hopefully, I'll be able to just worry about getting Pirates out."

Maddux last threw a baseball at Wrigley while wearing a Cubs' No. 31 uniform, the same one he's wearing in his second tour with the team, on Sept. 30, 1992.

To heighten what would likely be a festive homecoming occasion today, anyway, it's opening day in the friendly confines.

"I'm hoping it's going to be like any other game," Maddux said. "I know it's not going to be but, mentally, I'll do what I can to make it be like that. You know, I'm not sure what to expect. Hopefully, I'll pitch well.

"This team came very close last year, and I'm sure they're still fired up over what happened. It will probably carry over to the beginning of this season. It's important for us players to keep winning and try to keep that atmosphere going."

The Cubs had a 3-games-to-1 lead over Florida in the National League Championship Series last fall before falling apart. The Marlins went on to beat the New York Yankees for their second World Series championship in seven years.

In the NL Division Series, the Atlanta Braves and Maddux were defeated by the Cubs, and Maddux lost a 3-1 game at Wrigley.

That, however, represented an anomaly during his 11-season Atlanta stint, in which he went 11-3, with a 2.38 earned-run average, in 20 starts against the Cubs.

Flocks of those die-hard fans are pleased to have Maddux back on their side, which should be confirmed today in what promises to be a party atmosphere. Maddux is also pleased to be back.

"The fans just have a lot of loyalty," he said over the weekend from Atlanta, where he and his wife Kathy were cleaning out a home that the Maddux family had lived in during recent seasons. "Most of the fans there are from there, they grew up there and there's a lot of history.

"It's a generation thing. 'My grandfather liked them, my dad liked them and that's why I like them.' It's an unbelievable sports town. The city's special, the stadium is special and the fans are in a league of their own."

A day before Cubs pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to spring training in Arizona in mid-February, Maddux inked a potential $24 million deal with the team that drafted him out of Valley in 1984.

Maddux is guaranteed $15 million over the next two years. If he logs 400 innings over the 2004 and 2005 seasons, he will receive $9 million for 2006. Over the past 16 seasons, he has failed to break the 200-inning barrier only once, falling two outs shy of the standard in 2002.

He is also 11 victories short of 300. The only other pitcher to accomplish that feat wearing a Cubs uniform, in 1925, was Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Maddux, the only pitcher to have won at least 15 games in 16 consecutive seasons, didn't fare well in his first start of 2004.

In Cincinnati last Wednesday, he allowed only four hits and two walks in six innings, but Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. tagged Maddux for home runs in the Reds' 3-1 victory.

Those two pitches were disappointing, but many other aspects of that start satisfied Maddux.

"Once you start playing, it's still the same game," he said. "I found that out in Cincinnati. When you walk to the mound, it's just you and the catcher (Paul Bako). Everything else outside of that really seems to go unnoticed."

Maddux will be in Chicago, but he won't be. Locals might see him and Kathy in an occasional restaurant or movie theater, like they did from 1986-92, but those times will be rare.

When they are seen, daughter Amanda and son Chase will be in tow.

"I'm looking forward to taking the kids around the city and showing them all the museums and parks," Maddux said. "I think they'll enjoy it."