A Commercial Curse?
By now, you’ve probably seen Nike’s “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” commercial starring pitchers-who-want-to-become-worshipped-home-run- heroes Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. The two are milling around during batting practice when the crowd--spiced with two attractive female fans--suddenly goes gaga over one of Mark McGwire’s clouts that majestically leaves the park. In a jealous fit, Maddux yells--to deaf ears--” Hey, we’ve got Cy Young winners over here .” Well, that was certainly an appropriate pitch to make b efore the commercial first aired on May 2. Glavine is a two-time Cy Young winner with four 20-win seasons and earned-run averages under 3.00 five times in the ‘90s and Maddux is a four-time Cy Young winner with more than 200 wins and ERAs under 3.00 eight times this decade. However, since hitting the commercial big-time, Glavine can’t be breathing a Cy of relief over an ERA that feels a whole lot bigger at 5.97, and Maddux hasn’t won in five starts, with a Cy-chedelic ERA of 6.33.
CELEBRITY PITCHERS IMPERSONATED
* Statistics for Atlanta pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux since the “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” commercial first aired May 2:
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G IP H ER BB SO W-L ERA GLAVINE 5 28 2/3 35 19 14 21 2-2 5.97 MADDUX 5 31 1/3 50 22 6 19 0-3 6.33 BOTH 10 60 85 41 20 40 2-5 6.15
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Statistics this season through May 28:
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G IP H ER BB SO W-L ERA GLAVINE 10 63 1/3 76 39 23 36 3-5 5.54 MADDUX 10 64 1/3 93 32 10 37 4-3 4.48 BOTH 20 127 2/3 169 71 33 73 7-8 5.01
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Statistics last season through May 28:
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G IP H ER BB SO W-L ERA GLAVINE 10 67 54 15 21 57 7-2 2.01 MADDUX 12 88 1/3 70 18 13 62 7-2 1.83 BOTH 22 155 1/3 124 33 34 119 14-4 1.91
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Research: HOUSTON MITCHELL and JIM RHODE, Los Angeles Times