I just learned that Greg Maddux – perhaps the smartest pitcher ever in Major League Baseball – has decided to retire at age 42.  As a long-time Atlanta Braves fan, I followed his career closely.  Those four Cy Young awards in a row? Amazing.  Those 355 career wins (more than any living player)?  Just as mind numbing in this age of the specialist.  Finishing number 10 on the all-time strikeout list?  Now that’s a stat that really does shock me, because I never think of Maddux as a strikeout pitcher.  But I do think of him as just the smartest guy on the field at all times. ESPN’s web site has a great column on Maddux written by Gene Wojciechowski.  He includes a wonderful story about Maddux’s smarts: In 1996, just before Maddux and the Atlanta Braves faced the New York Yankees in the World Series, pitching coach Leo Mazzone met with his starters and relievers and read them the detailed scouting reports. Maddux raised his hand after Mazzone read the report on Yankees slugger Bernie Williams. “That …