On a recent episode of Pitching Ninja with Rob Friedman, former Atlanta Braves’ outfielder Jeff Francoeur discussed his favorite locker room stories during his career and one stood out as particularly hilarious.
Francoeur said the following on the YouTube show: “So, this is one of my favorite (Greg) Maddux stories…he’ll deny it, but I was 19 years old in big league camp, and I was out in centerfield. I had always heard that Maddux wouldn’t sign stuff, etc., but he came up to me and said, ‘Hey Rook, let’s go sign some balls.’ I said okay and we started signing, but all I see was #31, but it didn’t say Greg Maddux on it. He signed like, 20 balls ‘Jeffrey Dahmer.'”
Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender who was responsible for the deaths of 17 people from 1979 to 1991. Maddux apparently had a very good reason for doing this. According to Francouer, it was to make the balls worthless for the older people who were likely going to sell the balls.
“For the kids,” Francouer continued, “He would sign the ball Greg Maddux. But for all the old guys who he thought were going to sell the balls, he was writing ‘Jeffrey Dahmer #31.’ It was unbelievable!”
Francouer went to say, “Now again, I give him credit; for the kids, he’d always sign his name. But for the older guys, he said, ‘Nah, I’m not giving those guys my autograph!”
Greg Maddux had a solution for adults he thought were just going to sell his autograph.
He signed the ball: “#31 Jeffrey Dahmer.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/vDcVTpVWhO
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 3, 2026
Maddux, of course, is one of MLB’s greatest all-time pitchers. During his illustrious 23 year career, Maddux won 355 games, became the first pitcher to ever win four consecutive Cy Youngs, won 18 Gold Gloves, and was the ace for the Atlanta Braves in the 1990s, winning a World Series in 1995. Maddux finished his career with a 355-227 record, a 3.16 ERA, 3,371 srikeouts and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.
Although Maddux intended for those Jeffrey Dahmer balls to be impossible to sell, they are likely worth quite a bit now!
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