'Playing chess': Maddux, Bonds break down matchup

Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of each participant in a showdown between one of the greatest pitchers of all time and one of the greatest hitters of all time?

Well, wonder no more.

In the upcoming MLB Network documentary, "One of a Kind," which premieres on Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. ET, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux and all-time home run king Barry Bonds are each shown the same 1998 at-bat in which Bonds faced Maddux in Atlanta.

The insight is phenomenal, especially considering that no pitcher faced Bonds more than Maddux, and no batter faced Maddux more than Bonds (154 plate appearances).

Bonds, who was already a three-time National League MVP and arguably the best all-around player in the game, stepped into the box against Maddux, a four-time NL Cy Young Award winner who baffled hitters throughout a 23-year Hall of Fame career.

"I'm 60 years old, I can't remember back that far," Bonds quipped as he was given a tablet with which to watch the at-bat. Then, Bonds focused in and showed that he remembered everything he was thinking as he faced the surgically precise Maddux, who used movement and changes of speeds to stymie opposing batters.

The first pitch Maddux threw was a fastball in. Bonds took a ferocious cut and fouled it away.

"Ooh, jammed," Bonds said. "Fastball, 92 [mph]."

Maddux, watching the at-bat separately, was happy with the cutter, saying that he was "feeling OK with throwing that pitch."

Bonds knew what was coming next.

"He's gonna try to throw that changeup," Bonds said. "A little floater away. Because he thinks I'm gonna speed up because he jammed me."

The next pitch was a changeup down and away. It's incredible how great baseball minds think alike, even to the point of using the same words.

"The cutter beat him, so I thought he would speed up," Maddux said. "So I threw him a changeup and he spit on it. That was a pretty good changeup right there, and it was a pretty easy take for him."

Bonds said he "didn't even try" to go after the changeup because he "knew it." He was right, and as he said next, the two were now "playing chess."

In Bonds' mind, Maddux couldn't beat him in again like he did on the first pitch of the at-bat. Maddux admitted that he didn't know that at the time, so he went back to the well.

Maddux threw another fastball in, and Bonds crushed it over the wall in right field.

"And there ... it ... goes," Bonds said as he watched the ball sail over the fence. "Can't come in the well twice, buddy."

"I mean, that's a good pitch, believe it or not," Maddux said -- certainly not hard to believe considering the source. "It's an executed pitch, but obviously, it's the wrong pitch to throw. That's one you've gotta put in the memory bank."

The homer was one of eight Bonds hit against Maddux. But it was also the last, at least in the regular season (Bonds would homer off Maddux in Game 3 of the 2002 National League Division Series).

Apparently, Maddux's memory bank is as formidable as his pitching -- from 1999-2007, Bonds' final season in the Majors, the two faced each other 40 times in the regular season, and Bonds hit .147 with no extra-base hits.