MLB Network Presents: One of a Kind to premier Sunday, Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. ET
Star-studded group featuring Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz to bring viewers inside Maddux’s legendary career; Watch clip from program here
Aug. 14, 2024 – Greg Maddux – one of Major League Baseball’s best-ever to throw a baseball – will be profiled in One Of A Kind – a new MLB Network Presents documentary that will premiere Sunday, Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. ET. Known as The Professor and The Mad Dog, the program will uncover how Maddux was able to achieve one of baseball’s most-decorated and consistently successful careers, serving as the only pitcher in history to amass 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks. A maestro with the baseball, Maddux opens up on his approach to dominating the sport in his own distinct way, which led to him notching at least 15 victories for an incredible 17 straight seasons. A who’s who of baseball luminaries will be featured across the documentary opining on the masterful Maddux, including Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson and Atlanta Braves teammates Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. As highlighted in the documentary, every great player has their rival, and for Maddux, it was Bonds. The two will break down several specific at-bats and discuss the chess match that followed. A clip from One Of A Kind featuring Bonds and Maddux can be viewed here.
Maddux’s early struggles upon making it to the Majors will be a focus of the program, with commentary from former Cubs teammate Rick Sutcliffe. Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone will detail his special bond with Maddux upon first connecting with him during the spring of 1993, plus former Braves batterymate Eddie Perez will detail how Maddux would call his own signals in his particularly unique way, ever so calculated with each pitch. Clips from a new interview with Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine will be interspersed throughout the program, as they discuss their incredible success as the Big 3 with the Braves. Baseball historians Joe Posnanski and Tom Verducci will marvel at the brilliance of Maddux, with Verducci remarking, “I never got to see van Gogh paint, but I got to see Maddux pitch.”
In addition to a 23-year run that featured greatness on the mound, the program will also highlight Maddux’s unique clubhouse personality that his teammates still talk about to this day. Maddux’s brother Mike Maddux will spotlight Greg’s formative years as part of a military family, followed by his ascension to MLB, and eventually facing each other during Greg’s rookie season in 1986. Maddux will discuss the famous contract negotiation when he was a free agent in 1992 that led him from the Cubs nearly to the New York Yankees and ultimately to Atlanta.
Following the debut of One Of A Kind, MLB Network will air one of Maddux’s great performances featuring his 14-strikeout masterpiece against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 2, 2001, at 9:30 p.m. ET. In addition to Maddux, the MLB Network Presents documentary series – which launched in 2015 – has produced films on his Hall of Fame contemporaries Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Mike Piazza and Tony Gwynn. Reaching further back in baseball history, Don Mattingly, Johnny Bench, Dave Parker, Dennis Eckersley and George Brett have all been covered by the series. Brett is the last MLB Network Presents documentary to debut in December 2023.