New movie Fastball
 

Highly recommend renting the new documentary Fastball narrated by Kevin Costner. Really cool look at how important the fastball is to baseball and how they went about trying to find out how fast pitches were thrown before the advent of the radar gun. I think you'l be surprised at who they interview and talk about as some of the hardest throwing pitchers of all time.

Sounds like a must see!

While Kevin Costner is in good movies. Am I the only one who thinks he's a HORRIBLE actor? I mean I think my 3.5 year old son has more range than him.

Yes, the only one.

You obviously haven't seen Mr. Brooks, which is a big mistake.

I'm thinking...
 

You and I are not going to the movies together! Who is your favorite actor? Hugh Grant?

Mr. Brooks is incredible!!!!

:)

Peace, Mike

Costner makes great baseball movies!

Costner was excellent in "No Way Out."

Costner
 

I think both are right - Like Gary Cooper, he is not a naturally gifted actor (as in disappearing into the role) but he has a talent for finding roles in which his acting persona is perfect (Bull Durham, Tin Cup, No Way Out - and yes, Mr. Brooks).

As a result, when he is in his comfort zone he can give great performances but when he's outside it he can be horrible (Waterworld, that painful Vegas movie where he plays the Elvis impersonator-criminal, and an otherwise great film that he almost destroys, Thirteen Days.)

Can you tell I teach film?

Where can I get this film?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I thought the first 20-25 minutes of "3,000 Miles To Graceland" was very entertaining....

After that, it was all downhill.

Attended a screening at the Yogi Berra Museum which was followed by a Q&A with the film's director, Jonathan Hock.

Very well put together an a great way to get geared up for baseball season.

It is available on Amazon and iTunes, I believe. They're hoping that they can soon distribute in select theaters as well.

I rented it on Directv on demand. It profiles some of the usual suspects when it comes to hard throwing including Walter Johnson and Bob Feller and then some you might have never heard of. Makes the case that Nolan Ryan threw 108 mph!

I think this hits the nail right on the head!

Regards,

Larry

I am just now getting around to watching this while working today.

I had never heard that Walter Johnson's Fastball was only recorded at 83 mph.

Costner was great in A Perfect World, a vastly underrated film, but, in general, I agree that his performances, to borrow from Dorothy Parker, display the gamut of emotions from A to B.

Timed at 83 bht that was measured behind the plate several feet wasnt it? Translates to 93 the way speed is measured today... 10 feet from mound.

I thought Costner was very good, though very young, in Silverado.


He was a little stiff in The Big Chill :D


He was perfect for Bull Durham and close to perfect for Tin Cup , A Perfect World and Dances With Wolves.


He was good, not great in For Love of the Game and No Way Out.


I've never seen Mr. Brooks so I won't pass judgment on that one.

Andy - I do hope you're not an air-traffic controller! DOH!!

Fastball is on my list.

Also on Netflix DO NOT MISS Battered Bastards of Baseball.

I had a chance to be an extra in Bull Durham and regret not taking advantage of it.

Interesting, I had been wondering about this, since reading the "Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train" book recently, which is quoted below:

"After a few warm-up tosses against the steel plate, and still in street clothes, Johnson stepped in, but the tunnel was at shoulder height to measure bullets fired from a standing position and at first Johnson couldn't get his sidearm throws to go straight through to the plate. 'At length, however,' it was reported, 'after some effort and with a consequent loss of speed in an attempt to place the ball accurately, the sphere was successfully hurled in the proper direction, broke one of the fine wires in its transit and collided with a heavy thud against the steel plate.' Johnson's best throw was clocked at 122 feet per second (82 m.p.h), Rucker's at 113, both on their third and last tries."

So, the 82 mph was measured differently, thrown in street clothes, apparently from an awkward position. Given that the fastest throws came in the final attempts, I am also guessing he likely was not properly warmed up.

If he was really throwing only 82 all of the accounts of batters not even seeing the ball would simply not make sense!

His performance was dead-on in that film

I'm going to pass-on that comment

yes that speed was measured as the avg between home plate distance and a metal plate that was like 10 feet behind home plate. The do a velocity analysis and figure out that it was going in the mid 90's,the real surprise is they estimate Ryan's 100.9 ten feet in front of home plate was going 108.1 right after it was released!

What about Field of Dreams?

Interested to know why you think he almost destroyed "Thirteen Days"? Was it the on again, off again Northeast accent? Great and underrated movie IMO.

Yeah still to think that WaJo's velocity was around 93 and they thought that was the fastest. Of course they only measured it once and not on a mound, but it shows the difference in the game if he was considered the fastest.

No. Documentaries are not needed to see as much as heard. I do computer work from home that contains a lot of monotony so having something to listen to is nice.

Well, if you consider that the human body hasn't really evolved enough to make much physical difference since his era,(tho strength conditioning and nutrition has improved a lot) and the +/- of the measuring device, the fact that he didn't warm up, wasn't in uniform, nor off a mound, I think one could guess that WJ probably had 100 mph in him, or close anyway. Hitting 93 or so in shirtsleeves off flat ground without a normal warmup is pretty good, an extra 5-7 mph doesn't seem impossible.

Thanks for heads up...
 

Sounds like a must see movie! Ryne Duren was supposed to be blazing fast, not the most consistent with control. Y'all probably know my thoughts on Ryan - won't go there again. But where the fastball is measured from is indeed critical. I have heard the ball can slow down about 8 mph from mound to home plate. Guinness Books took point of measurement into consideration and Ryan is still fastest KING ! While very fast, the mechanics of Walter Johnson held him back a few mph. And the pitching mound - was higher pre-1969 definitely helped out a few pitchers, dare I mention names? Ryan never had the higher mound - if he did, boy, oh, boy what could have been! Can't wait to see the movie!

You will love it, I know I did. It's great to see a doc about baseball that focuses on science without ignoring the romance and fun along the way.

If Ryan felt like it, he could still throw 96 today.

Loved that movie - absolutely underrated.

Anybody like Costner in "The Untouchables"?

I actually thought he was one of the weaker aspects of that film. Everyone else was rich. He was boring vanilla.

Great film, though.

It's on netflix streaming

He would have to hang out with Jose Canseco, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jaun Gonzales again first.;)

Does anyone know if Costner collects? Seems like he might.