All language subtitles for Fastball 2016 1080p.en

I started playing
the game at a young age.

And fell in love
with it and...

You know, Nolan Ryan
was my idol growing up.

So obviously I wanted
to be a power pitcher.

You know, I go to college
and I grow into myself

and I hit a 100 for the
first time my junior year.

You know, I guess that's kinda
when I started thinking,

you know, how would I compare
to these guys back in the day?

They didn't
really have radar guns.

You know,
i remember Bob feller

throwing
against a motorcycle.

Um, you know, you've got
Walter Johnson, Sandy koufax...

You know,
you always just wanna know

how you'd stack up

against the greats
of a different era.

If I can get
in a time machine

and just step
into the past,

you know that would be
the best way

to compare yourself
to those guys.

To stand next to them
and throw with them.

This gentleman in blue

claims that he can clock
anything on wheels.

Well, a baseball doesn't
travel on wheels, officer.

But if you want a race,
it's your motorcycle.

I guess
we're all set.

Here's the test which shows
which is the faster.

The racing motorcycle,

or the pitched ball.

Coming down the highway
at a speed of 86 miles per hour,

the policeman crosses
the pitching line

and there they go...

Bingo, and look,

Bob feller gives him a head start of
10 feet before he throws the ball.

Watch the ball now. Bob's
pitch is gaining all the way.

It breaks the target
right through the bull's-eye

a few feet in front
of the motorcycle.

Well, where are you,
mister policeman?

Oh, there you are.

I don't know what your
speedometer reads now,

but that ball was traveling
better than 100 miles an hour,

and that's plenty fast.

Baseball m the 21st century.

It is a game
of specialists.

A game molded
by technology

driven by data,

and statistics.

It's a game
managers try to win

by predicting
what can only be guessed at,

by controlling
what can only be hoped for.

For every time
the umpire says, "play ball,"

it is still a game
of infinite possibility.

And at its core,

an ancient contest

between two people alone
on a field.

A primal battle

between a man
with a stick...

And a man with a rock.

I don't think there's
more excitement anywhere

than a power pitcher
out on the mound

and then you've got
a power hitter up there.

Something's gonna give.

You're getting it all here.

The kid
against the veteran.

The fastballer
against the fastball hitter.

There they go.

Struck him out!

Ballgame is over!

Who was the hardest throwing
pitcher I ever faced?

The fastest fastball...

The nastiest I ever faced

was the hardest thrower
who ever threw a baseball.

The fastest I ever saw was...

He was the hardest thrower
that I ever saw...

He had one
of those special arms.

He threw it harder than any man
i ever saw in my life.

There is this
powerful desire

for every baseball fan

to know, okay, what...
Who threw the fastest pitch?

It's one of the great
mysteries of baseball.

He struck him out swinging.

You just can't
change the game.

You know, no matter
how much time goes by,

everything in essence
remains the same.

He knows I'm throwing
a fastball.

I know I'm throwing
a fastball.

This is it.
Let's see what happens.

Just don't get scared when you look at the
miles per hour and it says "98" up there.

You'd be like, "oh, man." Some pecple
get scared. They start shaking.

You can tell. They don't
want to hold a bat.

You can see it in some of the
batters' eyes, you can tell.

If you got
anywhere close to plate,

and you threw that hard...

High and tight...

There was a lot
of fear involved.

Oh, you can
definitely hear a fastball.

You can hear it
whizzing by you.

It sounds like trouble,
is what it sounds like.

But if you're facing someone
with some control problems...

It can be a very,
very troubling experience.

Even the best batters,
i kinda feel bad for them.

You know,
they're in a situation

that is really pushing
the limits

of what a brain can do.

People go,
"what, were you scared?"

No, you can't have fear
when you walk to the plate.

Because that...
That defeats you.

As predator-prey.

And that's why I never look
at the pitcher's eyes.

He's the predator,
and you're the prey.

If you look
into his eyes.

They wouldn't look at me.

Most hitters
would not look at me.

And I looked at them

I'd follow them up, you know and I'd
look at them and I'd size them up.

And they just look away.

They... you know, they didn't
want any part of me.

You know, I had a license
to kill out there on the mound.

Oh!

He thought
he was hit.

Holy cow.

People would meet me,
even players, and they said,

"man, you're not at all
like you are on the mound,

are you?"

I said,
"no, I... you know,

I couldn't possibly carry that
persona around with me every...

I'd be thrown in jail."

Goose gossage.

I would have to say
he has the nastiest...

He had the nastiest...
All of it.

He had the windup
and everything.

And he was very scary.
He was big.

Threw hard.

Very mean.

I would say he was probably
the nastiest I ever faced.

The arm is everywhere,

head could be violently
shaking as he threw it.

And you just hope he had
home plate zeroed in there.

Threw the fastball
in on the hands and got him...

It was one
of my biggest tools

that I had out there

was the intimidation
factor.

There were times that I would
look at a hitter in the box

and I would just
look at him and go,

"man, I would not want
to be this guy right now."

Roy ls gone.

It's the law of the jungle,
you either eat

or you get eaten.

And I was not
gonna get eaten.

Gossage ls throwing bullets.

He is throwing hard.

Struck him out.

You are either the hero
or the goat,

being a relief pitcher.

Closer is the word
they use today.

"Closer" wasn't
even a coined phrase,

we were "relief pitchers."

Live from Fenway park,

the second playoff game ever
in the American league.

My goodness, if there isn't
something about a moment like this

that arouses the competitive
juices in a man,

you've got no business
being involved in sports.

The 191s playoff game

was the biggest game
that I ever played in.

I remember going to bed
the night before the game

thinking that I'll probably be
facing yaz for the final out.

And you know, you're
gonna get some heat right here.

And Mr. "goose" gossage
coming on.

I have never been so nervous
in a game in my life.

I remember coming
out of the bullpen

and it was hard for me

to put one foot
in front of the other.

I was shaking so hard.

So the big
youngster from Colorado

comes on in relief.

I came into the game
in the seventh inning.

With one out a couple of
runners on, I believe.

And I got out
of that jam

and then
the ninth came around

and who comes
to the plate?

The batter ls Carl yastrzemski.

This ballgame going
right down to the wire.

(Two guys on, twc) Outs
in the ninth, in Fenway.

And yaz is coming up
to the plate.

Well, I had a moment
to think about...

You know, because yaz was
getting a standing ovation.

For about...
Seemed like five minutes.

And I had a conversation
with myself.

I said, "gosh, why
are you so nervous?

What's the worst thing
that can happen?"

I said, "I'll be back in
Colorado tomorrow, elk hunting."

It's just a game.

It felt like the weight
of the world

was lifted
off my shoulders.

It was the first time all day
that I had relaxed.

And I knew because when
yaz stepped in the box,

the first pitch
i threw him

was the hardest pitch
i had thrown all day.

Popped up, that might be it.

Nettles over
at third base.

He'll squeeze it
and it's over.

And look
at those Yankees.

And I remember in all
the chaos in the clubhouse,

I went in the training room
to get away from,

kin da everybody,

and just gather
my thoughts a little bit

and thurman followed me
in the there, munson.

And he goes,
"that had another foot

on anything else
you've thrown all day."

I said,
"i relaxed."

He said, "what the hell
took you so damn long?"

Where's he at?

Right down
in the middle.

There he is right there,
rich gossage.

That guy could throw.

- Tony, you faced him.
- Yeah.

If you're
a right-handed hitter,

you had no chance.

Wasn't that
the pine tar deal?

He was the pine tar guy.

All right, here's the challenge,

Brett with the bat,
and gossage with the ball.

You know,
i was generating

some kind of power
with that fastball

and George,
was swinging the bat

as hard
as he could swing it.

And wow.

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh.

That's gone.

And then when
he finally hit 'em,

they threw the bat away
and called you out.

That was
the worst part of all.

Well, what
they're talking about

is that he's got
too much pine tar.

George Brett
looking around,

wanting to know
what's going on.

There's pine
tar all over this bat.

Tim mcclelland,
the home plate umpire

lays it across home plate,
which is 18 inches wide.

They might be
gonna call George Brett out.

Well, the Yankees win.
He is out.

Yes, sir.
Brett is out.

Look at this.
Brett is out.

And he is steaming mad.

That was maddest human being
I've ever seen

anywhere in my life.

We're walking
off the field.

And we're all laughing.

I loved being
a power pitcher.

If I could change
one thing in my career,

iwouldn't change
a single thing.

You know, I said,

even the home runs I gave up
were great.

My name's Clifford blankenship.

I'm a big league catcher
by trade.

For the Washington senators.

I was a backup, batting .219,
until I broke my finger.

Now I'm in weiser, Idaho,
on a wild-goose chase.

Here to look over
some palooka

who was burning up the snake
river valley semi-pro league.

Someone sent the senators
a telegram,

said there was a kid,
Johnson,

threw so fast
you couldn't see 'em.

And that he knew
where he was throwing it too,

'cause if he didn't,

there'd be dead bodies buried
at home plates all over Idaho.

I get to the field
just in time

to see him
shamble out to the mound.

All arms and legs.

Eyes down like he don't
even wanna be there.

Then... holy smoke.

19 years old and no one
in big league ball

ever had a fast one
like this.

So I offer the kid $500
to join the senators.

You know what
that hayseed says?

If I promise him
train fare home

in case
he don't make it,

he'll come.

I say, "kid...

A one way ticket's
all you're gonna need."

When the greatest
hitter of the time, Ty Cobb,

first faced
Walter Johnson,

he said that the ball
traveled so fast

that it hissed like a train
as it went by.

The legend of "the big
train" was born.

[Posnanskh
i think Walter Johnson

very specifically
changed the game,

in that he made
the fastball

something large.

Something larger
than life.

Especially in that era,
of course that's dead ball,

nobody's really
hitting home runs.

The way that the game
is played

is Ty Cobb
slashing through,

and stealing bases
and it was a very rough game.

And here was this
little bit of magic.

This one guy who was a
very modest individual,

but he had this
just amazing fastball.

And they'd come
from all around

to see him throw.

And it was
exciting to people

in away
that I don't think

anything really had
been before.

If you have an exceptionally
good curve...

Better curve ball
than a fast one,

or when you get out there

and a base hit
might hurt you,

in a ball game
when a good batter up

or something like that,

well then you want
to throw him a curve

if you have
a real good curve.

If you have
a better fast one,

than you have a curve,

if you have
a real good fastball

and not
a very good curve,

why I'd throw him
the fastball.

[Posnanskh now people
are starting to say,

"well, how fast is lt?"

And as time goes on,
that becomes

a really important part
of the game.

The earliest known
measurements of pitching speed

were actually made
back in 1912.

Who knows
how to do that right

is the military,

because they have
a century

of measuring things
like musket balls.

So the first measurements
were made

at the Remington armory
on their ballistics range.

At the age of 24,

dressed
in his church clothes,

Walter Johnson walked
into the Remington rifle range

and became the first pitcher

to ever have his fastball
measured scientifically.

So Walter Johnson
walks into a large room.

He sees a 2-foot by 2-foot
wooden frame.

And within that wooden frame

are a series
of thin copper wires.

15 feet further down

there's a plate
on a stand

so Walter Johnson's job
is to pitch the ball

so it passes
through the copper wires

which break a wire,
sends a signal to the clock.

And starts the timing.

The ball then hits the plate
15 feet further back.

That gives us a start time
and a stop time.

We know the distance
is 15 feet.

So one can compute
the speed of the baseball.

They do the throw,
they make the measurement

and it comes up
with a very famous,

122 feet per second.

Johnson's speed
was met with astonishment.

And from that point forward,

the big train
was crowned

the fastest pitcher
of all time.

[Posnanskh nobody had ever
seen anything like him.

And the game had
this new kind of hero.

This new kind
of mythology.

That they
could build and he...

I think he's the one
that really started it.

122 feet per
second was a magic number

in aworld
where human beings

weren't yet measured
in miles per hour.

A century later

we'd represent that
measurement like this...

That comes out to be

83.2 miles per hour.

The fastball is probably
the easiest thing to see

because we have
a radar gun.

But it's probably
the hardest thing to scout.

You know, you're looking
at what the number says now

and you're
trying to figure out

what the number's
gonna say in the future.

And these guys that you'll see
sitting behind home plate,

that's what
they're so good at.

It could be a high
school guy throwing 86.

But you see a fluid arm.

You see looseness.

And you know
that there's gonna be

more there
in the future.

Every scout ls on
the hunt for the fastball.

With that elusive quality

they call,
"electricity."

I don't know
if you see "electricity."

I think it's something
that you feel.

Those are the guys,
the hitters all know,

the dugout lights up,
everything stops.

Everybody makes sure
they're looking to see that guy.

It almost looks like

they're throwing a different
ball than everybody else.

Hannellh electric stuff
explodes at the plate.

When the guys are warming up
in the bullpen

it sounds like a shotgun
was just fired.

When they... when it hits
the catcher's mitt.

You know it
before the game.

Now you start
getting excited.

We're all searching
for that guy

with the big power fastball

that could walk out and say,
"it's game over."

And basically do it
with one pitch.

That's what
we're all chasing after.

That's what we're spending
eight nights in a row

out searching.

Watching one game,
driving five hours,

waking up the next day driving five hours.
We'll find...

We're looking
for that guy.

That premium, elite, electric
fastball's a holy grail.

M the early years
of the 21 st century,

Cuba was the only place
on earth off limits

to American
baseball scouts.

But it was from a town
in eastern Cuba

just about the size
of weiser, Idaho,

that word began
to spread

of a kid named
aroldis Chapman.

Who might some day
lay claim

to the title held
by Walter Johnson

100 years earlier.

The fastest
to ever throw a ball.

There's a certain
amount of myth around him.

The hardest thrower,
you know, on the planet.

When he showed up,
i remember the first game,

we were bringing him in,

and he came in throwing...

It was
just hard to fathom,

it was 102, 103,
104 mile an hour fastball.

I'd never seen that.

That was the “wow” moment.

No chance.

Ballgame! Ph ew!

Sometimes you go up there
and take one pitch,

you can hear
the ball go past you.

- Oh yeah, you can hear that...
- Boom!

"Gosh, I gotta get
the heck out there.

I ain't ready
for this."

That's good 0l.'
Country hardball right there.

See ya later.

The number one thing
going through my head is,

I don't wanna die,
you know what I mean?

Him throwing a pitch
that hard

and you know, sometimes
he gets a little wild.

Put it m, aroldis Chapman!

The forward roll!

Just three weeks after
comme-to the major leagues,

Chapman wrote a number
on the radar gun

that had never
been seen before.

When he hit 105,

I looked at that and I said,
at this moment,

I think I've seen something
I'll never see again.

And if I do see it again,

it'll only be
from this pitcher here.

Swing and a miss!

We had a great hall of famer
just pass away,

Bob feller.

I mean... and they
talked about him...

They timed it
with a motorcycle.

Or he says that at 104.

I mean,

I mean, did you know people
that talked about him?

Oh yeah,
i played with guys

that faced feller
when he was in his prime.

And said
he was unhittable.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Ted Williams always said

he was the toughest pitcher
he ever seen.

Well, that's
enough right there.

Yes, that's
exactly what he said.

This husky teenager
is Robert William Andrew feller

of Van meter, Iowa.

That fastball was famous
all over the state

when he was a schoolboy.

He struck out 23 in a sandlot
game at the age of 16.

And at 17
he was signed

by the Cleveland Indians
in 1936.

In his first
major league start,

he struck out
15 St. Louis browns,

and two years later
set a record

by striking out
18 Detroit tigers.

[Posnanskh Bob feller, when
he comes m as a 17 year old,

in the 1930s,
he's just a high school kid

coming out
and just... and just

throwing
these incredible fastballs

that are frightening
major leaguers.

In every one of
feller's first seven full seasons,

he led the American league
in strikeouts.

And caused people
to reconsider the very limit

of what a human arm
could do.

[Posnanskh he's a unique
character m this story.

Bob feller was
the first guy to really try

to find out how fast
the fastball went.

People, you know, had
a reference point already

and so the question was,
faster than Walter Johnson,

that was...
That was the point.

And he does all of these
different things.

He races a motorcycle
with a fastball.

He tries to throw it
through some army contraption.

Bob feller,
pitcher for the Cleveland Indians

takes time off
in the nation's capital

to demonstrate
his cannonball delivery.

In 1946, Bob feller's speed
was measured

in an experiment done
on a baseball diamond,

by bringing in
a fairly modern device,

that used light beams as a start
timer and the stop timer.

It is recorded by the army
ordinance department

lumiline chronograph.

He threw
from the pitcher's mound,

through the opening
in this box

at home plate.

And the device measured
his speed at this point

with a speed
of 98.6...

Miles per hour.

While Walter Johnson

has traditionally
been considered

the fastest pitcher
who ever lived,

bullet Bob left a
scientifically timed record

for future generations
to shoot at.

98 and 6/10
miles per hour.

Feller pitched
in the 19308 and the 19408.

I mean,
Bob feller started,

basically when Jesse Owens
won gold medals in Germany.

And at the time
there was no question

that Jesse Owens
was a quantum leap forward

in track.

They looked
at Jesse Owens and said,

you're not gonna get
any faster, any stronger,

you're not gonna jump
any further,

this is the limit of what
human beings can do.

And of course it wasn't.

The times that Jesse
Owens ran in 1936

are high school times now.

And that's the way it is
across the board.

Every record
has been smashed.

So if you brought
that along in baseball,

if you looked
at it that way,

and Bob feller
was throwing 98.6,

if you brought that timing
with us for 70 years,

people would be throwing
120 miles an hour.

How come nobody
has been able to find

a new way
to throw a fastball

that's 20 miles an hour
faster than anybody else?

It doesn't exist.

Baseball starts an d stops

with the starting pitcher.

I love my fastball.

I love it.

Lot of 95s, 96s.

Some 97s.

For the most part, I'll probably
sit around 94, 95.

If I need a big pitch,

more often times
than not,

I'm gonna throw
a fastball.

There's no better feeling

than throwing
a fastball by somebody.

Especially
for strike three.

You know what the
fastest pitch you ever threw

in the major leagues is?

I think it was
in 2010 in Detroit.

I faced jhonny peralta.

It was in the fifth inning.

I was over 100 pitches so I knew
this was gonna be my last inning.

And the 0-2.

Swing and a miss.

He just threw it right by him
at 100 miles an hour.

I definitely looked up there

and it said 100.

Aw, I mean,

I never envisioned myself
throwing 100 mile an hour.

I mean, that's...

That's crazy.
And everybody was like,

"aw, you know, that gun's juiced."
Guys razzed me a little bit but...

No, if that radar gun
reads a hundo,

that's...
That's what I threw.

Gibson th rew hard,

but he threw
the hardest low fastball

of anybody
I'd ever seen.

You know, koufax
and those guys you know,

are up here,
around there.

But Gibson could
get it down here,

I guarantee you
it's still around 100

when he got it
right around in the knees.

I couldn't believe it, that's when
i first got to the big leagues.

I'd never seen
that before, you know?

I mean, never. And then I swung
at it, I couldn't handle it.

Joe, let me
ask you a question,

- were you ever fearful that he'd hit you?
- No no no.

- Didn't he have the reputation of
just hitting people? - Oh, heck yeah.

But he was never wll_n.

It was one of those things if
you hit a home run off of him...

Well, he walked up, he would
walk up to the cage before the game,

- and say, "I'm gonna get you today."
- Yeah.

He told hitters "I'm gonna get
you today, and he hit 'em.

I hear all of
these wild stories

about the way
people saw me.

And that the things
that I did...

I heard that
i threw at people.

“Yeah, you're always
throwing at people.”

no, the people
i threw at, I hit.

I'd never threw at a guy
and not hit him.

If you're actually
trying to hit a guy,

I would say
that you would probably

aim at his ribs.

He can move his head,
he can move his legs,

but the middle part
of his body

is very difficult
to move.

That was Bob Gibson.

He believe in having
part of the plate

and you had
to give it to him.

You know, I mean,
and he threw very hard.

I always thought about it.

It always was in the back
of my mind that one day

he's gonna turn loose one

and come
upside my head with it.

You know, I felt...

Bob Gibson told me

one of the greatest quotes
that I've ever heard.

He said,
"half of that plate's mine."

And he said,
"now you gotta figure out

which half
I'm coming after."

He was just a
great competitor.

His whole disposition,
you know

that he wanted it more than
the hitter wanted to hit him.

And he got tougher

he could reach
back inside

and get a little bit more
when he needed to.

I hit a squibber.

The cue shot it up the middle
for an rbi single,

and the next at bat,
he drove me in the arm.

Boom. Right there.

I still have a mark.

He tells me now, because
I've said it a lot of times

on the air,
you hear about...

He says, "i didn't hit nearly as many
guys as you guys think. Look it up."

- Gibson would look in like this.
- Yeah.

- He couldn't see though.
- He couldn't see. And that's what...

All of a sudden the catcher's putting
a sign down in the shadows,

he couldn't see.
And Bobby going like that.

And the hitters
the next day say,

"why in the hell are you
looking at me like that?"

And Bob said, "man, maybe
I'll just do it every time.

Whether I can see
or not."

Since the day i
turned 19 years 0l_l:>,

I haven't had
really good eyesight.

And I wore glasses.

Never on the field.
But I wore glasses.

And I would look in...

And try to see the sign.

So the intimidating factor,

um, I think
it's the way I look. Period.

I think one
of the reasons

that they viewed me
as this ogre,

is because I was
a black kid.

White kids did
the same thing

and nobody
even thought about it.

But I did it and...
"Ooh, we're around this guy..."

You know,
"this monster."

And that wasn't
gonna hold me back.

And I don't imagine I did anything
to dispel any of that, you know.

But I don't know
where that image came from.

I guess it was
because I was who I was.

You're not an
angry guy, you're not a...

I'm not angry now,
i was then.

We never got any runs.

Well, anger came from racism.

Of course it did.

But racism was a way of life
that...

It was stuff
that I had to deal with

on a day-to-day basis.

I didn't every once and
a while go somewhere

and then all of a sudden
there it was.

No. It was there
and it followed me

all the way
through my childhood.

And not just
through the childhood,

through the first part
of my major league career.

It was there.

That fueled
a lot of the anger

that I suppose
i projected.

I don't know.

I'd have to be
on the outside looking in.

All I knew
was the way I felt.

And I felt
that I had to be better

in order to get
just as far

and I was determined
to do that.

M 196s,

Bob Gibson delivered
what by many measures

was the greatest season
any pitcher ever had

in major league baseball.

M 196a, I was m
a zone that entire year.

At the age of 32
i was probably

as bright

as I ever was
gonna be.

I was strong
as I ever was.

I had complete control

over the game.

I felt like I could throw the ball
anywhere I wanted to throw it.

That's the zone
that I was in.

And I was in the zone
for a complete year.

Which is kinda unusual.

You might be that way
for a game or two,

but not for a full year.

Hoot wow 22 games.

Including a record 13
complete game shutouts.

His earned run average became one
of baseball fans' magic numbers.

Like Hank Aaron's
755 home runs.

Or DiMaggio's 56 game
hitting streak.

1.12.

A staggering 35% lower

than the next best figure
ever recorded

in the live ball era.

You know, you talk
about angry, that look...

I lost nine games
that year.

Because if it wasn't
a one to nothing game,

I didn't win.

And I would sit
by myself on the bench

and nobody
would come near me

because I was pissed off.

You know,
just get me a run.

And my roommate,
curt flood,

we'd get one run,
and he'd say,

"okay, roomie,
we got it, hold 'em."

He thought that was funny

but that was
not funny at all.

M game one 0f
the 196s world series,

hoot capped it off with the
most dominating performance

in series history.

A 1-2 pitch to cash.

Struck him out
on a blazing fastball.

A 2-2 pitch
to mcauliffe.

Struck him out.

Got him!

Struck him out!

The 11th strike out.

He struck him out
swinging.

Once again
a standing ovation.

A new world series record.

Certainly, you know,

17 strikeouts was...

I guess
it's still a record.

In the world series.

And he can end it all now

with the most dramatic
of flourishes.

He got it,
struck him out!

Look at the scene on the field.
Mccarver's the first one.

A new world record

of 17 strikeouts
in one game.

Doing what you no,

and knowing
that you're good at it.

That's the great feeling.

Not just playing ball,

but I knew
that I was good at it.

And I could do

pretty much
what I wanted to

at a certain point
in my career.

And that's
a wonderful feeling.

Nobody's gonna
give me anything.

I need to work for it.

The fans here in Atlanta

treat the last three outs
of the game

unbelievably.

To say
i don't hear them,

I'd be lying,
'cause I do.

It pumps me up,
makes me excited.

When the fans
are behind you,

your body takes over.

It's hard to explain.

But seems like
it happens every time.

You have complete trust
in yourself

that if I throw
this pitch,

I'm gonna get
the guy out.

You need to believe that you're
gonna throw a pitch for a strike

or maybe throw it
by a guy.

That's just
the way of thinking

that you have to have.

There's no way
i can't strike this guy out.

They played
their hearts out

for nine innings
for us to win.

And for me to come in
and blow a save

and lose the game
because of that,

you know, in my mind,
that's unacceptable.

Got mm!

Swing and a miss,
it's all over.

No one wants
to hit off Craig.

No one's gonna say,
"man, give me a bat,

I wanna go up there
and hit off of this guy."

So when the ninth inning
comes around,

you hope
your spot's not up.

You know, he has that
little stare that he does

when he's getting
ready to pitch.

Definitely has
a really hard fastball.

It comes at you,

it can pound
the strike zone.

Nine times out of ten,
it's a fastball.

He is the best closer
in the game by far.

Comes in
and closes the door.

Washington, soon night.

He wants to shove it
down your throat

every single night
he faces you.

His fastball is electric.

M l-lls first
four seasons as a closer,

Craig kimbrel led the league
in saves every year.

A feat unequalled
in baseball history.

But even at 99 miles an hour,

no pitcher in baseball

has a smaller
margin for error

than the closer.

You never know
what's gonna happen.

It could change
in one pitch.

4-4 game.

Two outs here, in the
bottom of the ninth inning.

And now lt'll be choo.

The thing in baseball
is being a reliever,

they say,
"have a short memory."

But how
iapproach it is

you wanna have
a short memory,

but you don't
wanna forget.

Two and one to choo.

In the air,
left center.

Oh, choo to win it.

What an unbelievable
finish.

I threw him a
fastball middle-away,

shin-soc choo hit it
out of the ballpark.

I tip my cap to him,

and I just had to move on
for your next outing,

and the outing
after that.

What's the difference

between a 92-mile an hour
fastball

and a 100-mile an hour
fastball?

Home runs.

Probably about 92...

Probably about that much.

And that much can make

so much of a difference.

You bet.

If the two pitches
were thrown together,

when
the 100 mile an hour pitch

reaches home plate,

the 92 mile an hour pitch

would still have four and a
half feet left to travel.

When you
throw a 92,

you can read the major
league logo on the ball,

you can see the seams,
you can see all that.

But when a guy
throwing a 100...

It look like a golf ball.

Good luck.

It's kind
0f funny to say it,

but it's night and day.

92 and 100.

You feel as though you have
a lot longer to hit,

when actually,
you don't.

The
difference between say

a 90-mile an hour ball

takes about 450 milliseconds
to get to plate,

and a 100 mile an hour ball
takes 396 milliseconds.

That 50 some odd
milliseconds

is crucial brain time.

50 milliseconds is an eternity
in this kind of a process.

If you as a rough
estimate assume

that every
synaptic connection

takes about
two milliseconds,

an extra
50 milliseconds or so

gives you about 25 times
the number of computations.

So you get about 25 times
the information.

Just because you have
that extra 50 milliseconds.

But at 100 miles an hour,

you're given almost no time
to make a decision.

And it's getting close
to that range,

of where its physiologically
impossible

to actually plan
the voluntary action

based off
the information of the ball.

When the
pitcher's mound was set

at precisely
60 feet, 6 inches

from home plate,

the game of baseball
was set in perfect balance.

A showdown between the fastest it's
humanly possible to throw a ball.

And the fastest it's humanly
possible to react to it.

You're not gonna have

that many moments
in your life

where you're
going to see

the edge
of human performance,

meeting the edge
of human performance.

And so when they
actually do meet,

it's a beautiful thing.

The pitcher
is pushing the limits

of how fast
a ball can go.

And that limit
is coming close

to the limit
of how fast

a hitter can
make a decision.

And so you have these two
extremes of human performance

doing this kind of dance

right at the edge

of where their biology

is constraining them.

We have these very basic
events that are some on.

Throwing a rock
and hitting it with a stick.

And it's only
when we realize

how hard these things are,

how precisely balanced
batters and pitchers are,

that we really come
to appreciate

the beauty in this

and the marvelous way
that the game is set up

to make
this balance fair.

The pitcher wmns up,

as the pitcher's arm
swings around,

the hitter's brain
can make a little prediction

as to roughly
the trajectory of the ball

before it's even left
the pitcher's hand.

And then the pitch
is released.

A 100-mile an hour
fastball reaches the plate

in 396 milliseconds.

Faster than the blink
of an eye.

Any time that you blink,
it's by you.

That's how hard the
fastball is coming to you

if it's 100 miles an hour.

If you blink...

By you.

Unlike any other sport,

the game comes down
to what a person can do

in less time
that it takes

to say the word,
"fastball."

Imagine we start a clock

as the pitcher
releases the ball.

That starts this propagation of
computations that happen in the brain.

That trying to localize where the ball
is in space and where it's going.

It tries to predict
the ball's trajectory.

The ball is
moving too fast for you

to even track it
with your eyes

moment to moment.

Your eye
is rushing ahead,

to the point where you
expect to see the ball.

You don't know exactly
where it's gonna be,

but you're making
your best guess.

And you have a couple hundred
milliseconds at best

to pick the next position where
you're gonna put your eyes.

So right at midway ycu get
one glance at the ball.

That's
your decision point.

You better be planning
your swing now

if you're gonna hope
to hit the ball

if you're used to seeing a ball
moving at a certain speed,

let's say
90 miles an hour

is your average experience
of seeing balls.

That prediction
is gonna put you

where the ball would be

if it's traveling
at that assumed speed.

You move your eyes to right where
the position of the ball should be

for 90-mile an hour
fastball.

But lo and behold, this
pitcher has some extra gas

and they pitched it
at 103 miles an hour.

It left
the pitcher's hand,

you look where it should be
it isn't there

and from your perspective

it's almost as if
it disappeared.

Poof. It's gone.

When the ball got to
5o feet, it disappeared.

It was almost like
a jet taking off.

All of a sudden...
Woo!

You could lose
a baseball

between the pitcher's hand
and it getting on you.

Your brain tells you to swmcs.

You knew you were gonna
make contact

and then you swing
and miss

and your brain goes,
"why'd you miss?"

If you think about the
process 0f visual perception

what you're really doing is looking
at the positions of the ball

and making a best guess
all the time

about where
it's likely to be.

So if things happen
that you didn't anticipate,

all sorts of optical illusions,
essentially can happen.

So one of the ones
that can happen for the batter

is that the ball
can completely disappear.

And the 2-2.

Swing and a miss.
It's all over.

Our brain does a really
good job of filling in gaps

between the things
that we see

and sort of allows us
to tell a story

that makes sense
about what happened.

In that case where the ball is
faster than your eye movements,

the batter fails
to reacquire

the visual image
of the ball.

And the ball is now sort of beyond
the point where he thought it was.

He's gonna look
to a particular spot

and expect the ball
to be there

and the ball's
not there.

Now there's almost an
error message that occurs

and there has to be
a new telling of the story.

One story that
batter's brains create

is that
the fastest pitchers

can actually
make their fastball rise

as it approaches
home plate.

Koufax, he threw
a fastball

and that ball
would start here

and by the time
you swing at it,

it would hop
a little bit up here.

You watch the
ball leave l-lls hand,

and then when you get ready
to swing at it, it rises.

2-2 pitch to
Parrish, got him swmeuue.

Dwight gooden,

he had a lot of jump
and movement

on the ball upward.

There's very few guys
that get that.

You can know
a fastball's coming,

but it had
that upward rising to it.

And I could almost feel
the sting hit my mustache.

That ball
really scared me.

You know,
because you lost it.

Scientists
say it can't happen.

The ball can't rise.

I don't know, I don't think
they ever played baseball.

I don't think they did.

It may not sound logical,
but it rises.

And...

I don't want to get
into an argument

with a scientist
about that.

I have to say that in some
cases they make a mistake.

It wasn't impossible for it
to happen, because it did.

You come over the top

and you hold
a four-seamer this way.

You got one,
two, three, four.

Across the seams.

It did go up
a little bit.

You have
to throw pretty hard.

Those guys that throw
80s and 89, 90,

that ball's
not gonna go up.

Chapman, I guarantee you his
ball goes up a little bit.

Devastating fastball,
that has that late life.

It's impossible.

You believe that
the rising fastball's impossible?

Yeah, I believe
it's impossible.

But I think... you know, I don't think
it's possible for a fastball to rise.

But I think it's
possible for a ride.

You know, something
that's different.

Well, I tried to get
the ball to ride.

You know, if you talk
to a physicist,

he says a ball
does not rise,

but it does not drop
as fast as others.

You hear guys that say

they have
"good ride through the zone."

You know,
it's just a natural spin.

You know, 12 to 6,
just like this.

Once the ball
leaves the pitcher's hand,

the dominant force
acting on the ball

is the one
we're all familiar with,

it's the force of gravity.

So the ball drops.

Something like that.

For a 90-mile per hour
fastball,

it's going to drop
about three feet

if the only force
on the ball

was the force
of gravity.

But a four-seam fastball
has a strong backspin on it.

That creates a Magnus force
that's pushing upwards

so the ball still drops,

but it drops slower
than it would.

And the trajectory
the ball takes

is something like that.

It actually crosses
home plate

about 10 inches higher.

If this is what a qo-mile per
hour fastball looks like,

think about
a 100-mile per hour fastball,

perhaps
with a stronger backspin

and more Magnus force,

it will have
a higher trajectory

and cross home plate

inches above

th e Stan dard
four-seam fastball.

The visual was
that it would kind of ride,

it would kind of like
ride up and away from you.

You swing
at that fastball...

How could I not
hit that pitch?

Every... it always gets
on top of my bat.

Now that's a fastball
that's hard to hit.

Physics tells us

the ball is really moving
in a smooth arc

throughout it's trajectory.

The problem is,
if we go back

to the first half
of the pitch,

there's very little difference
in the trajectories

between a-100 mile per hour
fastball,

and a 90-mile per hour
fastball.

And it's the beginning
of the pitch

the batter has to use

to estimate where the ball's
gonna cross home plate.

It's not until the ball
gets very close

that he realizes

that the ball
is actually up here,

and this will give
the illusion

that the ball pops upwards
at the very end.

It's not
because it actually does,

it's the difference
between where his brain

is telling him
the ball is gonna be

and where
it actually is

when it approaches
home plate.

I think scientists are crazy
if they think that.

I mean...
Craig kimbrel.

It looks like his fastball rises
every time he throws it.

They need to grab a helmet,
grab a bat and get in the box,

'cause they don't understand
what's going on up there.

I wanna see
if you recognize them,

even know the name.

Any name on there
familiar to you?

Um...

Jack Smith.

- That's not the one we're talking about.
- Well, I didn't know.

I just said that.
I had 25% chance.

I didn't wanna
say, "no."

No. I mean, I don't...

Steve dalkowski.

Steve dalkowski?

No, don't know it.

How would I know it?

I'll show you something.

And ask you to tell me

who you see on that card

and tell me about him.

Well, the guy
that kinda sticks out

is Steve dalkowski.

What is it?

That guy right there,
can you...

Steve dalkowski...

1963 rookie stars.

Oh, my god.

I want you
to take a look at this card

and see if there's
anybody there you've heard of.

Speaking of the fastball...

0l-| yeah, yeah.
This dalkowski...

He's legendary.

There's no man on earth

that ever had
more talent. No man.

There's a man that if he
could've gotten it over,

I really believe he could've
just made his living

just th rowing fastballs.

Well, I didn't
know Steve dalkowski.

I knew of him.

And obviously
i came up in that era

that everybody knew him

and they said he was the
hardest throwing... thrower

that everybody
that had ever saw him,

said that.

And I never saw him.

But people
did talk about him.

Oh, he was a legend.

And you hear
all these stories about him.

Like "bull
durham's" nuke laloosh.

Who was based in part
on dalkowski,

or sidd Finch, George
plimpton's imaginary pitcher

who threw
168 miles per hour.

The story of Steve dalkowski
sounds like pure myth.

But it was real.

Tell us what we're
looking at, what did that arm do?

Threw a ball faster
than anybody that ever lived.

Anybody.

The nastiest I ever faced

was the hardest thrower
who threw a baseball

was Steve dalkowski.

You know, you get
into discussions

about who threw
the ball the hardest.

Well, this guy will come up
in every conversation

that the guys played
back in the day

saw this guy throw.

They 8nd that he... he was the
hardest thrower that they ever saw.

And this is
hard to believe

and as you get older,
the stories get bigger,

but I was there.

Steve and I played
together

for two years
in the minor leagues.

He's sort of a cult figure
in a way,

because he never played
in the major leagues.

We were
teammates in elmira aa.

And he was running
the outfield one time

and I said, "Steve, can
you throw that ball

through this fence?"

And it was 1x6s.

He said, "i don't know."
He hadn't even warmed up.

He grabbed a ball and just
fired it at the wall,

and threw it
right through the wall.

I said,
"i guess you can."

One game,
he broke my shin guard.

Split my shin guard.

Another game,

he broke the mask,

the bar mask that I had.

So after that
i got a wire mask.

I said, "man, I'm not
taking any chances."

But he threw
harder than...

This day than any man
i ever saw in my life.

Who taught
you to throw fast?

You don't teach people
how to throw fast.

It just comes natural.

I would love to have seen
him throw at his prime.

Um...

Because what people
said about him,

obviously he had
one of those special arms.

Befitting the
legend of Steve dalkowski,

no one has ever found
any footage of him pitching.

Tell me about that guy.

He's a good guy.

Couldn't throw strikes.

Yeah...

He was very wild.

Sometimes
when he threw BP,

you know
it was questionable

if he could throw it
in the cage.

I was do this and the
ball would go like that.

Out of control
they say.

His problem was
more up and down

than it was in and out.

You could tell Steve
to throw the ball,

"and I want you to hit
a foot in front of the plate.

I want you
to throw the ball 59 feet."

And the ball would be
over the catcher's head

by the time
it got to the plate

because his ball
had so much...

He had so much backspin
on his ball.

That the ball rose
that quickly.

Everywhere he pitched,
he set strikeout records.

But for every new mark
for strikeouts,

there was another new
record f or walks.

He pitched 697 innings,

and had
1,099 strikeouts.

And he had more walks
than he had strikeouts.

By 100.

Pretty amazing.

You still have to throw
the ball over the plate.

Could not throw a strike.

Tried everything.

I mean, everything.

All he wanted to do was get the
fastball over and he could not do it.

What a shame.

Over the years, it almost
became an obsession with him

to try to conquer
his control.

And he was getting better.

He wasn't perfect,
but he was getting better.

M 1962 at elmira,

under a new manager, the future
hall of famer, Earl Weaver.

Dalkowski finally found
the plate.

Over his final 52 innings
that summer,

he struck out 104
while walking only 11.

After all them years
of my life,

I finally got word

that I'm gonna
have the chance to make it.

That felt real good.

M spring training 1963,

dalkowski pitched
in two games

against the Dodgers
and the Yankees.

Allowing no runs
and no hits.

Topps printed
his baseball card.

In the morning
of his final appearance,

he was told
he had made the team.

And was fitted
for a big league uniform

for the very first time.

Then with two outs
in the third inning,

Steve came off the mound
to field a bunt,

as he threw to first

he felt a pop
in his elbow.

Tell me about
walking off the field

and knowing
that you are hurt.

I said, "why me?"

And I start crying.

Yep.

Steve went back
to the minor leagues.

He would never throw a pitch
in the majors.

I felt so bad
about him because...

When he was trying
to get it back,

you could walk downtown
at 1:00 in the morning

and you'd find Steve sitting
down there

with a bottle of wine.

I mean, he... it really,
really tore at his heart.

It's a shame that...

That a talent like that
never got there.

It's a fragile deal.

And if... you know,
if the wrong thing happens,

you never know.

He was just somebody

that was unable
to conquer his control.

And it's just unfortunate

that he never made
the big show.

If he'd had harnessed
his control

and gone
to the big leagues,

I think
he would have been

one of the premiere
fastball pitchers,

you know,
ever in baseball.

During the years
that dalkowski was struggling

to just find the plate
in the minor leagues,

another lefty
was working to control

the lightning in his own arm
in the majors.

This pitcher,
it was said,

had been born
with the left arm of god.

And when Sandy koufax
harnessed his gift,

he became a legend.

Untouchable.

Boy, I mean,
it came in and it went...

You could hear it go...

Wow.

One time he threw
a pitch in there

and I said,
"ball."

He got the ball back
like this.

And looked in at me

and he went like this
with his hand.

As if to ask,
"was it too high?"

And you know,
i just nodded.

That's right.

Next pitch, he brought
it down six inches,

same thing. Zoom, zoom, wham.
Strike three.

What a grand,
grand thing

to sit back there
and see this.

In 1965 on a late summer night
in Los Angeles,

koufax took the mound
for the Dodgers.

The game wasn't on TV.

But the Dodgers trainer,
bill buhler,

was an amateur film buff

and brought his camera
to the game.

He found an empty seat
behind home plate

and began to roll.

For decades the film sat
forgotten in a closet.

Now recently uncovered
and restored.

A glimpse
of Sandy koufax

on a night that maybe god
himself created especially

for his own left arm.

Batter after batter,

koufax was pitching
with mastery.

Precision.

Concentration.

And a fastball
that split the night.

With his handheld camera,

the Dodgers' trainer
was capturing history.

Till there were two out
in the third.

And bill buhler
ran out of film.

Only the 29,000 at dodger
stadium that night

actually witnessed
what happened next.

Threw 82i3rds,

26 up and 26 down.

And to capture
the final moments,

there was nothing
but the hall of fame voice,

of vin Scully
on the radio.

Making imagination real,

and baseball
that night...

Perfect.

He is one
out away from the promised land.

And Harvey kuenn
is coming up.

And koufax takes
a hitch at his belt

and walks
behind the mound.

I would think
that the mound

at dodger stadium
right now

is the loneliest place
in the world.

Sandy into his windup.
And the pitch.

A fastball for a strike.

And you can almost taste
the pressure now.

Koufax lifted his cap,

ran his fingers
through his black hair,

then pulled the cap back down,
fussing at the bill.

And there's 29,000 people
in the ball park

and a million butterflies.

Sandy readying
a strike one pitch.

Very high
and he lost his hat,

he really forced
that one.

Trying to get
that little extra.

You can't blame a man

for pushing
just a little bit now.

Now Sandy looks in.

Into his windup
and the 2-1 pitch to kuenn.

Swung on and missed.
Strike two.

Two and two
to Harvey kuenn.

One strike away.

Sandy into his windup.

Here's the pitch.

Swung on and missed!
A perfect game!

A warm summer night.

A golden voice crackling
over the airwaves.

And a fastball
no one could hit.

Baseball fans
didn't have to see it

to know how it felt.

Because in our minds, it was
the thing we always see.

The phenom made good.

The dream made real
before our eyes.

The pitcher with the gift
of the fastball.

Commanding the magic
in his arm.

For me
it's... I don't know,

I think koufax
was the most consistent

of any fastball
that I had to face.

You know,
day in, day out.

I say that
to all the guys,

I said, I don't think anybody
threw harder than koufax.

I have to tell you a story,
i grew up in San Francisco

watching koufax
against the giants

and those guys
all the time.

You know, as a kid or
something, I just would...

I just wanna
face Sandy koufax.

You know, you get in your mind,
you wanna face him, right?

So my rookie year,
we're going to dodger stadium

- and koufax was gonna pitch the next day.
- It was validation.

And I'm like,
"man, I can't wait."

And the guys on the bus are
looking at me like I'm crazy.

"Are you stupid
or what are you wanna do?"

Right, so...

And I find out the next day
i was stupid, right?

I mean, honest,
it took me two at-bats

before I even fouled
a ball, right?

He just blew me away

the first time,
the next time,

then I fouled
a ball, right?

I came back
and I told one of the guys,

I said,
"i got him now."

He struck me out, see? Right?

So I go back up
and I hit a pop up.

I said,
"i told you I got him."

Who's the
fastest you ever saw?

Uh, Juan berenguer.

With 101.5 in AAA.

And he was still throwing
about 100 for Minnesota

when I faced him.

He is just pumping
some major league gas.

Oh, mercy.

Of all the people I've
watched over the last 4o years

I think Billy Wagner
was probably as hard a thrower

as I'd seen.

Here's the pitch.
Swme and a miss

at a high fastball
at 100 miles an hour.

You're not gonna
catch up to that one.

I'd probably say
it's Kevin brown.

I really didn't like
facing that guy.

He threw hard.

He just has
so many different windups.

And he used to always come
high and tight on me,

I used to be...
And I was young then,

I was scared
to be in there

in the batter's box
with Kevin brown.

I mean, plus everybody knew
he was kind of crazy too.

Robin Roberts.

And when you got
men on base,

he could throw
a little bit harder.

He just reached back
and threw more.

I said, "wow.

Boy, this guy can
throw the ball."

Herb score.

I saw score
when I was just a kid.

My grandfather took me
to an exhibition game

and I never saw anybody

who could throw
the ball that hard.

It's one of those things
you remember in life.

The ball literally
just jumped.

I couldn't
see the ball.

And I told my grandfather,
i said, you know,

I've never seen anybody, grandpa,
thrcw a ball this hard."

And the young
hard thrower, Joel zumaya.

The rookie into the game.

Joel zumaya.

It just exploded
out of l-lls hand.

After the pitch was thrown
it was like by me,

and I'm like, "wow, this...
That was kinda hard.

Let me look up
and see what the radar says."

And the gun said 103. And
now I'm like, "oh, my god,

I gotta use all my mechanics, I gotta
get it ready early and just swing.

So I got my foot down
and I'm ready to go.

My eyes got
a little bigger.

Swme and a miss,
he went after the curve ball.

He struck him out.

And then he
threw me a curve ball

and I look like bugs bunny
spinning in the ground,

it was terrible.

I remember my first year.

And I was 20 years old.

You know, I was wide-eyed
and overwhelmed.

I'm in yankee stadium
for the first time playing.

I remember getting
in the box

and got
to a 3-2 count.

And the catcher
says to me,

well there's no mystery what
he's gonna throw right here.

And he struck me out
on the fastball.

Percival strikes out
jeter to end the ball game.

I got sent down right
after that.

But just wanted
to come back

and get a chance
to redeem myself.

All right, who was the hardest thrower?
Just pick one.

I would say Nolan Ryan.
Nolan Ryan.

Nolan Ryan.

I would say Randy Johnson
and Nolan Ryan. Each side.

I would say Nolan.
I mean, it was high heat.

And you were... from the time
you just left the dugout

you were starting
to swing.

I mean, it was just one
of those things.

You know when I threw
a fastball right

and I stayed with it,

I knew as soon
as it left my hand,

whether it was
the right pitch or not,

it was thrown correctly.

That was a gift.

Right past him, Nolan.
Right past him.

There's certain guys that are
electric what I called.

You don't know whether
they're gonna strike out 15

or you don't know whether
they're gonna pitch a no-hitter.

And Nolan,

when he got to the big leagues
at 19 years old,

that's the kind
of guy he was.

When he threw that fastball
above the waist,

it just exploded.

Pitching for the miracle mets

in the 1969
national league playoffs,

21 year old Nolan Ryan faced
home run king, Hank Aaron.

I had a good series
against the mets.

I hit one off seaver, I hit one off
koosman, and I hit one off gentry.

Hank Aaron now has
homered m each game 0f this series.

And...

And Nolan Ryan was the one
that almost hit me,

he cooled my pepper down
right here.

I grew up in the era
that was understood

that 0-2,
you knocked the hitter down.

And that you established
that you would pitch in.

And that's the way
i was taught.

That intimidation
is a tool that you can use.

Men and tight.

And I tell people that that's
a lost art nowadays.

He's outta there on strikes.

Nolan had
this edge about him.

And he was not afraid
to throw one under your chin.

I'd get goosebumps.

It's ridiculous to say, but you...
I could've got hit in the head

and died at home plate
against him, you know?

There's a lot
on the line there.

It's a damn scary at bat.

Nolan Ryan was
my last year.

And I says,
"Nolan, don't hit me."

- "I'm retiring next year,
please don't hit me." Wpleaset

I want to be able
to play golf

when I'm retired.

With the mets,
Ryan struggled to control

the lightning
in his arm.

I just threw as hard as i
coul_l:> For as long as I could.

There were times, you know,
that when I released the ball,

I didn't know
where it was going.

It's kinda like
what Oscar gamble said,

he said, "a good
night tonight is 0-4

and don't get hit
in the head."

You know.

M 1971 when the
angels called the mets

looking to trade
for pitcher Gary gentry,

the mets refused.

The angels settled
for their second choice.

And Nolan Ryan moved
to California.

Nolan Ryan,
when he first started

was incredibly wild.

So when the trade came in
and the headline,

"ls he Rex Barney
or is he Sandy koufax?"

There was a lot of reason
to believe

that he was Rex Barney.

The great line
about Rex Barney was

that he would have been
a great pitcher

if the plate had been
high and outside.

And Nolan Ryan could easily
have become that.

What nobody knew
about him,

and I don't even know if Nolan
Ryan knew about himself,

was that he had
this extreme competitiveness.

So he had the great arm

and he had this just hunger
to be successful.

Every single day,
every single pitch.

Almost immediately,
Ryan began an assault

on baseball's
pitching records.

First came the single season
mark for strikeouts.

Next came the no-hitters.

He popped it up.
A tough play.

No-hitter for Nolan Ryan.

There were a lot of times
when I was an over thrower

and that was something
i had to fight

my whole career.

But once I got
control of that,

I became
more effective.

And I knew
if I hit my spot,

they weren't
gonna hit it.

They're rooting for
Ryan to throw one more strike.

The 2-2 pitch.

It's strike three called.

Nolan Ryan has pitched
his fourth no-hitter.

Four no-hitters
equaled Sandy koufax's record.

There was no doubt
that Ryan's fastball

was the fastest
in the big leagues.

The only question
that remained

was it the fastest ever?

I think the three guys

who are different
from anybody else

are Walter Johnson,
Bob feller and Nolan Ryan.

In the moment,
in their moment,

people saw them
as the fastest ever.

When Walter Johnson
was pitching,

story after story
simply referred to him

as the fastest pitcher ever.
It was a fact.

It wasn't something that anybody
threw out as an opinion.

And then when feller came in,
it was the same thing.

And I think
then you have to go

all the way
to Nolan Ryan

who everybody wanted
to sort of use as the example.

Okay, how fast can a human
being throw a baseball?

No pitcher had ever
had l-lls fastball clocked

during an actual game.

But in 1974,
the invention of the device

that would become
the radar gun

made it possible
for the first time.

We have
a coherent infrared radar

located in the press box
at anaheim stadium.

And we send
an infrared beam

down over the catcher
and umpire's head.

They had me go out

and throw some
warm up pitches.

And you know,
they had one at 74,

and then
it went up to 84,

and then I think
the highest I threw

in those five
warm up pitches was 93

and I was sitting out...
Standing out there

thinking this is gonna
be a wreck.

Because it was all sheer
speculation

of what people threw.

You know, you hear
this guy has

a 100-mile an hour
fastball.

Bob feller was the hardest
thrower ever at 98.6.

And you know,
and nobody really knew.

The device was set up
to measure his pitching speed

about 10 feet
in front of home plate.

And he was
actually clocked

at 100.8 miles per hour
on that night.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we're pleased to announce
that Nolan Ryan,

officially is
the fastest pitcher

in baseball history.

Ryan's fastest pitch
came in the ninth inning.

He finished the night
with 159 pitches.

Ryan was officially sanctioned
as the fastest.

But as time passed

what became
even more amazing

than how fast Ryan threw,

was for how long
he could throw that fast.

Well, I pitched a game
against Luis tiant,

in '74,

where I threw somewhere
around 232 pitches.

I walked 10
and struck out 19.

Nolan had
pitched 15 innings

against the Red Sox
on Monday.

And Friday
was his day to pitch

and I said,
"you want an extra day?"

He said, "no." He said,
"i wanna pitch Friday."

So I'm not gonna
tell Nolan Ryan

he needs an extra day,

that's if he wants
to pitch every fourth day,

and he went out there

and he threw
a 1-0 shutout.

When I started the game,

my intent was
to finish the game.

That was my game

and I didn't want to
turn it over to somebody.

And if that's
what it took

that's what you did.

You know, he had 77 games

where he was leading
in the seventh lnning.

And he finished all 77
of them and won them.

So he was
his own closer.

I probably averaged
somewhere between 150

and 170 pitches
a start.

And on today's,
that's unheard of.

And anybody allowing
the pitcher to do that,

they'd run them
out of town.

Ryan was 27 years old

and believed his days
as a fireballer

were numbered.

"I don't look
for longevity," he said.

"If I can escape injury,

I should be
a fastball pitcher

for another five years."

When I went to Houston
as a free agent,

in 1980, iasked
for a three year contract.

'Cause I was 32 years old and i
figured you know,

in three years,

that's probably will be
a reasonable time,

I'd be out of the game.

But "the Ryan express"
was just getting started.

This may be m

no-hitter number five!

First he pitched
l-lls fifth career no-hitter.

A new record.

Then at age 36,

Ryan broke Walter Johnson's
all time strikeout record.

A mark that had stood
for 56 years.

Longer than babe Ruth's
career home run record.

And there's the record breaker.

3,509 strikeouts...

Five years later,

Ryan became the first
40 year old

to ever lead the league
in strikeouts.

And if that wasn't enough, he led the
league in e.R.A. That same season.

"The Ryan express"
continues to blow people away.

He went
to the Texas rangers

and the led the league
in strikeouts

for four straight years.

Including over 300
strikeouts at age 43.

Called strike three.
There's 300.

And the
no-hitters kept coming.

Nolan's looking for
a career seventh no-hitter

at the age of 44.

Number seven
is in the books.

The remarkable Ryan
has done it again.

[Posnanskh I think Nolan
Ryan wanted to be unhittable

every single day.

I don't think Nolan Ryan

ever wanted
to concede anything.

Every batter he faced,
he wanted to strike out.

And there it ls, strike three.

The grunt told you
it was a fastball.

He put everything he had

into his fastball.

Including a grunt.

Nolan grunted very loud
when he threw a fastball.

He threw it as hard
as he could throw it.

And no one else
did that.

He struck him out swinging.

Strikeout number 5,000

is history
for Nolan Ryan.

He just keeps
going and going and going.

Until the point where he puts the
record 2,000 strikeouts ahead

and is so far ahead that nobody's
ever gonna touch that record.

I mean, it's just...
It's staggering.

He was still throwing 96
at that age.

He was
still throwing 95, 96

and it was always
a tough at-bat.

M l-lls 27th
season, at age 4e,

Ryan felt a pain
in the elbow.

What happened
was I pitched in anaheim

five days earlier
and my elbow was sore.

And obviously I didn't
know it at the time,

I probably had
injured my elbow.

And so when I warmed up
in Seattle,

my elbow
was bothering me.

And as I went out and tried
to pitch in the game,

I had nothing.
Gave up a grand slam.

A grand slam
home run for howitt.

I didn't get anybody out.
It kept getting worse.

And then it just
finally popped

like a rubber band.

Inside 3-1.

Oh, boy.
That's not good.

And I knew that lt...
That I'd had torn it.

He turns to Kevin
Kennedy and that's it.

Uh-oh, he's finished.

Oh, boy.

Boy, you just hope
this lsn't the way it ends.

The sign says,

"Nolan, thanks
for the memories."

And the kingdome fans
are standing.

It wasn't
exactly the way

I envisioned
walking off the mound

for the last time.

Nolan Ryan's last fastball

was clocked
at 98 miles per hour.

To compare pitchers
from different eras,

fastballs thrown
in different conditions.

Measured in different ways

and marveled at
by different generations.

This is the question

that every baseball fan
wants to answer.

Who really threw
the fastest ever?

Today, all pitches
are clocked

at 50 feet
from home plate,

virtually the instant the ball
leaves the pitcher's hand.

So 50 feet from home

was the point where
aroldis Chapman's pitch

officially registered
at 105.1.

Well, physics tells us

that a ball traveling at 105.1
miles per hour at this point here

is going to slow down
considerably

as it travels
toward the batter.

As the ball is moving,

it has to push the air
out of the way

so it's losing energy
to the air

and that causes it
to slow down.

This is called
"drag."

So what 0f the
methods used m the speed test

for Walter Johnson,

Bob feller

and Nolan Ryan?

The three pitchers
known in their own eras

as the fastest
of all time.

Walter Johnson's reading
of 83.2 miles per hour

starts to feel different
when we look closer

at the apparatus used.

In which the trigger,
a wire target,

sat 60 feet, 6 inches
from Johnson.

And the metal plate
that completed the test

was 15 feet behind that.

What that means is,
you're actually computing

the average speed
of the baseball

as it passes from the
wire frame to the plate.

So effectively,
you're measuring

the speed of the baseball
at this point right here,

which is
about the equivalent

of seven and half feet
behind home plate.

But we're interested in the speed
of the baseball at this point here.

About 50 feet
in front of home plate.

Because that's our standard
point of comparison.

So we have
to make a correction

for the fact
the ball's gone actually

from this point here
to this point here.

A total of 50 feet
plus 7 and a half

at 57 and a half feet.

At a rate
of one mile per hour

for every 5.5 feet.

That makes a correction
of about 10.6 miles per hour.

So we really should
be saying...

93.8 miles per hour.

In 1946,
Bob feller's pitch

was measured
right at home plate.

So to compare
to today's pitches.

We have to estimate what
that pitch would have been

50 feet in front
of home plate.

So that means we have
to take the 98.6,

add 9 miles per hour,

we can estimate that he
was pitching with a speed

of 107.6 miles per hour.

For that pitch.

Nolan Ryan's
100.9-mile per hour pitch

requires
a similar adjustment.

M 1974, the
radar gun ls positioned

to pick up the speed
of the ball

about 10 feet
in front of the batter.

Again, what we would
really like to know,

what that speed was

at about 50 feet
in front of home plate.

To do that,
we add on

about 7 and a half
miles per hour,

and we come out
with a number

of 108.5 miles per hour.

At the 50 foot mark.

So we believe that once
we make corrections,

this is really
the fastest pitch recorded.

[Posnanskh 60 feet, 6 inches,
it's sucl-| a weird distance.

I don't know if it was luck

or if it was
just sort of this...

This sense of geometry.

It just sort of felt
right to them.

That felt like
the right distance,

60 feet, 6 inches.

And here it is
all these years later

and it's perfect.

It's absolutely perfect.

The game, its essence
comes down to that.

It's just
pitcher-hitter.

"I'm gonna throw the ball
as hard as I can...

Let's see
if you can hit lt."

Struck him out!

[Posnanskh that's what
baseball's been for 12o years.

Struck him
out with a fastball.

[Posnanskh that's the
timelessness of the game,

and I think that's
the fastball at its core.

It feels like what
was possible in 1936

is the same thing
that's possible now.

It feels like
that hasn't changed.

And that's part
of what's great about it.

The game changes,
it moves up, it moves down.

But that one thing...

Throw the ball
as hard as you can...

Just stays constant
through all.