Fastball, The Movie

[weams]

THE GAME IS PLAYED IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

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The Kevin Costner narrated documentary will be available nationwide with Tugg.com on March 24

and in select theaters and on demand March 25

"Hard-core fans will be spellbound. Even casual fans will be enthralled.?

- Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports

"Fastball" walks the delicate line between the mythology and the science of the fastball, drawing on both anecdotal and empirical evidence.?

- Lindsay Berra, MLB.com

Los Angeles, CA (February 16, 2016) ? On Thursday, March 24, people in more than 50 Major and Minor League markets will be on deck for one-night-only fan screenings of ?Fastball.? This timeless documentary will enthrall baseball fans young and old and is now available via Tugg Inc., the web-based platform that allows fans, teams and organizations to bring movies to their own local theater for screenings. Fans should head to the official Fastball Tugg website to request their own show and check back often as additional screenings are added.

The documentary, which is narrated by Kevin Costner (?Field of Dreams,? ?Bull Durham?), also features active Major Leaguers Justin Verlander, Andrew McCutchen and David Price as well as baseball legends in Hank Aaron, Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Goose Gossage, Derek Jeter and the late Tony Gwynn. The feature from writer/director Jonathan Hock and producer Thomas Tull will also be released in theaters and on demand March 25. It is already available for pre-order on iTunes.

The essence of baseball is the primal battle between the pitcher and batter, but the magic of the game arises from that confrontation, only 396 milliseconds in the making. The mysteries and memories of Baseball's greatest heroes are revealed in ?Fastball,? featuring interviews with dozens of former players, from legendary Hall of Famers to current All-Stars.

Based on the original idea by the film?s producer, Thomas Tull, who also produced the Jackie Robinson biopic ?42,? ?Fastball? is peppered with archival footage of baseball's greatest moments plus original high-speed 4K footage and motion graphics that unlock the secrets hidden within a ball traveling over 100 mph. While players, historians, and scientists might disagree on who was actually the fastest pitcher in history ? and yes, the film does the physics and concludes with a clear verdict ? ?Fastball? tells the story of the game itself.

Jonathan Hock?s history with sports runs deep. He is a nine-time Emmy? Award winning producer, director, writer and editor. His first documentary feature "Through the Fire" had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2005, and his later films "The Lost Son of Havana" (2009), "Off the Rez" (2011) as well as "Fastball" also premiered there. Hock has directed four documentaries for ESPN's Emmy and Peabody Award winning "30 For 30" series, including "Unguarded," which was named Best Documentary of the year by Sports Illustrated; "The Best That Never Was" (2010); "Survive and Advance" (2013) and "Of Miracles and Men" (2015). Hock's series of documentary shorts, "The Finish Line: Steve Nash," was a finalist for a National Magazine Award.

Producer Thomas Tull is the CEO and Chairman of Legendary Entertainment, a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures), television and digital (Legendary Television and Digital Media) and comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning, producing and delivering content to mainstream audiences with a targeted focus on the powerful fandom demographic. Through complete or joint ownership, Legendary has built a library of marquee media properties and has established itself as a trusted brand which consistently delivers high-quality, commercial entertainment including some of the world's most popular intellectual property. In aggregate, Legendary Pictures-associated productions have realized grosses of more than $12 billion worldwide at the box office.

Producing with Tull are sports film veterans Philip Aromando (?30 for 30?) and Mike Tollin (?Sin City Saints?) along with Executive Producer Jack Selby.

For more follow @FastballMovie across social media or visit fastballmovie.com.

[weams]

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/major-league-baseball-fastball/?utm_network=twitter&utm_post=5452930&utm_source=TW%20%40NBCSportsWorld&utm_tags=srm%5Bbaseball%5D

On August 20, 1946 - almost 70 years ago - Bob Feller threw what was being called in the papers a "world record fastball." Before his start against Washington, the U.S. Army had set up at home plate some sort of unwieldy contraption that was variously called a "Lumiline Chronograph" and "Sky Screen Cronograph." The Army supposedly used this device measure the speed of rifle bullets.

At that moment in time, the world record in the 100-meter dash was held by Jesse Owens at 10.2 seconds. It is now Usain Bolt's record of 9.58 seconds.

The world record in the 100-meter freestyle was held by Alan Ford, who had swam a special race in 1944 when the Olympics were canceled for World War II. He swam 100 meters in 55.9 seconds. Brazil's Cesar Cielo now has the record at 46.91 seconds.

Les Steers owned the high-jump record then at six feet, 11 inches. The seven-foot jump was something of an obsession then, and it would another 10 more years before Charlie Dumas did it. The record is now eight feet, held by Cuba"s remarkable Javier Sotomayer.

All of this is mentioned to clarify what Bob Feller did that day in Washington. He was starting the game against the Senators (he lost) so it seems unlikely that he threw every bit as hard as he could for some quirky speed test.

Even so, his fastball sailed through the army's speed measuring device and was clocked at 98.6 mph. That's pretty good, right? If you went to the ballpark, watched a starting pitcher throw a fastball and then saw 99 mph pop on the giant radar gun, you'd be pretty impressed even now. The hardest throwing starter in 2015 was Kansas City?s Yordano Ventura, who averaged about 96 mph and topped out at 101.

But here?s the thing that's easy to miss: Yordano Ventura and all pitchers today are having their fastballs clocked just as the ball is leaving their hands. Feller's fastball was clocked as it was crossing home plate, 60 feet, 6 inches away.

[Sessh]

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/major-league-baseball-fastball/?utm_network=twitter&utm_post=5452930&utm_source=TW%20%40NBCSportsWorld&utm_tags=srm%5Bbaseball%5D

I don't remember where I saw it, but I know that a baseball loses about seven MPH between the time it leaves the pitcher's hand and the time it crosses home plate due to wind resistance, gravity and other forces.

I think this is referring to the motorcycle test where his velocity was measured using today's standards.

The Harley motorcycle had a 10-foot head start on Feller’s fastball and was doing 86 miles per hour when it flew by, just a few feet to the right of the Indians’ ace. At that moment in U.S. history, Feller was just about the most famous ballplayer, certainly the most famous pitcher, in the land. Soon after he began pitching for Cleveland, at the age of 18, he was on the cover of TIME magazine. Six seasons later, on this summer day in Chicago, Feller was the top fireballer in the game.

“I suppose I wanted to know as badly as everybody else how hard I could throw a baseball,” Feller told me decades later. “Since I’d been a little guy, I’d heard people talking about how I was the next Lefty Grove or Walter Johnson.”

Seconds after the motorcycle flew past, Feller flung the regulation-size hardball in his right hand. Feller’s offering quickly outraced man and machine, ahead by a good three feet when it split the paper bull’s-eye target that was held upright by a wooden frame.

“To this day I still don’t know how I hit that target on the first try,” Feller said. “It was the luckiest thing I’ve ever done.”

A split-second after Feller’s offering broke the paper target, the motorcycle obliterated its target. Enough variables were satisfied to calculate the speed of the pitch. Soon afterward, MLB announced that Feller’s fastball had been clocked at 104 miles per hour.

Bob Feller Motorcycle Test

[weams]

This documentary was released today, I picked it up on iTunes through my Apple Tv and I highly recommend it.

It features profiles on some of the hardest throwers of all time, Walter Johnson, Koufax, Ryan, Gibson...and yes, Dalkowski. There's even an interview with him and on the extra features part there's more about him.

It also does a really good job of blending tall tales, video footage and science. They talk about whether a fastball can really rise or not and who actually threw the fastest fastball. They break down the different methods that were used to time Feller, Ryan and Johnson and extrapolate who threw the hardest. And it's not Chapman.

Really good interviews, too. Eddie Murray is in it for a little bit talking about Dwight Gooden. Jeter, Tony Gwynn, Bench, Morgan, Kaline and others.

It's up for rental or purchase, I just bought it because I knew I'd want to watch it again.

Thanks for the nice review.

[duffaphonic]

Thanks for the review. I heard an interview with the director on NPR. He's a super passionate baseball fan. Like us all