Fastball (2016)

Fastball: Directed by Jonathan Hock. With Kevin Costner, Derek Jeter, Denard Span, Craig Kimbrel. With Kevin Costner narrating, lead a cast of baseball legends and scientists who explore the magic within the 396 milliseconds it takes a fastball to reach home plate, and decipher who threw the fastest pitch ever.

“For baseball fans, the question that this documentary delves into is an age-old one: Which hurler threw the fastest pitch in the history of the game? Was it Walter Johnson nearly 100 years ago? Maybe Bob Feller? Nolan Ryan? Or how about contemporaries like Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman? u0026quot;Fastballu0026quot; interviews both baseball greats and scientists in order to find out the u0026quot;answeru0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat this film does so well is that it knows the ultimate answer to its thesis query will be u0026quot;we are not sure…but here are some fun guessesu0026quot;. There is no way to definitively prove anything. So, a large part of this documentary is spent talking with players who actually competed against the legends being debated. Guys like Joe Moran, George Brett, Tony Gwynn, Johnny Bench, Bob Gibson, Goose Gossage, and Nolan Ryan are given prominent interview footage in order to hear there opinion on the matter. This is much-needed for u0026quot;Fastballu0026quot;, as the main question needs to be as much narratively-driven as scientific proved.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat isnu0026#39;t to say, however, that u0026quot;Fastballu0026quot; is all fluff…far from it! It does its best to include as much scientific analysis as possible, such as showing the methodology of the crude devices that once test the speed of pitches from Johnson, Feller, and Gibson, as well as the much more refined radar guns of today. A good solid half of u0026quot;Fastballu0026quot; concentrates on the scientific aspect of things, trying to quantitatively discover the fastball ball ever thrown.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, baseball fans will really enjoy u0026quot;Fastballu0026quot; for a number of reasons (and I havenu0026#39;t even yet mentioned the great narration from Kevin Costner!). It tries its best to answer the question scientifically, but is also smart enough to realize that peopleu0026#39;s opinions have just as much weight in the discussion as due the numbers. This leads to a great melding of stats and stories that make u0026quot;Fastballu0026quot; multi-faceted enough to appeal to all crowds. Highly recommend as the start of another baseball campaign commences!”