#baseball documentary

Hard 90 to Home | Inspiring Baseball Journey on Chime TV

Even though I don’t follow sports, I do love a good documentary—Facing Nolan is better than good. The title comes from the baseball hitters to had to face the famously aggressive pitcher but the movie encompasses so much more.

In the world of Major League Baseball, no one is more mythic than Nolan Ryan, a legendary athlete, and proud Texan. Ryan is a Hall of Fame pitcher and strikeout artist who is one of the most beloved baseball figures of all time. He holds the record for most strikeouts of all time with 5,714, almost 1,000 strikeouts more than #2 on the list, Randy Johnson, who’s got 4,875. On the field, he was a big personality, both feared and revered. In this documentary, we have not only famous interviewees – ex-President G.W. Bush and Pete Rose among them – but “Ol’ Nollie” himself.

As we learn, there is more to the man than the sport or his 27-year-career of highs and lows. Nolan Ryan is a cattle rancher and a family man who’s still married to his high school sweetheart. Even though he hit hard with his pitches, Nolan comes off as an amiable fella with his sense of humor well intact.

Oddly, many of today's baseball analysts do not consider him to be among the greats in the history of the sport. With all this in mind, director Bradley Jackson poses the question: Where does Nolan Ryan fit in the ever-evolving game of baseball? The answer will probably surprise you!

I certainly learned a lot while watching this engrossing documentary—if you’re like me, don’t worry—it’s not too “inside baseball.” It’s more about history, the people who make it, and what that all means in the long term.

The Bookshelf Conversation: Jon Leonoudakis

If I had the wherewithal, I think I’d be doing something like Jon Leonouakis‘ streaming TV show, The Sweet Spot: A Treasury of Baseball Stories. I mean, he interviews, people, I interview people. But as the saying goes, “Show me, don’t tell me,” and as a veteran filmmaker, he’s the man behind several well-crafted baseball documentarian. Not Exactly Cooperstown, about the quirky Baseball Reliquary;

The Bookshelf Conversation: Jon Leonoudakis

If I had the wherewithal, I think I’d be doing something like Jon Leonouakis‘ streaming TV show, The Sweet Spot: A Treasury of Baseball Stories. I mean, he interviews, people, I interview people. But as the saying goes, “Show me, don’t tell me,” and as a veteran filmmaker, he’s the man behind several well-crafted baseball documentarian. Not Exactly Cooperstown, about the quirky Baseball…

So which project is Will Ferrell promoting this time?

Look, I’m no one to c0mplain. I’ve had my share of shameless self-promoting. But come on, when Will Ferrell pulled off his spring training stunt of playing 10 positions for 10 teams in one day, you had to know that something was up.

Sure, this gig ostensibly raised money for caner awareness. But it also took place just as Get Hard — his buddy comedy with Kevin Hart — was about to drop. Now,…

So which project is Will Ferrell promoting this time?

Look, I’m no one to c0mplain. I’ve had my share of shameless self-promoting. But come on, when Will Ferrell pulled off his spring training stunt of playing 10 positions for 10 teams in one day, you had to know that something was up. Sure, this gig ostensibly raised money for caner awareness. But it also took place just as Get Hard — his buddy comedy with Kevin Hart — was about to drop. Now,…

Saturday at the movies

Some of you might be old enough to remember a time when for one admission at the movie theater, you got a double feature, a cartoon, and maybe a short subject.

Welcome back.

This week I finally had a chance to watch No No: A Dockumentary, about the life and wild times of Dock Ellis, an African-American pitcher, primarily with  the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also spending part of his 12-year career…

Because every new project needs helping hand

I am working on a “Bookshelf Conversation” podcast with Heather Quinlan, producer of a new documentary about the 1986 New York Mets. Quinlan is trying to raise $50,000 for her project via Kickstarter.

A few years back I wrote this storyabout a Kickstarter project for a documentary regarding a young man’s efforts to donate baseball equipment to the youth of Cuba and all the red tape he and his…