Customer Reviews

Nolan Ryan's Fastball [VHS]

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This the best information I've received for teaching my athletes how to pitch with speed and accuracy. I was especially impressed with the professional quality of the video and the eavesdropping on Nolan Ryan as he offered his tips to Randy Johnson. Apparently they worked. I also liked the historial footage from Nolan Ryan's career. I encourage everyone to get this. Ryan will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1999. This stuff is priceless. Just ask Randy Johnson. END

If you are serious about pitching, this video is priceless. If you are a beginning pitcher and don't have much background in baseball, it's probably not for you. Tom House's other videos, which ironically are more expensive, are pretty lousy in production value and are of little use to pitchers with some experience. This video is better produced, and the format is much better for delivering pitching pearls to it's audience. The other videos have this Cheesy announcer who knows nothing about pitching leading House in discussion. This video has two of THE GREATEST pitchers in all of baseball history discussing pitching with House. In 1993, when the video was shot, Randy Johnson had some good success already, but had not nearly reached his potential. House gives him absolutely amazing advice about keeping his hands close to the body and transferring his weight toward home--and Johnson is actually very receptive and working on the advice. This is very useful, high level information. What a great tape. Nolan also gives outstanding advice, and explains pitching theory in different language than House's technical speak, but it's just as effective. Get this tape if you're serious about pitching.

Nolan Ryans Fastball is exactly what every young (including 'old' coaches)pitcher should digest. After coaching boys up to age 15 and then watching high school pitchers destroy their arms you realize that if the mechanics that are taught in this short one hour were followed, injuries would be reduced and the player would maximize his potential. Pushing off the rubber, extending the lead foot, weight of the body over the lead foot, sounds so simple but it isn't. Ryan makes it so in this video. When you realize that Randy Johnson became dominant after working with Ryan, speaks to the richness of the simplicity in this video.

This is the best usable pitching video I've seen. When my 13-year old son saw Randy Johnson learning, he recognized the value of the lesson. If you're interested in an uncomplicated discussion of pitching mechanics from the "tall-and-fall" standpoint, this is for you. The parts my son refers to over and over are those where Tom House works with Reid Ryan and demonstrates drills to create the muscle memory and balance needed for sound mechanics. As Tex says, the video will not get a pitcher to 100 mph, but it will help them reach their potential. I see the improvement in my boy.

With all due respect to Nolan Ryan--arguably the greatest pitcher of all time--he really sold out for this video. I wanted to get good information to help my 11-year-old improve his form and prevent future injury. But the information on the video is so scant, and production values are so bad, neither my son nor I took much away from it. They offer a couple exercises for the young pitcher, but mostly its a filmed pitching lesson in which Nolan and some schlub coach teach Randy Johnson-yes World Series MVP- what's wrong with his pitching. Oh boy! Working without a script was not a good idea. I've found better videos since, and would not recommend this one, even at half the price.