Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Power, Precision, and Long-Term Performance (Paperback)

by Tom House (Author), Jim Rosenthal (Author), Nolan Ryan (Author) "When I signed back in 1965, the standard approach to training for pitching was quite simple: Just throw off a mound, do some sprints, and..." (more)
Key Phrases: long toss, proper mechanics, controlled fall, Tom House, Gene Coleman, Houston Astros (more...)

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Product Description
How does Nolan Ryan still do it?

At 43 years old, Nolan Ryan is a marvel. He is still blowing his fastballs by hitters at an age when most pitchers have long since retired -- or have learned to depend on guile instead of power. But the Ryan express keeps chugging on, getting more unhittable, not less.

Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible tells us the secrets of Ryan's success. Drawing on Ryan's practical experience and Tom House's research expertise, it shows how the right combination of exercise and motivation can help a pitcher develop to his greatest potential.

Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible includes:

* Nolan Ryan's complete fitness program for pitchers -- including weight training, aerobic exercise, and diet -- based on the latest scientific research and his 24 years of experience as a major leaguer.
* The most up-to-date methods for preventing arm injuries by establishing proper mechanics, a conditioning base, and throwing work loads.
* A timetable for keeping a pitcher in top shape year-round, including specific exercise intervals to meet the individual strength demands of each pitcher's throwing motion, maximum velocity, and maximum weekly number of pitches.
* An in-depth presentation of Ryan's pitching strategy -- how he prepares himself mentally for a game, an analysis of his pitch selection for different types of hitters, and how he applies his training regimen to improving his effectiveness on the mound.

Illustrated with black-and-white photos of Ryan in action, along with photos and line drawings of the recommended exercises, Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible is the ultimate book on pitching, by the ultimate pitcher.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2

Mental Discipline

Being able to adapt to changing circumstances has helped me tremendously -- it has been one of the keys to my success. When I first came up from the minors, for example, I'd dare a hitter to try to handle my fastball. I applied the mentality of a gunfighter to my craft. A guy either had the skill and timing to hit the heater or he struck out.

I don't really think of myself as a gunfighter anymore. The fastball is still my bread-and-butter pitch, and I'll go with it in crucial situations. But I'm much more conscious of location. That's the biggest difference between the Nolan Ryan of 15-20 years ago and the Nolan Ryan of today.

Check my minor-league stats and you'll see I was either striking everyone out or walking them. I had the kind of velocity -- 98 mph with regularity -- that allowed me the luxury of not being so fine with my control. Well, those days couldn't last forever. I now throw 93, 94 mph -- still fast, but not overpowering enough to base all my success on blowing guys away.

I worked long and hard to master the control of my breaking ball and change-up. As my confidence in those pitches improved, I was able to set hitters up, get ahead in the count, and apply strategy instead of sheer force.

Control of the curve and change-up transformed me from being only a fastball thrower to more of a tactical pitcher. I've heard some people say that going to the National League made me a complete pitcher because I couldn't just rely on my fastball. Well, nothing happened in my head to make the change -- that's just a bunch of hogwash. Ten years after I came back to the National League, I'm still getting hitters out with my fastball. If you fall behind in the count you still have to throw your best pitch -- and for me that's the fastball.

It requires incredible concentration to get the location I want on every fastball. I can't let up -- even for a second. Mental discipline and intense focus on what you're doing begins early in a pitcher's day. Before each start I sit in the clubhouse and analyze the other team's hitters. I concentrate on visualizing what I've done in the past to get a hitter out, consider his strengths and weaknesses. I just sort of run through the lineup in my mind; it's a pre-game ritual that reinforces the fact that I'm mentally prepared to pitch effectively.

Once the game gets going, though, all that planning is subject to change. Maybe I can't throw the breaking ball for strikes. Some days it's not going to break as much as I'd expected. Well, I simply have to adjust by throwing more fastballs and change-ups. This is where a lot of young pitchers run into trouble -- they're unable to adjust and end up losing their concentration as soon as things take a turn for the worse.

I don't use any particular gimmicks or fancy techniques to enhance my concentration. I just block things out, focusing completely on the task of retiring the hitter. Maintaining concentration depends on what I call tunnel vision; nothing else in the world exists but the catcher's target, the hitter, and my perfect delivery. This is a space where I feel comfortable and relaxed. I don't get distracted by all the external stuff going on around me.

The ability to block things out is something you develop through experience. Young pitchers have a tendency to lose their composure on the mound, falling prey to negative thoughts. Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman were notable exceptions; they were both blessed with incredible mental discipline. The entire Mets' staff, in fact, was remarkable for its mental maturity.

Unfortunately, some pitchers are unable to learn how to concentrate and focus properly. I've played with very talented athletes who never appreciated how important the mental side of baseball is to success; not surprisingly, most of them didn't last too long, even though they had enough talent to win ball games.

You can't have a long, successful career without a positive attitude. I believe that an I-can-do-this mentality is a pitcher's best friend. You must have confidence in your stuff. That confidence translates into an aggressive -- not arrogant -- posture on the mound. (Blatant arrogance, such as staring a guy down, is unprofessional and makes the hitter even more determined to beat you at your own game.) A pitcher lacking in self-confidence, however, can't be aggressive, and that timidity will betray you every time.

It's easy to identify pitchers who are afraid of getting hit hard; they lose confidence in their fastball so they won't throw it for strikes, they nibble and get behind in the count. What these pitchers don't realize is that they're beating themselves. Trying to be too fine, they lose their edge and are forced to pitch defensively. A pitcher with the count in his favor has the advantage. Once you get ahead on the hitter, then you've got all your options and you can throw your best stuff. If you make a bad pitch in that spot you've got no one but yourself to blame.

Throwing inside to a hitter is at the heart of aggressive pitching. You can't let the fear of hitting -- or hurting -- the hitter deter you from coming in with a fastball. Of course, it's essential to have confidence in your control and in your ability to throw inside. But don't let your concern over hitting somebody and putting him on base take away from your aggressiveness. If you teach a hitter that you'll throw inside -- if he knows that -- then his whole approach to facing you is quite different.

A lot of young pitchers in the big leagues right now are afraid to throw inside. This fear invites a hitter to dig in and dominate the outer part of the plate. The decline of the inside pitch can be traced to two factors: a lack of instruction at the minor-league level, and the recent rule changes discouraging guys from coming in too often -- umpire warnings, for instance, that lead to pitchers getting kicked out of the game. Umpires should have the power to prevent beanball wars, ugly incidents where players get hurt and things get out of hand. But I've also seen umpires warn pitchers in cases that didn't warrant it, where a strategic inside pitch got away from someone who wasn't trying to hit anybody.

Pitching inside was a fact of life in the 1960s. You had to demonstrate early in the game that you were more than happy to pitch in to a hitter to keep him honest. In an 0-2 situation it was taken for granted that you'd come in on a hitter to make your pitches away more effective.

Young pitchers have to realize that it's okay to claim the inside part of the plate as their own. It's especially important these days, what with hitters having the advantage of using aluminum bats at the college level. Those aluminum bats make a pitcher's life even harder. For one thing, a guy can fist out a hit without making solid contact; a broken-bat foul ball with wood is often a single with aluminum. But you still have to establish that you're not afraid to pitch inside. You can't afford to let a hitter develop a comfort zone. If he knows you won't throw in, then he'll dive out over the plate. You have to put the thought in his mind that you're willing to pitch in -- always keep the hitter guessing. Never show your hand. I talked to my son Reid, a freshman at the University of Texas, about pitching in and I explained to him that discretion is the key to this technique: If you throw a fastball inside, you're occasionally going to hit a batter. Well, you certainly don't want to nail a guy with men on base when you could lose a ball game because of it. So, in a do-or-die situation, always consider how good your control is before throwing inside to a hitter.

Control determines your effectiveness -- whether you're pitching inside or outside. It's really a double-edged sword. When you pitch inside and your location is off, well, two things can happen: either you hit the guy (missing inside) or throw the ball right over the heart of the plate (missing outside). But you run the same risk pitching to the outer half of the plate -- too far out and it's a wild pitch; too far in and the hitter gets a good pitch to drive.

If you do have enough control to throw to both sides of the plate, though, pitching inside will increase the effectiveness of your outside pitches and give you more of the outer part of the strike zone to work with. You don't want a hitter leaning over the plate, anticipating that you're going to throw the ball where he wants it.

Of course, some hitters don't like the outside pitch. This is especially true of righthanded hitters who have short arms and a compact swing. But tall righthanders prefer the ball out over the plate -- they just extend their arms to make contact. And lefthanders look for the ball over the middle, generally down and in. All hitters have their distinct strengths and weaknesses. You can't generalize about a hitter's favorite pitch -- just believe in your ability to get the guy with your best stuff. Don't compromise. It's your move; you have to be the aggressor or you'll lose that mental edge.

Getting ahead in the count is the key to being a winning pitcher. If you can throw strikes right from the get-go, then it makes your job so much easier. Most hitters lose confidence and alter their style in a 1-2 or 0-2 situation. (Wade Boggs is the exception; he'd rather hit with two strikes because it helps him to concentrate, and Wade says he has a better grasp of the strike zone with an 0-2 count. But guys like Boggs are few and far between.)

I like to get ahead of a hitter by starting him off away, especially if it's the first time I've faced him in that particular game. My theory is that you pitch in when you're ahead in the count, and pitch outside when you're behind. Say I have a 2-1 count on Dave Winfield. In that spot Dave is going to look for a ball to pull, something he can drive into the gap in left-center or smack over the fence. So I'll throw the pitch -- whether it's a fastball or curve -- on the outside of the plate to neutralize his power. If I'm ahead 1-2, though, he'll just want to protect the plate and be more likely to look for a pitch away -- that'...

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (April 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671705814
• ISBN-13: 978-0671705817
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,946 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on pitching I have read, August 4, 1999

By A Customer

Nolan breaks down his book into mechanics and training in a very readable format. The critics who said that the book focuses too much on conditioning and not enough on pitching secrets are missing the boat: CONDITIONING IS HIS PITCHING SECRET. How else did he last 27 years?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much on pitching!!!!!, October 2, 2006

By	N. Rossino (NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well this was a severe disappointment. I was expecting some insight on his mechanics, going into grave detail... The information on pitching form was extremely generic and repetitive. There is absolutely no unique insight that you couldn't get from using an internet search engine. It all comes down to this: keep your weight back during the leg kick (don't move forward), and then have a controlled fall towards the plate. Thats about it. Chapter 1 was fluff about his career and Ryan's various coaches, chapter 2 was mostly fluff about mental attitude, and chapter 3 was the only instruction on how to properly throw the baseball.

The rest of the chapters were just an "introduction to weight lifting and stretching". Chapter after chapter of what weights to lift, and how to lift them. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad weight training information... but there are far better weight training books out there and the excercises are not really unique to baseball or pitching. Generic normal excercises, like the ones you'd find in any weight training book (there are only so many ways you can lift a dumbell).

I was looking to the book for some deeper insight into mechanics, and maybe some more illustration of ryans form. I wanted to dissect his delivery, and see how his pitching style differed from my own. The book did not deliver.

To those other reviews that claim conditioning is the reason ryan was so successful... I'd say you are partially right. Conditioning is important. Its also very basic. I don't need a book telling me how to do squats or shoulder presses. The act of throwing the baseball, on the other hand, is extremely complicated. This is where you need the most information...

This is not an "ultimate guide" to anything. I wouldn't even reccomend this book to a novice since its so incredibly vague that the information probably wouldn't be clear to them. There are several superior *free* resources on the internet that can be found using your favorite search engine. Some come equipped with free videos and all.

Bottom line: this book was a waste of time

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conditioning+Presicion Pitching=Excellent Success, April 10, 1999

By A Customer

Nolan Ryan and Tom House put together a wonderful how-to book of conditioning and pitching. Everyone needs to condition to keep muscled tightened, Ryan and House emphasize that wonderfully in "Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible"