Chance to meet Jon Hamm, $1 million prize lure crowd to Disney for pitching contest

Movie promotion promises windfall if a person can toss a rare 100 mile-per-hour strike

April 26, 2014

The first pitch went about 30 feet. The next one flew over the batting cage. It was not Storm Coutard's day.

"I came out here on a whim," he said.

He finally got a pitch close enough to home plate to be measured by the radar gun. The box flashed 44 miles an hour. That was 56 away from where Coutard and a lot of other dreamers want to be.

They showed up the past two days at Disney's Wide World Sports complex and two other Disney outposts in California and New York City. The lure was $1 million, which will go to the man or woman who can throw a strike 100 miles per hour.

It's part of the marketing for Million Dollar Arm, a movie about an agent who signs two Indian cricket players in hopes of turning them into major league pitchers. The fastest three pitchers at each of this week's sites advance to the finals in Hollywood on May 6.

There are other perks, like a $500 gift package, red-carpet treatment at the film's premiere and having another dream come true.

"I want to meet Jon Hamm," Jessica Brady told her brother, Evan.

According to millions of Mad Men viewers, Hamm is something of a hunk. His face dominates the movie's poster, though he looks nothing like the real-life agent the movie is based on. That's OK, since few of the contestants are likely to resemble Nolan Ryan.

"I threw 88 last year," Evan Brady said.

That was at an arcade where the radar was probably rigged to keep customers happy. It's rare for even a Major Leaguer to break 100 mph. Tom Gordon appeared in 890 games in his 21-year career. That translated into roughly 50,000 pitches.

The fastest he managed was 96 mph And he was nicknamed "Flash."

"The arm is not designed to throw a baseball," Gordon said.

Ancient cavemen hunted, gathered and painted walls. There is no record of them throwing fastballs.

Pitching puts a mighty strain on the arm, one the 46-year-old Gordon feels some mornings when he gets out of bed. He showed up at Disney to offer tips, though the best pitching advice Brady got probably came from his 16-year-old brother.

"Just whip it in there," Aidan Brady said.

His sister lives in New York and first heard about the promotion. She tipped off her brothers, and they drove over from St. Petersburg. Evan is 23 and hadn't played baseball in 10 years. But he quarterbacks his flag football team and looks like a guy who knows his way around a gym.

"You can tell he's an athlete," Gordon said.

One of baseball's mysteries is that some of its less-impressive athletes are its best pitchers. When you have a million-dollar arm, however, it apparently doesn't matter that it's attached to a $37 body.

If they were racing a mile, you'd bet $10 million that Coutard would lap Joba Chamberlain. But the 26-year-old sprayed balls all over the Magic Kingdom while warming up. It might have helped if he'd actually set foot on a pitcher's mound before Friday.

"It sort of disorients you," Coutard said.

Brady had an easier time, whipping in an 81 mph pitch. The results won't be announced until Monday, but there's a decent chance Brady will make it to Hollywood. If so, he vowed to work non-stop on his fastball until he gets on the plane.

It will be stunning if Disney ends up giving anyone $1 million. But even if Brady doesn't find that extra 19 mph, maybe he can get Hamm to autograph his right arm.

To his sister and a lot of other people, that would be priceless.

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