Fastball Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thrown fastballs at speeds of (officially) and up to (unofficially). Pitchers who throw more slowly can put movement on the ball, or throw it on the outside of home plate where batters can't easily reach it. The appearance of a faster pitch can sometimes be achieved by minimizing the batter's vision of the ball before its release. The
Nolan White Nolan White Nolan White (26 February 1931 – 20 October 2002) was one of the few people to pilot a wheel-driven piston engined vehicle in an official sanctioned run in excess of 400 MPH. He broke the 400 MPH barrier at the Bonneville Salt Flats in September 1990, achieving the mark with the average of the required two direction run completed within one hour. Nolan died on October 20, 2002 at the age of 71 in Salt Lake City after being injured in an accident at the speed flats when his parachute failed after clocking a one-mile run at 422