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.
Facing Nolan will be released sometime this year (2022).