Al Kaline

The true story of baseball star Ron LeFlore, from his days as a street-corner punk with no future to his days behind bars on a petty robbery conviction to his ultimate once-in-a-lifetime chance with the Detroit Tigers, where he became an outstanding baseball player.

In this third entry of the ongoing HBO documentary series celebrating America's favorite pastime, the focus is on the 1960s, when Major League Baseball was slowly evolving from pure sport to big-bucks entertainment. Using footage of players and fans, the film covers the Yankees' ascension to greatness, the western expansion of both leagues, the increasing inclusion of black players and the rise of free agency.

Since 1912, baseball has been a game obsessed with statistics and speed. Thrown at upwards of 100 miles per hour, a fastball moves too quickly for human cognition and accelerates into the realm of intuition. Fastball is a look at how the game at its highest levels of achievement transcends logic and even skill, becoming the primal struggle for man to control the uncontrollable.

Emanating from Studio 42 -- named in honor of Jackie Robinson -- in MLB Network's Secaucus, N.J., headquarters, this series features the Hall of Fame-worthy interview skills of Bob Costas talking baseball with the legends of the game, Hall of Famers in their own right. Guests including Willie Mays, Bob Feller, Hank Aaron, George Brett, Reggie Jackson and Cal Ripken Jr. have graced the replica baseball field-designed studio set, reminiscing with Costas about their days on the diamond while also discussing current events and issues surrounding the game. Costas has also spent time on the show with broadcasters Al Michaels and Ernie Harwell, entertainer and big-time baseball fan Billy Crystal, and fronted episodes discussing baseball in Cuba and the state of umpiring.

Baseball's greatest hitters slug it out in a champ-against-champ duel on a match play basis.