Regardless of its actual speed, his fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning". In one game in Bluefield, Tennessee, playing under the dim lighting on a converted football field, he struck out 24 while walking 18, and sent one batter 18-year-old Bob Beavers to the hospital after a beaning so severe that it tore off the prospects ear lobe and ended his career after just seven games. But before or after, it was a different story. That gave him incentive to keep working faster. A professional baseball player in the late 50s and early 60s, Steve Dalkowski (1939-2020) is widely regarded as the fastest pitcher ever to have played the game. During one 53-inning stretch, he struck out 111 and walked only 11. Best Youth Baseball Bats Follow him on Twitter @jay_jaffe and Mastodon @jay_jaffe. Is there any extant video of him pitching (so far none has been found)? McDowell said this about Dalkowskis pitching mechanics: He had the most perfect pitching mechanics I ever saw. He was 80. Here is a video of Zeleznys throwing a baseball at the Braves practice (reported on Czech TV see the 10 second mark): How fast has a javelin thrower been able to pitch a baseball? A professional baseball player in the late 50s and early 60s, Steve Dalkowski (19392020) is widely regarded as the fastest pitcher ever to have played the game. He is sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h). But, no matter how embellished, one fact always remained: Dalkowski struck out more batters and walked more batters per nine-inning game than any professional pitcher in baseball history. It seems like I always had to close the bar, Dalkowski said in 1996. Its like something out of a Greek myth. Skip: He walked 18 . When he returned in 1964, Dalkowski's fastball had dropped to 90 miles per hour (140km/h), and midway through the season he was released by the Orioles. They were . The problem was that Dalkowski sprayed pitches high, low, inside, and out but not nearly often enough over the plate to be effective. For the first time, Dalko: The Untold Story of . S teve Dalkowski, a career minor-leaguer who very well could have been the fastest (and wildest) pitcher in baseball history, died in April at the age of 80 from complications from Covid-19. We werent the first in this effort and, likely, will not be the last. "[18], Estimates of Dalkowski's top pitching speed abound. He is sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100mph (160kmh). During his time in Pensacola, Dalkowski fell in with two hard-throwing, hard-drinking future major league pitchers, Steve Barber and Bo Belinsky, both a bit older than him. Not an easy feat when you try to estimate how Walter Johnson, Smoky Joe Wood, Satchel Paige, or Bob Feller would have done in our world of pitch counts and radar guns. Some advised him to aim below the batters knees, even at home plate, itself. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Fondy attempted three bunts, fouling one off into a television both on the mezzanine, which must have set a record for [bunting] distance, according to the Baltimore Sun. We propose developing an integrative hypothesis that takes various aspects of the pitching motion, asks how they can be individually optimized, and then hypothesizes that Dalko integrated those aspects into an optimal biomechanical pitch delivery. Dalkowski drew his release after winding up in a bar that the team had deemed off limits, caught on with the Angels, who sent him to San Jose, and then Mazatlan of the Mexican League. He did so as well at an Orioles game in 2003, then did it again three years later, joined by Baylock. His ball moved too much. He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011. The writers immediately asked Williams how fast Steve Dalkowski really was. Baseball players and managers as diverse as Ted Williams, Earl Weaver, Sudden Sam McDowell, and Cal Ripken Sr. all witnessed Dalko pitch, and all of them left convinced that none was faster, not even close. We thought the next wed hear of him was when he turned up dead somewhere. Yet as he threw a slider to Phil Linz, he felt something pop in his elbow. Just 5-foot-11 and 175, Dalkowski had a fastball that Cal Ripken Sr., who both caught and managed him, estimated at 110 mph. Nope. Nine teams eventually reached out. For the effect of these design changes on javelin world records, see Javelin Throw World Record Progression previously cited. In line with such an assessment of biomechanical factors of the optimum delivery, improvements in velocity are often ascribed to timing, tempo, stride length, angle of the front hip along with the angle of the throwing shoulder, external rotation, etc. A few years ago, when I was finishing my bookHigh Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Impossible Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time, I needed to assemble a list of the hardest throwers ever. Something was amiss! Moreover, even if the physics of javelin throwing were entirely straightforward, it would not explain the physics of baseball throwing, which requires correlating a baseballs distance thrown (or batted) versus its flight angle and velocity, an additional complicating factor being rotation of the ball (such rotation being absent from javelin throwing). Steve Dalkowski was considered to have "the fastest arm alive." Some say his fastball regularly exceeded 100 mph and edged as high as 110 mph. The cruel irony, of course, is that Dalkowski could have been patched up in this day and age. During a typical season in 1960, while pitching in the California League, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters and walked 262 in 170 innings. Dalkowski began his senior season with back-to-back no-hitters, and struck out 24 in a game with scouts from all 16 teams in the stands. Stay tuned! So speed is not everything. No one else could claim that. Further, the device measured speed from a few feet away from the plate, instead of 10 feet from release as in modern times. His fastball was like nothing Id ever seen before. Here is his account: I started throwing and playing baseball from very early age I played little league at 8, 9, and 10 years old I moved on to Pony League for 11, 12, and 13 years olds and got better. Steve Dalkowski, a career minor leaguer whose legend includes the title as "the fastest pitcher in baseball history" via Ted Williams, died this week in Connecticut at 80. Shelton says that Ted Williams once faced Dalkowski and called him "fastest ever." Steve Dalkowski . Baseball pitching legend from the 1960's, Steve Dalkowski with his sister, Patti Cain, at Walnut Hill Park in New . This was the brainstorm of . 2023 Easton Ghost Unlimited Review | Durable or not? Players who saw Dalkowski pitch did not see a motion completely at odds with what other pitchers were doing. It did not take long "three straight pitches," Dalkowski recalled, through the blur of 46 very hard years. In 1970, Sports Illustrateds Pat Jordan (himself a control-challenged former minor league pitcher) told the story of Williams stepping into the cage when Dalkowski was throwing batting practice: After a few minutes Williams picked up a bat and stepped into the cage. He resurfaced on Christmas Eve, 1992, and came under the care of his younger sister, Patricia Cain, returning to her after a brief reunion with his second wife, Virginia Greenwood, ended with her death in 1994. No one ever threw harder or had more of a star-crossed career than Steve Dalkowski. Dalkowski struggled with alcoholism all his life. We see torque working for the fastest pitchers. Said Shelton, "In his sport, he had the equivalent of Michaelangelo's gift but could never finish a painting." Dalko is the story of the fastest pitching that baseball has ever seen, an explosive but uncontrolled arm. Ive been playing ball for 10 years, and nobody can throw a baseball harder than that, said Grammas at the time. - YouTube The only known footage of Steve Dalkowski and his throwing motion. What set him apart was his pitching velocity. Petranoff threw the old-design javelin 99.72 meters for the world record in 1983. Andy Baylock, who lived next door to Dalkowski in New Britain, caught him in high school, and later coached the University of Connecticut baseball team, said that he would insert a raw steak in his mitt to provide extra padding. But after walking 110 in just 59 innings, he was sent down to Pensacola, where things got worse; in one relief stint, he walked 12 in two innings. I threw batting practice at Palomar years later to cross train, and they needed me to throw 90 mph so their batters could see it live. Batters will land straight on their front leg as they stride into a pitch. Arizona Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson's fastest pitch came when he was 40 years old, tipping the scales at 102 mph. [8] He began playing baseball in high school, and also played football as a quarterback for New Britain High School. Steve Dalkowski, who died of COVID-19 last year, is often considered the fastest pitcher in baseball history. Within a few innings, blood from the steak would drip down Baylocks arm, giving batters something else to think about. How fast was he really? He also might've been the wildest pitcher in history. He struggled in a return to Elmira in 1964, and was demoted to Stockton, where he fared well (2.83 ERA, 141 strikeouts, 62 walks in 108 innings). Javelin throwers make far fewer javelin throws than baseball pitchers make baseball throws. Steve Dalkowski will forever be remembered for his remarkable arm. The fastest pitch ever recorded was thrown by current Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. Previously, the official record belonged to Joel Zumaya, who reached 104.8 mph in 2006. Steve Dalkowski, a wild left-hander who was said to have been dubbed "the fastest pitcher in baseball history" by Ted Williams, died this week in New Britain, Connecticut. Dalkowski warmed up and then moved 15 feet (5m) away from the wooden outfield fence. Organizations like the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America and the Baseball Assistance Team periodically helped, but cut off support when he spent the money on booze. They help break down Zeleznys throwing motion. Aroldis Chapmans fastest pitch (see 25 second mark): Nolan Ryans fastest pitch (from MLB documentary FASTBALL): So the challenge, in establishing that Dalkowski was the fastest pitcher ever, is to make a case that his pitching velocity reached at least 110 mph. [23], Scientists contend that the theoretical maximum speed that a pitcher can throw is slightly above 100mph (161km/h). Extreme estimates place him throwing at 125 mph, which seems somewhere between ludicrous and impossible. Though of average size (Baseball-Reference lists him at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds) and with poor eyesight and a short attention span, he starred as a quarterback, running back, and defensive back at New Britain High School, leading his team to back-to-back state titles in 1955 and 56 and earning honorable mention as a high school All-American. Even then I often had to jump to catch it, Len Pare, one of Dalkowskis high school catchers, once told me. With Kevin Costner, Derek Jeter, Denard Span, Craig Kimbrel. [16] Either way, his arm never fully recovered. He had an unusual buggy-whip style, and his pitches were as wild as they were hard. Studies of this type, as they correlate with pitching, do not yet exist. Steve Dalkowski, who entered baseball lore as the hardest-throwing pitcher in history, with a fastball that was as uncontrollable as it was unhittable and who was considered perhaps the game's. Brought into an April 13, 1958 exhibition against the Reds at Memorial Stadium, Dalkowski sailed his first warm-up pitch over the head of the catcher, then struck out Don Hoak, Dee Fondy, and Alex Grammas on 12 pitches. [19] Most observers agree that he routinely threw well over 110 miles per hour (180km/h), and sometimes reached 115 miles per hour (185km/h). Steve Dalkowski. Granted much had changed since Dalkowski was a phenom in the Orioles system. Steve Dalkowski Bats: Left Throws: Left 5-11 , 175lb (180cm, 79kg) Born: June 3, 1939 in New Britain, CT us Died: April 19, 2020 (Aged 80-321d) in New Britain, CT High School: New Britain HS (New Britain, CT) Full Name: Stephen Louis Dalkowski View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. The current official record for the fastest pitch, through PITCHf/x, belongs to Aroldis Chapman, who in 2010 was clocked at 105.1 mph. Such an absence of video seems remarkable inasmuch as Dalkos legend as the hardest thrower ever occurred in real time with his baseball career. At Aberdeen in 1959, under player-manager Earl Weaver, Dalkowski threw a no-hitter in which he struck out 21 and walked only eight, throwing nothing but fastballs, because the lone breaking ball he threw almost hit a batter. He's already among the all-time leaders with 215 saves and has nearly 500 strikeouts in just seven short seasons. Photo by National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB via Getty Images. White port was Dalkowskis favorite. Both straighten out their landing legs, thereby transferring momentum from their lower body to their pitching arms. He tested positive for the virus early in April, and appeared to be recovering, but then took a turn for the worse and died in a New Britain hospital. Our team working on the Dalko Project have come to refer to video of Dalko pitching as the Holy Grail. Like the real Holy Grail, we doubt that such video will ever be found. All in the family: how three generations of Jaquezes have ruled West Coast basketball. His star-crossed career, which spanned the 1957-1965. PRAISE FOR DALKO No high leg kick like Bob Feller or Satchel Paige, for example. His pitches strike terror into the heart of any batter who dares face him, but hes a victim of that lack of control, both on and off the field, and it prevents him from taking full advantage of his considerable talent. [14] Dalkowski pitched a total of 62 innings in 1957, struck out 121 (averaging 18 strikeouts per game), but won only once because he walked 129 and threw 39 wild pitches. (In 2007, Treder wrote at length about Dalkowski for The Hardball Times.). When I think about him today, I find myself wondering what could have been. Pitching for the Kingsport (Tennessee) Orioles on August 31, 1957, in Bluefield, West Virginia, Dalkowski struck out 24 Bluefield hitters in a single minor league game, yet issued 18 walks, and threw six wild pitches. He also allowed just two homers, and posted a career-best 3.04 ERA. Cain brought balls and photos to Grandview Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center for her brother to sign, and occasionally visitors to meet. "He had a record 14 feet long inside the Bakersfield, Calif., police station," Shelton wrote, "all barroom brawls, nothing serious, the cops said. Zelezny seems to have mastered the optimal use of such torque (or rotational force) better than any other javelin thrower weve watched. Some experts believed it went as fast as 110mph (180km/h), others that his pitches traveled at less than that speed. He became one of the few gringos, and the only Polish one at that, among the migrant workers. He also learned, via a team-administered IQ test, that Dalkowski scored the lowest on the team. During the 1960s under Earl Weaver, then the manager for the Orioles' double-A affiliate in Elmira, New York, Dalkowski's game began to show improvement. Plagued by wildness, he walked more than he . It mattered only that once, just once, Steve Dalkowski threw a fastball so hard that Ted Williams never even saw it. Women's Champ Week predictions: Which teams will win the auto bids in all 32 conferences? . Despite never playing baseball very seriously and certainly not at an elite level, Petranoff, once he became a world-class javelin thrower, managed to pitch at 103 mph. Elizabeth City, NC (27909) Today. Most likely, some amateur videographer, some local news station, some avid fan made some video of his pitching. There are, of course, some ceteris paribus conditions that apply here inasmuch as throwing ability with one javelin design might not correlate precisely to another, but to a first approximation, this percentage subtraction seems reasonable. And . That was because of the tremendous backspin he could put on the ball., That amazing, rising fastball would perplex managers, friends, and catchers from the sandlots back in New Britain, Connecticut where Dalkowski grew up, throughout his roller-coaster ride in the Orioles farm system. Less than a decade after returning home, Dalkowski found himself at a place in life he thought he would never reachthe pitching mound in Baltimore. That may be, but for our present purposes, we want simply to make the case that he could have done as good or better than 110 mph. However, he excelled the most in baseball, and still holds a Connecticut state record for striking out 24 batters in a single game. He was sentenced to time on a road crew several times and ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. [17], Dalkowski had a lifetime winloss record of 4680 and an ERA of 5.57 in nine minor league seasons, striking out 1,396 and walking 1,354 in 995 innings. Thats tough to do. It is integrative in the sense that these incremental pieces are hypothesized to act cumulatively (rather than counterproductively) in helping Dalko reach otherwise undreamt of pitching speeds. But he also walked 262 batters. The family convinced Dalkowski to come home with them. In 1963, the year that this Topps Card came out, many bigwigs in baseball thought Steve Dalkowski was the fastest pitcher in baseballmaybe in the history of the game. Though he pitched from the 1957 through the 1965 seasons, including single A, double A, and triple A ball, no video of his pitching is known to exist. For the first time, Dalkowski began to throw strikes. It is incremental in that the different aspects or pieces of the pitching motion are all hypothesized to contribute positively to Dalkos pitching speed. Javelin throwers call this landing on a straight leg immediately at the point of releasing the javelin hitting the block. This goes to point 3 above. That is what haunts us. Born on June 3, 1939 in New Britain, Dalkowski was the son of a tool-and-die machinist who played shortstop in an industrial baseball league. Stephen Louis Dalkowski (born June 3, 1939), nicknamed Dalko, is an American retired lefthanded pitcher. We see hitting the block in baseball in both batting and pitching. It is certain that with his high speed and penchant for throwing wild pitches, he would have been an intimidating opponent for any batter who faced him. Dalkowski managed to throw just 41 innings that season. Late in the year, he was traded to the Pirates for Sam Jones, albeit in a conditional deal requiring Pittsburgh to place him on its 40-man roster and call him up to the majors. Hed suffered a pinched nerve in his elbow. This suggests a violent forward thrust, a sharp hitting of the block, and a very late release point (compare Chapman and Ryan above, whose arm, after the point of release, comes down over their landing leg, but not so violently as to hit it). As impressive as Dalkowskis fastball velocity was its movement. But we have no way of knowing that he did, certainly not from the time he was an active pitcher, and probably not if we could today examine his 80-year old body. Here is the video: This video actually contains two throws, one just below the then world record and one achieving a new world record. Unlike a baseball, which weighs 5 ounces, javelins in mens track and field competitions weigh 28 ounces (800 g). There in South Dakota, Weaver would first come across the whirlwind that was Steve Dalkowski. Andy Etchebarren, a catcher for Dalkowski at Elmira, described his fastball as "light" and fairly easy to catch. Thats where hell always be for me. The performance carried Dalkowski to the precipice of the majors. Steve Dalkowski was Baseball's Wild Thing Before Ricky Vaughn Showed Up. High 41F. Beyond that the pitcher would cause himself a serious injury. We even sought to assemble a collection of still photographs in an effort to ascertain what Steve did to generate his exceptional velocity. According to Etchebarren his wilder pitches usually went high, sometimes low; "Dalkowski would throw a fastball that looked like it was coming in at knee level, only to see it sail past the batter's eyes".[18]. This goes to point 2 above. Instead, Dalkowski spent his entire professional career in the minor leagues. Add an incredible lack of command, and a legend was born. A left-handed thrower with long arms and big hands, he played baseball as well, and by the eighth grade, his father could no longer catch him. I was 6 feet tall in eighth grade and 175 lbs In high school, I was 80 plus in freshman year and by senior year 88 plus mph, I received a baseball scholarship to Ball State University in 1976. The Orioles brought Dalkowski to their major league spring training the following year, not because he was ready to help the team but because they believed hed benefit from the instruction of manager Paul Richards and pitching coach Harry Brecheen. The tins arent labeled or they have something scribbled on them that would make no sense to the rummagers or spring cleaners. 10. A throw of 99.72 meters with the old pre-1986 javelin (Petranoffs world record) would thus correspond, with this conservative estimate, to about 80 meters with the current post-1991 javelin. It rose so much that his high school catcher told him to throw at batters ankles. Players seeing Dalkowski pitch and marveling at his speed did not see him as fundamentally changing the art of pitching. The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. Our aim is to write a book, establish a prize in his honor, and ultimately film a documentary about him. Some observers believed that this incident made Dalkowski even more nervous and contributed further to his wildness. Best Softball Bats Lets flesh this out a bit. This book is so well written that you will be turning the pages as fast as Dalkowski's fastball." Pat Gillick, Dalkowski's 1962 and 1963 teammate, Hall of Fame and 3-time World Series champion GM for the Toronto Blue Jays (1978-1994), Baltimore Orioles (1996-1998), Seattle Mariners (2000-2003) and Philadelphia Phillies (2006-2008). In placing the focus on Dalkowskis biomechanics, we want for now to set aside any freakish physical aspects of Dalkowski that might have unduly helped to increase his pitching velocity.