Just 5-foot-11 and 175, Dalkowski had a fastball that Cal Ripken Sr., who both caught and managed him, estimated at 110 mph. The problem was that Dalkowski sprayed pitches high, low, inside, and out but not nearly often enough over the plate to be effective. Steve Dalkowski: the life and mystery of baseball's flame-throwing what The Steve Dalkowski Story - YouTube 0:44. Orioles' Steve Dalkowski was the original Wild Thing | MiLB.com Accurate measurements at the time were difficult to make, but the consensus is that Dalkowski regularly threw well above 100 miles per hour (160km/h). [16], For his contributions to baseball lore, Dalkowski was inducted into the Shrine of the Eternals on July 19, 2009. I first met him in spring training in 1960, Gillick said. How could he have reached such incredible speeds? What is the fastest pitch ever officially recorded? He was likely well above 100 under game conditions, if not as high as 120, as some of the more far-fetched estimates guessed. Dalko: The Untold Story of Baseball's Fastest Pitcher The Wildest Fastball Ever - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com Dalkowski, a smallish (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) southpaw, left observers slack-jawed with the velocity of his fastball. The Atlanta Braves, intrigued by his ability to throw a javelin, asked him to come to a practice and pitch a baseball. We werent the first in this effort and, likely, will not be the last. Steve Dalkowski, inspiration for 'Bull Durham' character, dies at 80 Reporters and players moved quickly closer to see this classic confrontation. the Wikipedia entry on Javelin Throw World Record Progression). He finished his minor league career with a record of 46-80 and an ERA of 5.57. He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h). Cal Ripken Sr. guessed that he threw up to 115 miles per hour (185km/h). Williams looks at the ball in the catcher's hand, and steps out of the box, telling reporters Dalkowski is the fastest pitcher he ever faced and he'd be damned if he was going to face him. "To understand how Dalkowski, a chunky little man with thick glasses and a perpetually dazed expression, became a legend in his own time." Pat Jordan in The Suitors of Spring (1974). Was Steve Dalkowski MLB's fastest pitcher ever? - Sports Illustrated Papelbon's best pitch is a fastball that sits at 94 to 96 mph (he's hit 100 mph. He died on April 19 in New Britain, Conn., at the age of 80 from COVID-19. Ask Your Science Teacher The thing to watch in this video is how Petranoff holds his javelin in the run up to his throw, and compare it to Zeleznys run up: Indeed, Petranoff holds his javelin pointing directly forward, gaining none of the advantage from torque that Zelezny does. Well, I have. New Britain, CT: Home of the World's Fastest Fastball Here, using a radar machine, he was clocked at 93.5 miles per hour (150.5km/h), a fast but not outstanding speed for a professional pitcher. Steered to a rehab facility in 1991, he escaped, and his family presumed hed wind up dead. Baseball was my base for 20 years and then javelin blended for 20 years plus. Steve Dalkowski - Wikipedia I went to try out for the baseball team and on the way back from tryout I saw Luc Laperiere throwing a javelin 75 yards or so and stopped to watch him. Drafted out of high school by the Orioles in 1957, before radar guns, some experts believe the lefthander threw upward of 110 miles per hour. Why was he so wild, allowing few hits but as many walks as strike outs. For years, the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps former players who have fallen on hard times, tried to reach out to Dalkowski. He could not believe I was a professional javelin thrower. Look at the video above where he makes a world record of 95.66 meters, and note how in the run up his body twists clockwise when viewed from the top, with the javelin facing away to his right side (and thus away from the forward direction where he must throw). In order to keep up the pace in the fields he often placed a bottle at the end of the next row that needed picking. He received help from the Association of Professional Ball Players of America (APBPA) periodically from 1974 to 1992 and went through rehabilitation. At loose ends, Dalkowski began to work the fields of Californias San Joaquin Valley in places like Lodi, Fresno, and Bakersfield. Forward body thrust refers to the center of mass of the body accelerating as quickly as possible from the rubber toward home plate. We thought the next wed hear of him was when he turned up dead somewhere. In what should have been his breakthrough season, Dalkowski won two games, throwing just 41 innings. Dalkowski began the 1958 season at A-level Knoxville and pitched well initially before wildness took over. It seems like I always had to close the bar, Dalkowski said in 1996. 15 Best BBCOR bats 2023 2022 [Feb. Update], 10 Best Fastpitch Softball Bats 2022-2023 [Feb. Update], 10 Best USA bats 2023 2022 [Feb. Update], 14 Best Youth Baseball Bats 2023 -2022 [Updated Feb.]. He was said to have thrown a pitch that tore off part of a batter's ear. It was tempting, but I had a family and the number one ranking in the world throwing javelins, and making good money, Baseball throwing is very similar to javelin throwing in many ways, and enables you to throw with whip and zip. Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 [1] - April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko, [2] was an American left-handed pitcher. If the front leg collapses, it has the effect of a shock absorber that deflects valuable momentum away from the bat and into the batters leg, thus reducing the exit velocity of the ball from the bat. Moreover, they highlight the three other biomechanical features mentioned above, leaving aside arm strength/speed, which is also evident. [24], In 1965, Dalkowski married schoolteacher Linda Moore in Bakersfield, but they divorced two years later. Both were world-class javelin throwers, but Petranoff was also an amateur baseball pitcher whose javelin-throwing ability enabled him to pitch 103 mph. Williams, whose eyes were said to be so sharp that he could count the stitches on a baseball as it rotated toward the plate, told them he had not seen the pitch, that Steve Dalkowski was the fastest pitcher he ever faced and that he would be damned if he would ever face him again if he could help it. Yet when the Orioles broke camp and headed north for the start of the regular season in 1963, Dalkowski wasnt with the club. After they split up two years later, he met his second wife, Virginia Greenwood, while picking oranges in Bakersfield. Steve Dalkowski: Baseball's Ultimate Flamethrower [2][6] Brendan Fraser's character in the film The Scout is loosely based on him. Still, that 93.5 mph measurement was taken at 606 away, which translates to a 99 or 100 mph release velocity. Steve Dalkowski. Dalkowski was suffering from alcohol-related dementia, and doctors told her that he might only live a year, but he sobered up, found some measure of peace, and spent the final 26 years of his life there, reconnecting with family and friends, and attending the occasional New Britain Rock Cats game, where he frequently threw out ceremonial first pitches. by Handedness, Remembering Steve Dalkowski, Perhaps the Fastest Pitcher Ever, Sunday Notes: The D-Backs Run Production Coordinator Has a Good Backstory, A-Rod, J-Lo and the Mets Ownership Possibilities. By comparison, Zeleznys 1996 world record throw was 98.48 meters, 20 percent more than Petranoffs projected best javelin throw with the current javelin, i.e., 80 meters. In a few days, Cain received word that her big brother was still alive. With a documentary and book coming in October, Steve Dalkowski's legend . Thats why Steve Dalkowski stays in our minds. At some point during this time, Dalkowski married a motel clerk named Virginia, who moved him to Oklahoma City in 1993. Perhaps Dalkos humerus, radius and ulna were far longer and stronger than average, with muscles trained to be larger and stronger to handle the increased load, and his connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) being exceptionally strong to prevent the arm from coming apart. He told me to run a lot and dont drink on the night you pitch, Dalkowski said in 2003. . Consider, for instance, the following video of Tom Petranoff throwing a javelin. He recovered in the 1990s, but his alcoholism left him with dementia[citation needed] and he had difficulty remembering his life after the mid-1960s. His legendary fastball was gone and soon he was out of baseball. Williams took three level, disciplined practice swings, cocked his bat, and motioned with his head for Dalkowski to deliver the ball. This goes to point 2 above. [27] Sports Illustrated's 1970 profile of Dalkowski concluded, "His failure was not one of deficiency, but rather of excess. The evidential problem with making such a case is that we have no video of Dalkowskis pitching. The two throws are repeated from different angles, in full speed and slow motion. - YouTube The only known footage of Steve Dalkowski and his throwing motion. However, he excelled the most in baseball, and still holds a Connecticut state record for striking out 24 batters in a single game. Back where he belonged.. But he also walked 262 batters. 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? They were . The greatest javelin thrower of all time is Jan Zelezny, who holds the world record at 98.48 meters, set in 1996, for the current javelin (older javelins, with different specifications, could be thrown farther more on this shortly). The myopic, 23-year-old left-hander with thick glasses was slated to head north as the Baltimore Orioles short-relief man. [23], Scientists contend that the theoretical maximum speed that a pitcher can throw is slightly above 100mph (161km/h). "[18], Estimates of Dalkowski's top pitching speed abound. 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. Steve Dalkowski, inspiration for Nuke LaLoosh in 'Bull Durham,' dies Best Youth Baseball Bats After he retired from baseball, he spent many years as an alcoholic, making a meager living as a manual laborer. Thats tough to do. Steve Dalkowski, the man who inspired the character Nuke LaLoosh in "Bull Durham," died from coronavirus last Sunday. Steve Dalkowski, model for Bull Durham's Nuke LaLoosh who died of COVID Players who saw Dalkowski pitch did not see a motion completely at odds with what other pitchers were doing. Suffice to say, for those of you who have never gotten a glimpse of the far endpoints of human performance, Dalkowskis stats are just about as ultimate as it gets. 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. Then add such contemporary stars as Stephen Strasburg and Aroldis Chapman, and youre pretty much there. For the first time, Dalko: The Untold Story of . 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. He was demoted down one level, then another. Some suggest that he reached 108 MPH at one point in his career, but there is no official reading. Though radar guns were not in use in the late 1950s, when he was working his way through the minors, his fastball was estimated to travel at 100 mph, with Orioles manager Cal Ripken Sr. putting it at 115 mph, and saying Dalkowski threw harder than Sandy Koufax or Nolan Ryan. Instead Dalkowski almost short-armed the ball with an abbreviated delivery that kept batters all the more off balance and left them shocked at what was too soon coming their way. He had fallen in with the derelicts, and they stick together. 100 MPH Fastballs: The Hardest Throwing Pitchers in Baseball History Because of control problems, walking as many as he struck out, Dalkowski never made it to the majors, though he got close. His star-crossed career, which spanned the 1957-1965. The focus, then, of our incremental and integrative hypothesis, in making plausible how Dalko could have reached pitch velocities of 110 mph or better, will be his pitching mechanics (timing, kinetic chain, and biomechanical factors). Dalkowski went into his spare pump, his right leg rising a few inches off the ground, his left arm pulling back and then flicking out from the side of his body like an attacking cobra. In his final 57 innings of the 62 season, he gave up one earned run, struck out 110, and walked only 21. Teddy Ballgame, who regularly faced Bob Feller and Herb Score and Ryne Duren, wanted no part of Dalko. They soon realized he didnt have much money and was living on the streets. He also had 39 wild pitches and won just one game. A Hall of Fame for a Legendary Fastball Pitcher - The New York Times His fastball was like nothing Id ever seen before. Dalko The Untold Story Of Baseballs Fastest Pitcher The southpaw was clocked at 105.1 mph while pitching for the Reds in 2011. . Instead, Dalkowski spent his entire professional career in the minor leagues. Weaver kept things simple for Dalkowski, telling him to only throw the fastball and a slider, and to just aim the fastball down the middle of the plate. What made this pitch even more amazing was that Dalkowski didnt have anything close to the classic windup. Steve Dalkowski, hard-throwing pitcher and baseball's greatest what-if Such an analysis has merit, but its been tried and leaves unexplained how to get to and above 110 mph. Hed let it go and it would just rise and rise.. He'd post BB/9IP rates of 18.7, 20.4, 16.3, 16.8, and 17.1. Dalkowski, who later sobered up but spent the past 26 years in an assisted living facility, died of the novel coronavirus in New Britain, Connecticut on April 19 at the age of 80. From there he was demoted back to Elmira, but by then not even Weaver could help him. As a postscript, we consider one final line of indirect evidence to suggest that Dalko could have attained pitching speeds at or in excess of 110 mph. (In 2007, Treder wrote at length about Dalkowski for The Hardball Times.). Indeed, in the data we have for his nine minor league seasons, totaling 956 innings (excluding a couple brief stops for which the numbers are incomplete), Dalkowski went 46-80 while yielding just 6.3 hits per nine innings, striking out 12.5 per nine, but walking 11.6 per nine en route to a 5.28 ERA. In 1960, when he pitched in Stockton, California, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters in 170 innings. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steve_Dalkowski&oldid=1117098020, Career statistics and player information from, Krieger, Kit: Posting on SABR-L mailing list from 2002. That was because of the tremendous backspin he could put on the ball.. At Pensacola, he crossed paths with catcher Cal Ripken Sr. and crossed him up, too. "I never want to face him again. Which, well, isn't. In his first five seasons a a pro he'd post K/9IP rates of 17.6, 17.6, 15.1, 13.9, and 13.1. Most obvious in this video is Zeleznys incredible forward body thrust. The APBPA stopped providing financial assistance to him because he was using the funds to purchase alcohol. Pitching can be analyzed in terms of a progressive sequence, such as balance and posture, leg lift and body thrust, stride and momentum, opposite and equal elbows, disassociation front hip and back shoulder, delayed shoulder rotation, the torso tracking to home plate, glove being over the lead leg and stabilized, angle of the forearm, release point, follow through, and dragline of back foot. To be sure, a mythology has emerged surrounding Dalkowski, suggesting that he attained speeds of 120 mph or even better. But how much more velocity might have been imparted to Petranoffs 103 mph baseball pitch if, reasoning counterfactually, Zelezny had been able to pitch it, getting his fully body into throwing the baseball while simultaneously taking full advantage of his phenomenal ability to throw a javelin? Dalko: The Untold Story of Baseball's Fastest Pitcher Ted Williams, arguably one of the best batting eyes in the history of the game, who faced Bob Feller and numerous others, instead said Steve Dalkowski was the fastest pitcher ever. Dalkowski picked cotton, oranges, apricots, and lemons. Amazing and sad story. [15] Weaver believed that Dalkowski had experienced such difficulty keeping his game under control because he did not have the mental capacity. 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. The Gods of Mount Olympus Build the Perfect Pitcher, Steve Dalkowski Was El Velocista in 1960s Mexican Winter League Baseball, Light of the World Scripture Memorization Course. Screenwriter and film director Ron Shelton played in the Baltimore Orioles minor league organization soon after Dalkowski. Home for the big league club was no longer cozy Memorial Stadium but the retro red brick of Camden Yards. At that point we thought we had no hope of ever finding him again, said his sister, Pat Cain, who still lived in the familys hometown of New Britain. That fastball? Used with permission. At 5 11 and 175 pounds, Dalko gave no impression of being an imposing physical specimen or of exhibiting some physical attributes that set him apart from the rest of humanity. 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. With Kevin Costner narrating, lead a cast of baseball legends and scientists who explore the magic within the 396 milliseconds it takes a fastball to reach home plate, and decipher who threw the fastest pitch ever. His story is still with us, the myths and legends surrounding it always will be. Here is the video: This video actually contains two throws, one just below the then world record and one achieving a new world record. Instead, he started the season in Rochester and couldnt win a game. The caveats for the experiment abound: Dalkowski was throwing off flat ground, had tossed a typical 150-some pitches in a game the night before, and was wild enough that he needed about 40 minutes before he could locate a pitch that passed through the timing device. To push the analogy to its logical limit, we might say that Dalkowski, when it came to speed of pitching, may well have been to baseball what Zelezny was to javelin throwing. teammates, and professionals who witnessed the game's fastest pitcher in action. The third pitch hit me and knocked me out, so I dont remember much after that. Best Wood Bats. Consider the following remark about Dalkowski by Sudden Sam McDowell, an outstanding MLB pitcher who was a contemporary of Dalkowskis. Extrapolating backward to the point of release, which is what current PITCHf/x technology does, its estimated that Ryans pitch was above 108 mph. Yet as he threw a slider to Phil Linz, he felt something pop in his elbow. 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. Instead, we therefore focus on what we regard as four crucial biomechanical features that, to the degree they are optimized, could vastly increase pitching speed. Petranoff threw the old-design javelin 99.72 meters for the world record in 1983. It took off like a jet as it got near the plate, recalled Pat Gillick, who played with Dalkowski in the Orioles chain. His arm still sore, he struggled in spring training the next year and was reassigned to the teams minor league camp, three hours away; it took him seven days to make the trip, to the exasperation of Dalton, who was ready to release him. The old-design javelin was reconfigured in 1986 by moving forward its center of gravity and increasing its surface area behind the new center of gravity, thus taking off about 20 or so percent from how far the new-design javelin could be thrown (actually, there was a new-new design in 1991, which slightly modified the 1986 design; more on this as well later). On a staff that also featured Gillick and future All-Star Dave McNally, Dalkowski put together the best season of his career. by Retrosheet. Within a few innings, blood from the steak would drip down Baylocks arm, giving batters something else to think about. Insofar as javelin-throwing ability (as measured by distance thrown) transfers to baseball-pitching ability (as measured by speed), Zelezny, as the greatest javelin thrower of all time, would thus have been able to pitch a baseball much faster than Petranoff provided that Zelezny were able master the biomechanics of pitching. But all such appeals to physical characteristics that might have made the difference in Dalkos pitching speed remain for now speculative in the extreme. 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. Steve Dalkowski will forever be remembered for his remarkable arm. Koufax was obviously one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history, but his breaking balls were what was so devastating. The evidence is analogical, and compares Tom Petranoff to Jan Zelezny. He was able to find a job and stay sober for several months but soon went back to drinking. Although not official, the fastest observed fastball speed was a pitch from Mark Wohlers during spring training in 1995, which allegedly clocked in at 103 mph. Barring direct evidence of Dalkos pitching mechanics and speed, what can be done to make his claim to being the fastest pitcher ever plausible? Which duo has the most goal contributions in Europe this season? If standing on the sidelines, all one had to do was watch closely how his entire body flowed together towards the batter once he began his turn towards the plate Steves mechanics were just like a perfect ballet. Our content is reader-supported, which means that if you click on some of our links, we may earn a commission. Stuff of legends - Los Angeles Times On the morning of March 22, 1963, he was fitted for a major league uniform, but later that day, facing the Yankees, he lost the feeling in his left hand; a pitch to Bobby Richardson sailed 15 feet to the left of the catcher. Javelin throwers make far fewer javelin throws than baseball pitchers make baseball throws. It was 1959. Dalkowski never made the majors, but the tales of his talent and his downfall could nonetheless fill volumes. 10. He also might've been the wildest pitcher in history. [20] Radar guns, which were used for many years in professional baseball, did not exist when Dalkowski was playing, so the only evidence supporting this level of velocity is anecdotal. That's fantastic. A far more promising avenue is the one we are suggesting, namely, to examine key components of pitching mechanics that, when optimally combined, could account for Dalkos phenomenal speed. We see torque working for the fastest pitchers. Just three days after his high school graduation in 1957, Steve Dalkowski signed into the Baltimore Orioles system. About Dalko, The Book - Bill Dembski But none of it had the chance to stick, not as long as Dalkowski kept drinking himself to death. Note that Zeleznys left leg lands straight/stiff, thus allowing the momentum that hes generated in the run up to the point of release to get transferred from his leg to this throwing arm. Bill Huber, his old coach, took him to Sunday services at the local Methodist church until Dalkowski refused to go one week. Yet it was his old mentor, Earl Weaver, who sort of talked me out of it. It's not often that a player who never makes it to the big leagues is regarded as a legend, yet that is exactly what many people call Steve Dalkowski. Steve Dalkowski will forever be remembered for his remarkable arm. He rode the trucks out at dawn to pick grapes with the migrant farm workers of Kern County -- and finally couldn't even hold that job.". Good . Batters will land straight on their front leg as they stride into a pitch. Steve Dalkowski: the Fastest Ever? Something was amiss! [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). Women's Champ Week predictions: Which teams will win the auto bids in all 32 conferences? It rose so much that his high school catcher told him to throw at batters ankles. 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. Another story says that in 1960 at Stockton, California, he threw a pitch that broke umpire Doug Harvey's mask in three places, knocking him 18 feet (5m) back and sending him to a hospital for three days with a concussion. He did so as well at an Orioles game in 2003, then did it again three years later, joined by Baylock. But plenty of players who did make it into the MLB batted against him or saw him pitch. 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. Dalkowski once won a $5 bet with teammate Herm Starrette who said that he could not throw a baseball through a wall. During this time, he became hooked on cheap winethe kind of hooch that goes for pocket change and can be spiked with additives and ether. The current official record for the fastest pitch, through PITCHf/x, belongs to Aroldis Chapman, who in 2010 was clocked at 105.1 mph. [SOURCE: Reference link; this text has been lightly edited for readability.]. Steve Dalkowki signed with the Baltimore Orioles during 1957, at the ripe age of 21. [7][unreliable source?] Its comforting to see that the former pitching phenom, now 73, remains a hero in his hometown.