One such pitcher was Hal Newhouser of the Louisville Colonels. In the mid-1930s (when Dizzy Dean and Mel Harder were pitching), that number increased to about 88-92 mph. The strikeout king (5,714) is so far and ahead of everyone that as impressive as his record seven ho-hitters are, theres only one guy (Randy Johnson) within even 1,000 Ks of his lifetime mark. Money quote: I used to think that pitchers before Bob Feller didn't throw nearly as hard as pitchers throw today. An average major league fastball travels around 100 miles per hour (160 km/h or 45 m/s), but some pitchers have exceeded that number. Answer (1 of 22): There were no radar guns in the days of Babe Ruth. An official reading is unavailable because Dalkowski pitched in the 1950s and 1960s, but some have estimated his fastball could reach 105 mph. A record that's still included in the book. Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 - April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko, was an American left-handed pitcher . ", If this is your first visit, be sure to Here's a photo of Feller throwing into the machine. The average hitter today is an absolute monster compared to the average hitter back then. Lee's career ERA was 2.25, and she was known for throwing a wicked knuckleball. All times are GMT-8. The 65 lefty was a true strikeout artist during his heyday, leading his league in Ks five times and twice topping 300. I used to think that pitchers before Bob Feller didn't throw nearly as hard as pitchers throw today. In the low 80s most of them. Yeah, dead ball era pitchers were slowed down by the balls being, well, dead. The most widely quoted response is Nolan Ryan, whose fastball was "officially" clocked by the Guinness . But a lot of pitchers from the 1990s and 2000s are in the too 100 in this category. Realistically low to mid 80s. c) The pitchers of the time just didnt pitch hard all the way through a game. Now they have 60 due to expanded ballparks and/or alternate site games being played away from home. Thats why Chapmans fastest fastball found an extra .7 mph. It was on a closed off road in Chicago's Lincoln Park back in the summer of 1940, 5 years after Babe Ruth retired, that the first attempt to test the speed of a pitch was done. Take Bob Feller, the legendary fireballer of the Cleveland Indians, and owner of maybe the fastest fastball the game has ever seen. Pitchers before 1930 (or so) regularly finished their starts, too. He drifted to various jobs and landed in Bakersfield, California, where he was arrested many times for fighting. Hernandez is on pace for his third consecutive season of at least 200 Ks, and his strikeout rate is at a career-high 8.5 SO/9 this season. Pitch counts are especially a concern for young pitchers, pitchers recovering from injury, or pitchers who have a history of injuries. Some estimates put the fastball at 101-103 mph, others as high as 107.6 mph. It would be interesting to time-travel Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez in their youths back to 1894 and see how their careers as 450-inning starters would have fared. They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel! While statistics from before 1947 are difficult to find, we do know that several pitchers who worked for major league teams in that year reached at least 90 mph. No, pitchers didn't throw 150 miles an hour. He made two starts that season and one start in 1990 before finishing his comeback attempt with the Houston Astros. The rookie returned to his position behind the plate and called for a curve, only to be shaken off again. President Alvin Bradley of the Cleveland Indians agreed and Rex D. McDill, Cleveland electronics engineer, built the machine. Diamondbacks primed to bury Dodgers, Losing Corey Seager leaves Dodgers' season on the brink. In addition to Chapman, three other pitchers have thrown a perfect game: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Jim Bunning. Despite over 3,000 career punchouts Gibson finished his career averaging just 7.3 SO/9 and only led the league in strikeouts once. Fastball velocity is on the rise. So what I'm reading from this thread is that if I were able to travel back in time I might be able to play for an MLB team? Originally Published: February 2003 on Baseball Almanac. The true speed of Fellers fastball is a subject of great debate. Cleveland men who developed the speed meter said the only comparable scientific marks were made in 1917. New York Yankees How hard did pitchers throw back in the day. No-hitter the latest feat in James Paxton's rise, Deal ends Matt Harvey's roller-coaster ride with Mets, Sizing up potential trade fits for Manny Machado, Real or Not? He redefined what it meant to be a power pitcher and laid the groundwork for guys like Clemens and Johnson to take over the league. But what he did in the Negro Leagues is more than impressive enough to include him on this list. It wasnt Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, but it was significant. When Gagne walked to the mound, you knew he was probably going to embarrass you. Live balls gave birth to Babe Ruth and subsequent homer-blasters. But then again throwing is mainly a talent thing and is not supposed to be improved by modern training very much. Now, Newhouser was no slouch, a two-time MVP who also finished second in the voting in 1946 (Feller was sixth). They are also some of the most widely debated by historians, researchers & experts alike. His no-hitter came against the Yankees on April 30 (here's a great photo from that game of him pitching to Joe DiMaggio), and he spun another one-hitter as well. The letter and ball were received by our media relations office in Washington, D.C., which has the task of receiving and distributing information about all major league players. Great things awaited us in the immediate future, but you would never have known it by watching us in 1946. Here are the 28 hardest throwers in MLB history. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, The subreddit for the bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. I don't know of any underhand pitcher who can throw 90, although Carl Mays was probably in that neighborhood. I would assume Ford threw in the mid-high 80s, topping out around 90. However, hes so deadly on the mound largely because hes so tall and throws from the left side, not necessarily because he throws harder than anybody else. Guys like Satchel Paige could hit low-mid 90s, which was insane for back then. The most incredible part of Wagners story? They probably couldve done a lot harder throwing if they wanted to. Why do infielders throw the ball so fast? Whoops! We finished in the second division, 18 games below .500 in sixth place. Mathewson et al. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. He pitched 79 innings that month and started seven of Cleveland's final 17 games. Maloney delivered. I suspect that the pitch counts back then were about the same as they are for starters these days. Major League Baseball does not recognize radar speeds as an official statistic. I'd sit in my room thinking about him all the time. After fielding a sacrifice bunt by pitcher Jim Bouton in spring training, Dalkowski's arm went dead and he never recovered. Follow him on Twitter for all your MLB news and updates. Real or Not? Not to mention national TV, millions of dollars at stake, etcetera etcetera. What was a 105 mph fastball can now be said (with rounding) to be the first recorded 106 mph pitch in MLB history. Today, in the late 1990s pitchers can throw over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h or 45 m/s). Copyright 1999- As baseball began to grow as a sport, pitchers developed an edge with the next pitch that appeared in their arsenal: the spitball. After nine years of erratic pitching he was released in 1966, never having made it to the Major Leagues. Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. He ended his career with 2,192 strikeouts and a.249 batting average against him. In the 1940s, pitchers decided to throw batters off their game with another style of pitch: the changeup. In 1940, the Hall of Fame right-hander threw the only Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history. The historical record suggests Feller paid a price for that record chase. Mostly, pitchers tended to save themselves for key situations. Frustrated, the two met at the mound where Bench bluntly said, "Your fastball's not popping." Weintraub writes: However, since the machine measured the speed of the ball as it passed through its sensors, unlike modern radar guns that clock the ball as it leaves the pitcher's hand, it actually flew much harder. Moving closer to the batter enabled catchers to better frame the pitches, field bunts, and throw out base-stealers. "A kid pitcher has to have a fast ball to succeed in the big leagues," said Bradley, "for he can never learn how to pitch faster. Sign me up! On July 28, he threw a shutout against the Senators, striking out 10. I was never afraid to throw my curve when I was behind in the count, 2 and 0 or 3 and 1, or even late in a pressure situation. Dalkowski was the basis for wild fastball pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in the movie Bull Durham. "I won the All-Star Game in Boston. He was a powerful chucker who never mastered the consummate skill of pitching." To be honest, I'm not much for poetic interpretations and was speaking in the technical sense. He struck out 276 batters in 218 innings as arookiein 1984 and then came back the next season to win the Cy Young award by striking out 268 batters in 276.2 innings. That year, Amos Rusie led the National League with 482 innings. Joe Wood 15. Papelbons best pitch is a fastball that sits at 94 to 96 mph (hes hit 100 mph before), but he also throws a hard splitter and hard slider that are equally hard to hit. (Yes, nitpickers, Im aware that John Wheeler ghosted Mattys book.). Source: Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, June 6, 1939. I'll buy that he could throw 100 mph, although it's impossible to know whether he did that consistently within games. Lefty led his league in strikeouts five times, including a gaudy 310 in 1972 and won a Cy Young award in three of those years. b) Travel pervaded the season more in those days pitchers got a lot of rest while sitting around on trains. When you have a good curve ball, it makes your strike zone larger because the hitters swing at pitches that are outside. He was loyal to the Indians, but only because they paid him. A few amateurs warmed up yesterday on a new pitching speed meter. After having it their way for the first two decades of the 20th Century, pitchers entered a dark age in which they were no longer allowed to use a ball that was dead, scuffed and (with few exceptions) wet. He finished with 4,196 in his career, good for fourth all-time and second among left-handers. There have been pitchers who can throw harder than Ryans 100.9 mph fastball. So Feller refused to take part, staying under the stands until (Senators owner Clark) Griffith was forced to come down to him and negotiate. I thought I might give Bob Feller something to worry about. He also claimed he was clocked at 107.9 mph in a demonstration in 1946 at Griffith Stadium. I think it was pitcher Phil Hughes who commented on a Whitey Ford video on twitter, and said he was throwing 80 mph. There were freak arms throughout history. Both were mentioned in the Meter to Record Feller's Speed article above and the unit of measure was feet per second. Dmitriy Ioselevich is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. The next season, Newhouser went 11-10 with a 3.12 ERA in 29 games (all starts).if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sportsmanist_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_1',118,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sportsmanist_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Overall, Nolan Ryan holds the record, according to Doppler Radar. So Feller started on Sept. 19, Sept. 22, Sept, 25, pitched five innings of relief on Sept. 27 and then started the season finale on Sept. 29, tied with Waddell at 343 strikeouts. Now, youre expected to throw your best the entire game. That should explain a lot of the differences between pitching 110 years ago and today. The Baby Braves might be ready ahead of schedule, Real or Not? Red Sox bullpen's tightrope act will wear thin, Real or not? The first radar guns that began appearing at ballparks in the late 1970s and early 1980s measured pitches much closer to the plate. Its not often you find a starter who can throw up to 102 mph in any inning in any count on any day. The next year, Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees broke this record again with a ball that traveled at 103.3 miles per hour (167.4 km/h or 45.5 m/s). Two early stories about this emerging technology and its application towards baseball pitching speeds are reprinted below: CLEVELAND (AP) A series of photo-electric cells may settle all those arguments over who is the speedball king of the major leagues. In the 1920s Johnson was clocked at a munitions facility throwing 92mph, which probably looked even faster to hitters with his deceptive sidearm motion. 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