The stories surrounding him amaze me to this day. 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. 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. With his familys help, he moved into the Walnut Hill Care Center in New Britain, near where he used to play high school ball. His legendary fastball was gone and soon he was out of baseball. I ended up over 100 mph on several occasions and had offers to play double A pro baseball for the San Diego Padres 1986. Updated: Friday, March 3, 2023 11:11 PM ET, Park Factors The Steve Dalkowski Project attempts to separate fact from fiction, the truth about his pitching from the legends that have emerged. Our content is reader-supported, which means that if you click on some of our links, we may earn a commission. Davey Johnson, a baseball lifer who played with him in the Orioles system and who saw every flamethrower from Sandy Koufax to Aroldis Chapman, said no one ever threw harder. He was 80. And hes in good hands. Dalkowski never made the majors, but the tales of his talent and his downfall could nonetheless fill volumes. That lasted two weeks and then he drifted the other way, he later told Jordan. Even . XFL Week 3 preview: Can AJ McCarron, Battlehawks continue their fourth-quarter heroics? His first pitch went right through the boards. 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. Seriously, while I believe Steve Dalkowski could probably hit 103 mph and probably threw . That was it for his career in pro ball. 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. The reason we think he may be over-rotating is that Nolan Ryan, who seemed to be every bit as fast as Chapman, tended to have a more compact, but at least as effective, torque (see Ryan video at the start of this article). Batters found the combination of extreme velocity and lack of control intimidating. But he also walked 262 batters. Best Softball Bats In 1960, when he pitched in Stockton, California, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters in 170 innings. And he was pitching the next day. We werent the first in this effort and, likely, will not be the last. He had a great arm but unfortunately he was never able to harness that great fastball of his. This was the brainstorm of . Skip: He walked 18 . 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. How anyone ever managed to get a hit off him is one of the great questions of history, wrote researcher Steve Treder on a Baseball Primer thread in 2003, years before Baseball-Reference made those numbers so accessible. Screenwriter and film director Ron Shelton played in the Baltimore Orioles minor league organization soon after Dalkowski. I remember reading about Dalkowski when I was a kid. [13] In separate games, Dalkowski struck out 21 batters, and walked 21 batters. Davey Johnson, a baseball lifer who played with him in the. So the hardest throwing pitchers do their best to approximate what javelin throwers do in hitting the block. [4] Such was his reputation that despite his never reaching the major leagues, and finishing his minor league years in class-B ball, the 1966 Sporting News item about the end of his career was headlined "Living Legend Released."[5]. By George Vecsey. Pat Gillick, who would later lead three teams to World Series championships (Toronto in 1992 and 1993, Philadelphia in 2008), was a young pitcher in the Orioles organization when Dalkowski came along. 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. To see this, please review the pitches of Aroldis Chapman and Nolan Ryan above. It therefore seems entirely reasonable to think that Petranoffs 103 mph pitch could readily have been bested to above 110 mph by Zelezny provided Zelezny had the right pitching mechanics. 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. His alcoholism and violent behavior off the field caused him problems during his career and after his retirement. Stay tuned! . 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). "[5], Dalkowski was born in New Britain, Connecticut, the son of Adele Zaleski, who worked in a ball bearing factory, and Stephen Dalkowski, a tool and die maker. 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. If you told him to aim the ball at home plate, that ball would cross the plate at the batters shoulders. I never drank the day of a game. Extreme estimates place him throwing at 125 mph, which seems somewhere between ludicrous and impossible. We think this unlikely. Then he gave me the ball and said, Good luck.'. The old-design javelin was retired in 1986, with a new-design javelin allowing serrated tails from 1986 to 1991, and then a still newer design in 1991 eliminating the serration, which is the current javelin. Here's Steve Dalkowski. 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. Which duo has the most goal contributions in Europe this season? Best BBCOR Bats Writer-director Ron Shelton, who spent five years in the Orioles farm system, heard about Dalkowski's exploits and based the character Nuke Laloosh in "Bull Durham" on the pitcher. But within months, Virginia suffered a stroke and died in early 1994. Because of control problems, walking as many as he struck out, Dalkowski never made it to the majors, though he got close. . That gave him incentive to keep working faster. The Greek mythology analogy is gold, sir. They couldnt keep up. 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. Steve Dalkowski will forever be remembered for his remarkable arm. Petranoffs projected best throw of 80 meters for the current javelin is unimpressive given Zeleznys world record of almost 100 meters, but the projected distance for Petranoff of 80 meters seems entirely appropriate. Steve Dalkowski's pitches didn't rip through the air, they appeared under mystified Ted Williams' chin as if by magic. In an extra-inning game, Dalkowski recorded 27 strikeouts (while walking 16 and throwing 283 pitches). Ever heard of Steve "Dalko" Dalkowski (1939 - 2020)? Some observers believed that this incident made Dalkowski even more nervous and contributed further to his wildness. He often walked more batters than he struck out, and many times his pitches would go wild sometimes so wild that they ended up in the stands. Steve Dalkowski, the man, is gone. [4], Dalkowski's claim to fame was the high velocity of his fastball. 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. Most obvious in this video is Zeleznys incredible forward body thrust. "[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 100 mph (160 km/h). Yet when the Orioles broke camp and headed north for the start of the regular season in 1963, Dalkowski wasnt with the club. How do you rate somebody like Steve Dalkowski? During a typical season in 1960, while pitching in the California League, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters and walked 262 in 170 innings. Regardless of its actual speed, his fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning". 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. Best Wood Bats. We see hitting the block in baseball in both batting and pitching. For years, the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps former players who have fallen on hard times, tried to reach out to Dalkowski. Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 [1] - April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko, [2] was an American left-handed pitcher. He had fallen in with the derelicts, and they stick together. Our aim is to write a book, establish a prize in his honor, and ultimately film a documentary about him. Previously, the official record belonged to Joel Zumaya, who reached 104.8 mph in 2006. [17] He played for two more seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Angels organizations before returning briefly to the Orioles farm system but was unable to regain his form before retiring in 1966. Oriole Paul Blair stated that "He threw the hardest I ever saw. In Wilson, N.C., Dalkowski threw a pitch so high and hard that it broke through the narrow . Petranoff threw the old-design javelin 99.72 meters for the world record in 1983. 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. Dalkowski struggled with alcoholism all his life. He also learned, via a team-administered IQ test, that Dalkowski scored the lowest on the team. Unlike Zelezny, who had never thrown a baseball when in 1996 he went to a practice with Braves, Petranoff was an American and had played baseball growing up. Pitchers need power, which is not brute strength (such as slowly lifting a heavy weight), but the ability to dispense that strength ever more quickly. In his final 57 innings of the 62 season, he gave up one earned run, struck out 110, and walked only 21. He was likely well above 100 under game conditions, if not as high as 120, as some of the more far-fetched estimates guessed. So too, with pitching, the hardest throwers will finish with their landing leg stiffer, i.e., less flexed. In 195758, Dalkowski either struck out or walked almost three out of every four batters he faced. Both straighten out their landing legs, thereby transferring momentum from their lower body to their pitching arms. Steve Dalkowski, who fought alcoholic dementia for decades, died of complications from COVID-19 on April 19 at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. He was able to find a job and stay sober for several months but soon went back to drinking. Good . For a time I was tempted to rate Dalkowski as the fastest ever. Somewhere in towns where Dalko pitched and lived (Elmira, Johnson City, Danville, Minot, Dothan, Panama City, etc.) Steve Dalkowski will forever be remembered for his remarkable arm. He was too fast. After one pitch, Shelton says, Williams stepped out of the box and said "I never want to face him again.". Perhaps he wouldnt have been as fast as before, but he would have had another chance at the big leagues. 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. In comparison, Randy Johnson currently holds the major league record for strikeouts per nine innings in a season with 13.41. "Steve Dalkowski threw at 108.something mph in a minor league game one time." He was? All 16 big-league teams made a pitch to him. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. To be sure, a mythology has emerged surrounding Dalkowski, suggesting that he attained speeds of 120 mph or even better. His only appearance at the Orioles' Memorial Stadium was during an exhibition game in 1959, when he struck out the opposing side. What do we mean by these four features? We even sought to assemble a collection of still photographs in an effort to ascertain what Steve did to generate his exceptional velocity. He founded the Futility Infielder website (2001), was a columnist for Baseball Prospectus (2005-2012) and a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated (2012-2018). Torque refers to the bodys (and especially the hips and shoulders) twisting motion and thereby imparting power to the pitch. Ron Shelton, who while playing in the Orioles system a few years after Dalkowski heard the tales of bus drivers and groundskeepers, used the pitcher as inspiration for the character Nuke LaLoosh in his 1988 movie, Bull Durham. 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. 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. Consider, for instance, the following video of Tom Petranoff throwing a javelin. I couldnt get in the sun for a while, and I never did play baseball again. Ron Shelton once. "I never want to face him again. Steve Dalkowki signed with the Baltimore Orioles during 1957, at the ripe age of 21. Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939[1] April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko,[2] was an American left-handed pitcher. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Further, the device measured speed from a few feet away from the plate, instead of 10 feet from release as in modern times. They were . 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.". 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]. Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (born June 3, 1939), nicknamed Dalko, is an American retired left-handed pitcher. Steve Dalkowski, who died of COVID-19 last year, is often considered the fastest pitcher in baseball history. 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. There is a story here, and we want to tell it. The myopic, 23-year-old left-hander with thick glasses was slated to head north as the Baltimore Orioles short-relief man. The American Tom Petranoff, back in 1983, held the world record for the old-design javelin, with a throw of 99.72 meters (cf. Yet it was his old mentor, Earl Weaver, who sort of talked me out of it. 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. Harry Dalton, the Orioles assistant farm director at the time, recalled that after the ball hit the batters helmet, it landed as a pop fly just inside second base., He had a reputation for being very wild so they told us to take a strike, Beavers told the Hartford Courants Don Amore in 2019, The first pitch was over the backstop, the second pitch was called a strike, I didnt think it was. Arizona Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson's fastest pitch came when he was 40 years old, tipping the scales at 102 mph. 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. It was 1959. For the first time, Dalkowski began to throw strikes. "[5], With complications from dementia, Steve Dalkowski died from COVID-19 in New Britain, Connecticut, on April 19, 2020. That fastball? Dalkowski, a football and baseball star in New Britain, was signed to a minor league contract by the Orioles in 1957. Remembering Steve Dalkowski, Perhaps the Fastest Pitcher Ever by Jay Jaffe April 27, 2020 You know the legend of Steve Dalkowski even if you don't know his name. 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. Dalkowski's raw speed was aided by his highly flexible left (pitching) arm,[10] and by his unusual "buggy-whip" pitching motion, which ended in a cross-body arm swing. Dalkowski may have never thrown a pitch in the major leagues, but, says Cannon, his legacy lives on in the fictional characters he has spawned, and he will be remembered every time a hard-throwing . [16] Either way, his arm never fully recovered. What, if any, physical characteristics did he have that enhanced his pitching? He received help from the Association of Professional Ball Players of America (APBPA) periodically from 1974 to 1992 and went through rehabilitation. Steve Dalkowski . But such was the allure of Dalkowski's explosive arm that the Orioles gave him chance after chance to harness his "stuff", knowing that if he ever managed to control it, he would be a great weapon. He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011. And . It was good entertainment, she told Amore last year. 10. "[16] Longtime umpire Doug Harvey also cited Dalkowski as the fastest pitcher he had seen: "Nobody could bring it like he could. Take Justin Verlander, for instance, who can reach around 100 mph, and successfully hits the block: Compare him with Kyle Hendricks, whose leg acts as a shock absorber, and keeps his fastball right around 90 mph: Besides arm strength/speed, forward body thrust, and hitting the block, Jan Zelezny exhibits one other biomechanical trait that seems to significantly increase the distance (and thus speed) that he can throw a javelin, namely, torque. 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.
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