The historical record suggests Feller paid a price for that record chase. A man of about 60 years old did a foot for each of his years. According to http://www.kingandhiscourt.com/articles/article6.htm: Carl Hubbells screwball He had no trouble getting to triple-digits and finished his rookie season with 92 strikeouts in just 68 innings. He was not physically as strong as some others, but he had long, tapering fingers and a peculiar whip to his arm that certainly drove that baseball through the air." Red Sox bullpen's tightrope act will wear thin, Real or not? The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. Scoreboards in nearly every ballpark - including High Schools - now flash pitch speeds for the world to see. "Batting slumps? Bench gave in to the veteran (who had recently strung together four consecutive seasons with 200+ strikeouts) and signaled for a fastball. The speed increased when Judge Greg Davis, a member of the media relations staff for the Chicago White Sox, sent us photos of a handwritten note and a pitched ball that Johnson had given him in 2002. Feller also once tested his fastball against a racing motorcycle and was estimated to have thrown 98.6 mph that time as well (or 104 mph by some modern estimates). Moving closer to the batter enabled catchers to better frame the pitches, field bunts, and throw out base-stealers. We asked the experts. Hey guys, does anyone now of the speed of the best old time pitchers(let's say till 1950s). Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. He probably had the second-best fastball of that era. Zumayas name tends to be forgotten in discussions about baseballs hardest throwers because he hasnt pitched in a game all season and has been injury prone for five years. Joe Wood 15. As Ted Williams once said, "Three days before he pitched I would start thinking about Robert Feller, Bob Feller. 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. So who is the fastest pitcher in baseball? Radar guns now routinely measure the modern pitcher's performance and the magic fastball number is now set at 100 miles per hour. Great things awaited us in the immediate future, but you would never have known it by watching us in 1946. Nolan Ryan holds record for fastest pitch. Could Mike Trout outproduce a tanking team's entire lineup? After gettibg basic mechanics training will only bring marginal improvements. Fascinating accounts, stories, and even myths about how fast - or not so fast - a pitch has gone are common in the annals of the game. Bob Feller was measured at 98.6 MPH. He pitched 371.1 innings. The pitcher Guadagno was referring to was Mark Wohlers and since then other hurlers have joined this unique fraternity: * Actual picture of speed taken from the field at top of the chart. Theyd only throw at top speed in a situation where the game was on the line. They each pitched at least one inning at 100 mph or faster. His career 10.6 SO/9 IP is evidence of that, although hes up to 11.8 this season. In 1998, Lima matched this speed while playing for the Dodgers. He struck out at least 10 batters 12 times, which sounds even more impressive when you realize all other major league starters combined to do that just 20 times (nine of those by Hal Newhouser). For one thing, if Feller threw that hard, or something close to it, I think that would be reflected more in the numbers. 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. Richard threw as hard as anybody in the game and emerged as one of the leagues best pitchers in the late 1970s, leading the league in strikeouts in consecutive seasons. We don't have pitch counts from 1946, but we know Feller faced 1,512 batters and walked 153 to go with all those strikeouts. Feller has also written that he slipped from the mound in a June 13, 1947 game against Philadelphia and injured his back, saying his fastball was never the same after that. Red Sox bullpen's tightrope act will wear thin, Real or not? What was the fastest pitch ever thrown during a baseball game? But then again throwing is mainly a talent thing and is not supposed to be improved by modern training very much. A fast fastball is a lot faster than it used to be. Over the course of the past decade, Chapmans fastest fastball had gotten faster by nearly a mile per hour. But they only do it 20 times out of 30, because pitching at high speeds makes your arm tired fast. And no one threw sliders like they do today. Gibson was never much of a strikeout artist. Thrown almost identically to a fastball, the changeup is hurled at . Hes actually more or less the same pitcher as Juan Marichal, and. He was the definition of unhittable and is still only 23 years old. I never had one. 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. In 1963 for Elmira he finally started throwing strikes. He played in nine leagues in nine years. The record has since been broken several times. America's Pastime. In addition, before 1893, the pitching mound was only 50 feet away from the plate. Cleveland men who developed the speed meter said the only comparable scientific marks were made in 1917. Pat Jordan in The Suitors of Spring (1974). how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. But there will never be another strikeout pitcher who played as long as Ryan did (27 seasons) for as well as he did. He won it over Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants. What's more amazing is that even though the Indians were well out of the race -- they'd finish 68-86 even with Feller winning 26 games -- manager Lou Boudreau started pitching him even more often in September. Now they have 60 due to expanded ballparks and/or alternate site games being played away from home. 100-mph fastballs have been attributed to many pitchers. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Originally Published: February 2003 on Baseball Almanac. He never finished outside of the top nine in strikeouts every year between 1969 and 1984. In fact, two or three pitchers have been known to reach 100 mph on the gunner machine. Who could throw the fastest fastball? This is a cool article. Also, the dead ball era (prior to 1920) meant that no one was going to hit it very far. Ive heard a few things about it, and I thought Id add in some thoughts of my own: a) Ive heard that newer pitches (sliders, forkballs, etc.) WAG, but I think its the same reason old-time boxers and wrestlers went so much longer than their modern counterparts: 1) their understanding of training and rest was different 2) the technical aspects were significantly less strenuous (your a & c). Her best was 40 feet per second. The right age to start throwing a slider or curveball is between 14 and 15 , which gives a player enough time to develop the pitch (takes 1-3 years) so that it's good by the time the college recruiting process heats up. This speed was measured using a radar gun and a high-speed camera. - Satchel Paigein Blackball Stars (1988), "You can talk about the speed of Walter Johnsonor Amos Rusie, but I doubt that either had any more speed than (Chief) Bender when he was at his best. Back then, no one could touch 100 mph. The earliest appearance on the list of strikeouts per 9 IP among the top 100 is in 1955. Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Jose Lima of the Los Angeles Dodgers both reached this mark twice. Location, location, location. Jimenez is another pitcher who, at just 27 years old, has already raised eyebrows with some of his strikeout totals and radar gun readings. Document Creator: Sean Holtz of Baseball Almanac, Inc. 2003-2005. Atley Donald and Van Lingle Mungo were early hard-throwers that were actually measured. In addition to Chapman, three other pitchers have thrown a perfect game: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Jim Bunning. An official reading is unavailable because Dalkowski pitched in the 1950s and 1960s, but some have estimated his fastball could reach 105 mph. This machine will tell us at once whether he has the fast ball. 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. A lot of pitchers blew out their arms back then, tooyou just never hear of them because they had short careers. Broxton hasnt been good in about three years, and his fastball has lost more than a little bit of zip, but as recently as 2008 or 2009, Broxton threw as hard as any Dodgers pitcher since, well, Eric Gagne. The top speed is 90 miles per hour. Source: Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, June 6, 1939. The best the Indians could do was a tie at 119 feet by Ben Chapman, Julius Solters and Jim Shilling. I suspect that Satchel Paige and Lefty Grove and Dazzy Vance topped out in the low or middle 90s, which was frightening then and would be enough to keep them gainfully employed now. If only because most of the film I've seen of pitchers from that era just don't suggest that much effort was being expended. I almost missed Matt Kilroy 513Ks in 1886!. So Feller refused to take part, staying under the stands until (Senators owner Clark) Griffith was forced to come down to him and negotiate. Chapman is the owner of the fastest ever recorded pitch at an incredible 105.1 mph. He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h). Its believed he could throw upwards of 100 mph. Frustrated, the two met at the mound where Bench bluntly said, "Your fastball's not popping." How can that be? 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. Bob Feller had his fastball tested by the army at 98.6 mph. The "twist" here is this pitcher never appeared in a Major League game! Privacy Policy. Their speeds were shown by a gravity drop interval recorder. Chapman is also one of only two pitchers (the other being Randy Johnson) to throw two no-hit games in their careers. He has also appeared in several television commercials, most notably for Old Milwaukee beer. Walter Johnson was reportedly measured at 99.7 MPH at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where they could measure the speed of bullets. For decades, comparing pitch velocities has often been an apples-and-oranges discussion. Hes led the NL in strikeouts in each of the past three seasons and is a threat to do it again this year. 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. I reached 261 in 320.1 innings, but I reached 262 in only 260.2 innings. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. pitchers) finished what they started. In 1987, McGwire set the record when he threw his fastball at 101.4 miles per hour (162.8 km/h or 43.9 m/s). Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) guns were first introduced in 1935 and the media has covered their evolution with great interest. In high school he pitched a no-hitter while walking 18 and striking out 18. Except nobody told Feller about the plan. Plus, it's hard to know, 70 years later, how precise the Lumiline Chronograph was. (Amos Rusie in 1893). Three Cleveland Indians could do only 119 feet. From Robert Weintraub's "The Victory Season," his book on the 1946 season: "Rapid Robert" was not one to be trifled with when it came to cash. Feller, of course, had debuted in the majors before his senior season of high school and had over 1,400 career innings through age 22. Sponsors recalled that back in 1917, in Bridgeport (Conn.) arms laboratory, Walter Johnson recorded 134 feet per second, Christy Mathewson 127 and "Smoky Joe" Wood 124. Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander are the only pitchers to throw 100+ in the 2006 World Series. If you want to share an another or provide an accurate game date for those we have in the chart please send us an email. He first broke into the major leagues with the Reds in 2011 and was immediately given the title of "Fastest Pitcher in History". He didnt and ended up winning 254 games. 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. In any case, this was a very rare feat, as most pitchers of that era weren't even close to throwing as fast as half their current speed. You throw into a hole two feet square. Many hitters claim that Rapid Robert is the fastest pitcher who ever lived. Dalkowski was clocked at only 93.5, but a few mitigating factors existed: 1) Dalkowski had pitched in a game the day before, so he could be expected to throw 5-10 mph slower than usual; 2) there was no mound to pitch from, which Feller had enjoyed, and this would drop his velocity by 5-8 mph; 3) he had to pitch for 40 minutes before the machine could measure his speed, and he was exhausted by the time there was a reading. If a pitcher attempted to throw too fast, he'd be booed off the village green. Originally Published: February 2003 on Baseball Almanac. In 1940, the Hall of Fame right-hander threw the only Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history. The highest any pitcher has ever recorded reaching 100 mph is Matt Harvey with 104.8 mph (2009). Overall, Ryan went 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three games back from surgery on his right shoulder. The most widely quoted response is Nolan Ryan, whose fastball was "officially" clocked by the Guinness Book of World Records at 100.9 miles per hour in a game played on August 20, 1974, versus the Detroit Tigers. 10 More answers below Mike Burch Poet, Editor and Publisher Author has 11.6K answers and 25.2M answer views Oct 28 Related Like Gangster Octopus says, we remember the exceptions. A few minutes later, Feller walked out to a loud ovation, $700 richer. What was a 105 mph fastball can now be said (with rounding) to be the first recorded 106 mph pitch in MLB history. Allie Reynolds of the Yankees was tough, and I might think about him for 24 hours before a game, but Robert Feller: I'd think about him for three days.". Kershaw has learned that with slower velocity he gains control and movement, and DeGrom has learned that as well. Other fast pitchers have included Carl Hubbell, Jack Quinn, and Roy Halladay. They used a gravity drop interval recorder. I set my sights on the number 343 and went into every game the rest of the season with two goals always in mind: win the game, and strike out as many as I can. Despite his failure, he has been described as the fastest pitcher ever. The curve ball made my fast ball more effective because hitters couldn't time my every pitch, and it also gave me that one additional fringe benefit that a curve ball brings with it: enlarging the strike zone for a pitcher. To go along with his 714 home runs, Ruth ultimately retired with. Strikeouts are only a part of his dominance, but in just 1,260 career innings, the 65 righty already has 1,161 strikeouts and is pitching no-hitters like hes Nolan Ryan. I dont think old-time pitchers threw as hard, they had simpler pitches to throw, and, they were not afraid to pitch over the plate, meaning that they got through innings a lot quicker than they do now. At least thats what the Indians keep telling themselves. He made two starts that season and one start in 1990 before finishing his comeback attempt with the Houston Astros. Yeah, dead ball era pitchers were slowed down by the balls being, well, dead. Pitchers are throwing harder than ever before. are especially hard on the arm. Chapman is capable of hitting 105 repeatedly and may still be developing physically. Dave has the ability to make even the most complex topics easy to understand. Wohlers was a failed starter who came out of seemingly nowhere to be a lockdown closer for the Braves in the mid 1990s. However, he is still just 23 years old. Woods career didnt turn out exactly as planned, as repeated arm injuries robbed him off his explosiveness, but the right-hander is still the active leader with 10.3 SO/9 IP, a mark that is second only to Randy Johnson among starters. In 1886! men who developed the speed meter said the only Opening Day no-hitter in MLB.. 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