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). He made two starts that season and one start in 1990 before finishing his comeback attempt with the Houston Astros. I believe in the dead ball era, guys topped out around 85 mph. By 1890 overhand pitching was legal, and that is when we first hear about pitchers who were fearsomely fast, such as Amos Rusie and Cy Young. Stories about the fastest pitchers in history have also appeared in the Associated Press. The moment a baseball leaves a pitcher's hand, it starts to slow down because of drag. "Rising velocity is just an evolution in the game . 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. This machine will tell us at once whether he has the fast ball. After fielding a sacrifice bunt by pitcher Jim Bouton in spring training, Dalkowski's arm went dead and he never recovered. The list above IS NOT a comprehensive breakdown of every pitcher to ever surpass the 100 mph barrier, but rather a list of pitchers we have seen on ESPN Game of the Week, SportsCenter, or in person eclipsing the century mark. Originally Published: February 2003 on Baseball Almanac. All times are GMT-8. During spring training in 1964, Dalkowski was with the Major League club. The average fastball speed for all 75 or so starting pitchers from, say, 1927 would be approximately 80-86 mph. Bench gave in to the veteran (who had recently strung together four consecutive seasons with 200+ strikeouts) and signaled for a fastball. Bob Feller was measured at 98.6 MPH. Today, in the late 1990s pitchers can throw over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h or 45 m/s). We asked the experts. Baseball Almanac is pleased to provide you with a velocity calculator which you can use to convert these various formats and compare pitchers - both modern and historical. His dominance only lasted about three seasons (2002-2004), but during that time, Gagne was simply overpowering. 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. But nobody asked him to throw into the Lumiline Chronograph. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. Today's games often last three or four hours! Farewell to a Mariners legend. ", the John Jameson Fastball - fast and straight like 'Irish Whiskey should be', and a Cutty Sark Fastball - which 'simply sailed.'. Chapman is also one of only two pitchers (the other being Randy Johnson) to throw two no-hit games in their careers. Many hitters claim that Rapid Robert is the fastest pitcher who ever lived. He had legendary wildness, which kept him out of the Major Leagues. Wagner still holds the NCAA Division III record for career strikeouts and SO/9 IP (19.3). Mike Trout Prior to that, pitchers would save themselves up for when they faced their worst nemeses. What was the fastest pitch ever thrown during a baseball game? Three pitch speeds: slow, slower, and reverse." 105.1 miles per hour Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest recorded pitch in big league history on August 24, 2010. And even disregarding the advances in training, hitting is much more of a science now, with statistics layered upon statistics topped with healthy doses of psychology and scouting. Whoops! He started 42 games and completed 36 of them, throwing 10 shutouts. To go along with his 714 home runs, Ruth ultimately retired with. But Major League Baseball now registers that pitch as a 105.8 mph fastball. The Elias Sports Bureau, Stats Inc and The Sporting News are all highly respected resources who publish some form of record book every season, yet none of them recognize any pitcher as the fastest ever. The best workhorses of that time approached 700 innings and they werent even playing 154 games in a season yet. In 1946, he started the season with a three-hit, 10-strikeout shutout, kicking off what he called his greatest season. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. Dalkowski was the basis for wild fastball pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in the movie Bull Durham. Less games meant more time to recuperate between starts. 1920 Major League Baseball Standard Pitching | Baseball-Reference.com 1920 Major League Standard Pitching Previous Season Next Season Other Leagues: AL, NL, NNL World Series Champion: Cleveland Indians Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. It wasn't exactly Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, but it was a remarkable achievement. Back then, no one could touch 100 mph. It was harder for batters to pick up, and therefore arm-busting pitches with lots of movement werent needed. Mostly, pitchers tended to save themselves for key situations. Back in the 1880s-90s, these guys threw over 400 innings a season with regularity. Pitchers back then (deadball era) were expected to throw complete games and had to pace themselves. If he harnesses all his pitches and learns to throw strikes consistently, theres no reason he cant one day pass the next guy on this list in career strikeouts. However i will not outright disagree. For a while speeds were measured about 5 feet in front of the plate, then then they were measured by averaging the speed out of the hand and when it crossed the plate, pitch f/x measured speeds at 55 feet from home, finally statcast now presents speeds out of the hand. He ended his career with 2,192 strikeouts and a.249 batting average against him. His career 11.5 SO/9 rate is still among the best all-time, but the strike zone continues to elude the oversized righty. In 1989, Nolan Ryan returned to the mound with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Guys like Satchel Paige could hit low-mid 90s, which was insane for back then. Other sources reported that the measuring device was a tube and that he took a long time to finally throw one into the tube. He was loyal to the Indians, but only because they paid him. The same goes for an infielder.". copyright=new Date(); One such account allegedly took place during a Spring Training game in 1968. The top speed is 90 miles per hour. President Alvin Bradley of the Cleveland Indians agreed and Rex D. McDill, Cleveland electronics engineer, built the machine. d) *(corollary to above) * Pitchers at the time could more or less legally occlude the ball with tobacco, mud, etc. Fastball velocity is on the rise. 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. Real or Not? Likewise, in the technical sense, Steve was a left-handed pitcher. First Miss Cappy Ogiun, a visitor from Orlando, Fla., tried her speed yesterday. Today's pitchers can reach up to 95 mph on their fastest pitches! A lot of pitchers blew out their arms back then, tooyou just never hear of them because they had short careers. Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander are the only pitchers to throw 100+ in the 2006 World Series. Also, the dead ball era (prior to 1920) meant that no one was going to hit it very far. "To understand how Dalkowski, a chunky little man with thick glasses and a perpetually dazed expression, became a legend in his own time". 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. 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. How fast did Seaver throw? In 995 minor league innings, he walked 1,354 batters and struck out 1,396. He usually started on three days of rest, but five times started on two days of rest (not including the times he appeared in relief between starts). Matt Anderson, has thrown the fastest pitched baseball which measured 103 miles per hour (166 km/h or 46.0 m/s). Cleveland men who developed the speed meter said the only comparable scientific marks were made in 1917. Hes led the NL in strikeouts in each of the past three seasons and is a threat to do it again this year. However, Major League Baseball officially considers that pitch to be a 105.8 mph fastball. Take Bob Feller, the legendary fireballer of the Cleveland Indians, and owner of maybe the fastest fastball the game has ever seen. But then again throwing is mainly a talent thing and is not supposed to be improved by modern training very much. I think it was pitcher Phil Hughes who commented on a Whitey Ford video on twitter, and said he was throwing 80 mph. Pitchers were required to throw underhand until 1883. The rookie returned to his position behind the plate and called for a curve, only to be shaken off again. His pitch speed was 108.1 miles per hour. Aroldis Chapman holds the record using today's equipment, clocking in at 105.1 mph. 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. There have been pitchers who can throw harder than Ryans 100.9 mph fastball. Except nobody told Feller about the plan. I dont imagine it was easy pitching back then, but its got to be more grueling today. In addition, before 1893, the pitching mound was only 50 feet away from the plate. In 1998, Lima matched this speed while playing for the Dodgers. "You should see the scouts, " said Braves speed gun handler Jim Guadagno, "They're like kids with new toys when they see that 100 light up on their guns. His 105.1 mph fastball breached the 105 mph mark for the first time. One such pitcher was Hal Newhouser of the Louisville Colonels. Follow him on Twitter for all your MLB news and updates. . Others who claimed he was the fastest ever were Paul Richards, Harry Brecheen and Earl Weaver. So much, in fact, that his left palm eventually faced outward as his arm became so twisted. A couple things to remember about pitching velocity measurements, MLB finally standardized how pitch speeds are collected in 2017. What is the fastest a human has thrown a baseball? As for other hard numbers for those days: two hours and 15 minutes was considered an ordinary game back then. - Coach Jim Murray. Could Mike Trout outproduce a tanking team's entire lineup? Current world-class pitchers such as Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Josh Beckett, and Jake Peavy can reach back and toss a pitch 100 mph. That sounds plausible, but he was averaging 6.6 K's per nine before that game, well below his 1946 figure. Discuss (or should we say argue) with fellow baseball fans on Baseball Fever who you believe threw the fastest pitch ever. Because 1) they weren't asked to max out, and 2) everyone in every sport is stronger and faster, more dynamic today than yesterday; why would pitchers be any different? On August 13, in a night game at home against the Tigers, I recorded my 262nd strikeout, breaking my career high of 261 in 1940. Modern measurements / clockings are done in miles per hour in the United States and kilometers per hour in Canada & Japan. How were the arms of starters spared? Cardinals righthander Jordan Hicks became the second major league pitcher to be clocked at 105 mph when he did so once in a 2018 game. The next year, as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies, she threw a no-hitter. Bench continuously called for breaking balls and Maloney continuously shook him off. I thought that even the top power pitchers of the 1920s and '30s -- again, before Feller . Freddy Peralta thrills family with dazzling debut, Real or Not? document.write(update); In his final season, he led the Colonels to the Southern Division title with a record of 57-75. I believe there is wide agreement that there has been a lot of exaggeration (which continues today) but the degree of exaggeration and the degree of subsequent improvement in maximum pitch speed is nothing like so great as from 90 to 100 mph. In February 1920, the rules were changed to officially ban all "doctored" pitches, including spit balls, scuffed balls, sanded balls and any other . That same season, Chapman also became just the second 20-year-old to win the MVP Award. "That was my best year," he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2006. Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Today in Baseball History. Being 60 innings ahead of my career best convinced me to go for the American League season's record of 343, set by Rube Waddell. Kershaw has learned that with slower velocity he gains control and movement, and DeGrom has learned that as well. He didn't even have the . Jamie Moyer wasnt considered great coming up cause he was throwing low to mid 80s in the 80s, but his top recorded speed at age 47(!?!) Pitchers before 1930 (or so) regularly finished their starts, too. Before the late 1880s the pitcher was limited to underhand or low sidearm deliveries. Diamondbacks primed to bury Dodgers, Losing Corey Seager leaves Dodgers' season on the brink. Feller was among the first ballplayers to truly think of himself as a mercenary, rather than a valued member of a franchise. I am scertain that most pitchers probably had shortened carrers because of the overuse, but the exceptions stick out in historythe Cy Younsg, Gorver Cleveland Alexanders and Walter Johnsons. Could a 108 mph fastball soon be in the future? Ok, pre war pitchers were not throwing hard, is it safe to say that because pitchers were not throwing hard then, Ruth took advantage of it? Three digits! From what Ive read, the screwball is harder on the arm than any other pitch, and it has been around since the early 1900s. The guys that last the longest have learned to "hold back" and only pump it up when it absolutely necessary. His 4,875 strikeouts rank second all time, and his 10.6 SO/9 IP is first all time by a healthy margin. He topped 100 Ks in his first full season as the Los Angeles closer and regularly reached triple-digits. Pitching is a very important technique in the game of baseball. In addition to being incredibly fast, modern-day pitchers can also throw very hard. Took place during a no hitter. 14. Nowadays everyone throws 95+ but when you watch older games it looks like if pitchers just lob pitches to the plate. 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. The record has since been broken several times. They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel! In addition, teams had only 40 fouls to play per game back then. Real or Not? 1 farm systems fared in the following seasons. The average hitter today is an absolute monster compared to the average hitter back then. Williams swore he never saw the ball and claimed that Dalkowski probably was the fastest pitcher who ever lived. Of course, you could have pitchers throw 350 innings a year now, too. 67 mph. Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) guns were first introduced in 1935 and the media has covered their evolution with great interest. Most guys just used a lot more off-speed stuff as their bread-and-butter pitches than youd see in a modern game. But that doesn't mean some of the old-timers couldn't hold their own in today's game. Feller was clocked at 98.6 mph. Feller was sitting at 25. I have serious doubts about the 107 mph estimate. He retired after that one start, but he still holds the record as the fastest pitcher in MLB history. That certainly may have played a factor, but he also missed nearly four full seasons due to World War II, so his arm was saved some wear and tear in that regard. Now, youre expected to throw your best the entire game. You couldnt hit it far no matter what. So how fast was Feller? 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. Overall, Ryan went 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three games back from surgery on his right shoulder. 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. For one thing, if Feller threw that hard, or something close to it, I think that would be reflected more in the numbers. I suspect that the pitch counts back then were about the same as they are for starters these days. How were the arms of starters spared? His story is not particularly well known outside of Houston, but Richards promising career as a starter came to an end at the age of 30 because of a life-threatening stroke. Both Chapman and Hicks are relievers. He didn't even have the highest strikeout rate in the league in 1946; that belonged to Newhouser, who struck out 8.46 batters per nine innings compared to Feller's 8.44. This speed was measured using a radar gun and a high-speed camera. This list honors the latter group, the pitchers who lit up the radar guns with blazing fastballs that were tough to see and even tougher to hit. He once threw a ball at least 450 feet on a bet. So who is the fastest pitcher in baseball? 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. During spring training game in 1968 modern measurements / clockings are done in miles per hour ( km/h. Therefore arm-busting pitches with lots of movement werent needed, Nolan Ryan returned to the mound with the Los closer. 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