Minor League Legends – Steve Dalkowski

Over time there have been some books about mythical pitchers <link> and movies about players with gifted arms <link>.  However , there was one man, one minor league player who was said to be the owner of the fastest pitch ever.  His pitch was so fast, that when Gene Mauch was asked who the 5 fastest pitcher he ever saw, he included Steve Dalkowski in with the likes of Nolan Ryan, Bob Feller and Roger Clemens.

You may wonder why you have never heard of him, or why his name isn’t in the major league baseball record book?  The answer is simple, he never made it.  It was reported that he could throw the ball 110 MPH.  The only problem was he had no control over it. He never got past AAA and had a career 46-80 record with a 5.59 ERA.  He had seasons where he averaged only 4 hits / 9 innings, but also 18 walks / 9 innings.  Over the course of his career he walked nearly 1400 batters in just under 1000 innings.  Of course he also struck out nearly 1400 batters as well.

From an article written by Steve Trader <link>:

Every rendering of Dalkowski’s story repeats the list of his nobody-would-believe-it-if-they-made-this-up events:

- In high school, he had an 18-strikeout, 18-walk no-hitter.

- On Aug. 31, 1957, in an Appalachian League game, Dalkowski struck out 24, walked 18, hit four batters, threw six wild pitches, and lost 8-4.

- In one Northern League game, Dalkowski threw a one-hitter, striking out 15, but walked 17 and lost 9-8.

- In the California League, he threw a four-hitter, striking out 19, but lost 8-3.

- In one extra-inning game in the Eastern League, Dalkowski struck out 27 batters and walked 16 while throwing 283 pitches.

- One time he was pulled in the second inning after throwing 120 pitches.

- A Dalkowski pitch once tore off part of a batter’s ear.

- A Dalkowski pitch once struck a batter on the helmet and the ball rebounded to second base.

- In one game, Dalkowski threw three pitches that penetrated the backstop screen, sending fans scattering.

- On a bet, Dalkowski fired a baseball through a wooden outfield fence.

- Also on a bet, Dalkowski threw a ball from second base over the roof of a clubhouse beyond the center field fence.

- Dalkowski misread his catcher’s sign for a curve, and threw the fastball instead. The catcher missed the pitch entirely, and it struck home plate umpire Doug Harvey flush in the mask, breaking it in three places, knocking Harvey back several feet and requiring him to be hospitalized for three days with a severe concussion.

- In his only appearance in a major league stadium, an exhibition game at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium in March 1959 against the Cincinnati Reds, Dalkowski pitched the ninth inning and struck out the side on 12 pitches.

- Dalkowski’s catchers wore not one, not two, but three extra pads inside the mitt.

- When Dalkowski warmed up in the bullpen, an extra player would stand behind the bullpen catcher, to flag down errant pitches.

The best was this story written about his encounter with Ted Williams:

Consider this anecdote related by Pat Jordan in his classic exploration of pitchers and pitching, The Suitors of Spring:

… a hot spring day in Miami, Fla. Dalkowski is pitching batting practice for the Baltimore Orioles while Ted Williams watches curiously from behind the batting cage. After a few minutes Williams picks up a bat and steps into the cage. Reporters and players, who had been watching with only casual interest, move quickly around the cage to watch this classic confrontation. Williams takes three level, disciplined practice swings, cocks his bat and then motions with his head for Dalkowski to deliver the ball. Dalkowski goes into his spare pump. His right leg rises a few inches off the ground. His left arm pulls back and then flicks out from the side of his body like an attacking cobra. There is a sharp crack as his wrist snaps the ball toward the plate. Then silence. The ball does not rip through the air like most fastballs, but seems to just reappear silently in the catcher’s glove as if it had somehow decomposed and then recomposed itself without anyone having followed its progress.

The catcher holds the ball for a few seconds. It is just a few inches under Williams’ chin. Williams looks back at the ball, then out at Dalkowski, who is squinting at him. Then he drops the bat and steps out of the cage.

The writers immediately ask Williams how fast Steve Dalkowski really is. Williams, whose eyes were said to be so sharp that he could count the stitches on a baseball as it rotated toward the plate, says that he did not see the pitch, and that Steve Dalkowski is the fastest pitcher he ever faced and probably who ever lived, and that he would be damned if he would ever face him again if he could help it.

In 1963 Dalkowski had a great spring training and had actually been named to the Baltimore Orioles.  The day before opening day, he pitched in an exhibition game and “felt something pop”.  Surgury repaired his arm, but his velocity was ever the same.  He rolled around the minors for a few more years before calling it quits at the ripe old age of 26.  He battled alcoholism his entire life and in the mid 90s seemed to be nearing death.  A friend helped him to a covalesence home and he began rehabilitating his life. Because of the brain damage caused by the years of alcoholism, he doesn’t remember much about his playing days, but many people do, and anyone who has ever seen him play will tell you that he was the fastest pitcher ever.

I wrote about Steve because his story intrigued me and also because he appears in the new Obak set by TRISTAR.  I have yet to see a box but I do like the look of the cards and I have to say that it might very well be the best set I have seen this year.  Below is what his card looks like, I believe there is an autographed card from him as well.