Fastest Fastball?

[Atlanta Braves Freak]

When I'm at the ballpark I hardly pay attention to the speed of the pitch. Of course they often add 2-3 MPH to get the crowd into the game, I know Jenks, Wagner, and Johnson can get up there on the radar, but 102 MPH?

[Scoops]

Many Giants fans wish this was true but it's not. Mr. Nen last threw that hard three years ago.

Billy Wagner was in town last week and clocked a few at 100.

And of course, the post you quoted is from... *drum roll* ...three years ago

[mordeci]

I think the radar guns in the stadiums are intentionally set up to run hot, just for hype's sake.

[west coast orange and black]

Billy Wagner was in town last week and clocked a few at 100.

last wednesday, wagner's 9th inning was clocked at, in sequence:
winn: 98, 98, 98, 98, 98, 99, 99, 99 - p3
vizquel: 100 - p4
feliz: 88, 100, 87 - 6-3

I think the radar guns in the stadiums are intentionally set up to run hot, just for hype's sake.

i agree, three-finger.
also, depending on who is pitching, it goes the opposite direction and the clock gets turned off.

[Yankees]

Nobody knows who threw the hardest. Most radar guns used in-game to measure pitch speed are not kept well calibrated, and (depending on the delivery of the pitcher) don't always get a good enough "read" on a ball to return an accurate speed. So most of those readings are uncertain to within a couple MPH.

Nolan Ryan did have a fastball officially clocked at 101.9 MPH under controlled conditions, which is why his numbers are in the Guiness world record book. But, hey, Nolan Ryan probably pitched faster balls in a game sometime in his long MLB career. Nobody knows for sure which major league player had the fastest fastball. Nolan Ryan is a safe bet - certainly among the fastest - but nobody knows.

Many people who saw both Nolan Ryan and a minor league pitcher Steve Dalkowski pitch thought Dalkowski threw the hardest. A, ahem, "slight" control problem kept him out of the majors. Here's an article where you can read more about Dalkowski, it's certainly a fascinating story: http://home.rmci.net/taengon/page8.html

That site isn't up anymore, but try this:
http://www.sportingnews.com/archives...rs/175838.html

One of the trivia things:
In a high school game, Dalkowski threw a no-hit, no-run game with 18 strikeouts and 18 walks.

[Bluesteve32]

Nolan Ryan's Fastball was clocked at 100.9 MPH not 101.9, as a matter of fact if you look at the link The Commissioner gave it will say 100.9, I remembered when RYAN did it.

Yesterday July 24th, 2002 I was watching ESPN and they showed a ball that Guillermo Mota of the Dodgers threw to Ron Gant and Gant got a hold of it and smacked a two-run homer in the 7th inning for the Padres. Espn froze the scene and the pitch gun showed the pitch to be 101 MPH, that's the fastest I've scene and you can contact ESPN about it, it was pretty cool to see a pitch that fast and more amazingly Gant smashing it into the seats.

Themescules

I was at the game when Ryan was given the official recognition for his 100.9 pitch later on that year at Anaheim Stadium. He was given a "Speed Checked by Radar" highway sign with four balls attached to it. The had the mic out and did the presentaion.

I remember Dick Emberg talking about it that his fasted pitch was in the 8th or 9th inning. To me, all the memeries of Ryan inclue Dick Emberg, especially his 383 strikeout in the 12th inning against Minnesota's Rich Reese.

[afox3699]

Did anyone know that the fast fastball was thrown by a softball player?
http://www.kingandhiscourt.com/index_home.html

Check it Out

[ArealBASEBALLfan]

Nolan Ryan I think throw the fastest in a game but people threw faster in spring traning games.

[Jays]

Don't know how old this thread actually is but I used to watch Billy Koch clocked at between 99 and 101 mph on a regular basis, and twice at 102mph. Assuming the Radar Gun is off by 1 MPH either way that would make it either 101MPH or 103MPH. I would say 'officially' it has to be Nolan Ryan at 100.9 MPH. What I would really like to see is an official competition similar to a home run derby, possibly during the all star break?

Anyways, here's some referance material on the subject:

Nolan Ryan 'official' Record:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_guin.shtml

Billy Koch Pitches 102 MPH @ Oakland:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_guin.shtml

List of Observed Fastballs, Speed Converter, & Misc Info on Fast Pitchers in MLB:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/arti...baseball.shtml

[RedSoxVT92]

Steve Dalkowski was a wicked fast pitcher.

Had absoultly no control however. In his 995 inning career he walked 1354 batters while striking out 1396 batters. If he had control he would have been great. Here is the part about him in Baseball Almanac.

Steve Dalkowski.

“To understand how Dalkowski, a chunky little man with thick glasses and a perpetually dazed expression, became a ‘legend in his own time’...”

— Pat Jordan in The Suitors of Spring (1974).

The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. Dalkowski signed with the Orioles in 1957 at age 21. After nine years of erratic pitching he was released in 1966, never having made it to the Major Leagues. Despite his failure, he has been described as the fastest pitcher ever.

Ted Williams once stood in a spring training batting cage and took one pitch from Dalkowski. Williams swore he never saw the ball and claimed that Dalkowski probably was the fastest pitcher who ever lived. Others who claimed he was the fastest ever were Paul Richards, Harry Brecheen and Earl Weaver. They all thought he was faster than Bob Feller and Walter Johnson, though none of them probably saw Johnson pitch.

In 1958 the Orioles sent Dalkowski to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a military installation where Feller was once clocked. Feller was clocked at 98.6 mph. 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. Other sources reported that the measuring device was a tube and that he took a long time to finally throw one into the tube.

It was estimated that Dalkowski’s fastball at times reached 105 mph. Dalkowski was not physically imposing, standing only 5'8" and wearing thick glasses. He had legendary wildness, which kept him out of the Major Leagues. In 995 minor league innings, he walked 1,354 batters and struck out 1,396. He walked 21 in one minor league game and struck out 21 in another. In high school he pitched a no-hitter while walking 18 and striking out 18.

He threw 283 pitches in a complete game against Aberdeen and once threw 120 pitches in only two innings. He played in nine leagues in nine years.

In 1963 for Elmira he finally started throwing strikes. During spring training in 1964, Dalkowski was with the Major League club. After fielding a sacrifice bunt by pitcher Jim Bouton in spring training, Dalkowski’s arm went dead and he never recovered. He drifted to various jobs and landed in Bakersfield, California, where he was arrested many times for fighting.

He once threw a ball at least 450 feet on a bet. He was supposed to throw the ball from the outfield wall to home plate, but he threw it well above the plate into the press box. He once threw a pitch so hard that the catcher missed the ball and it shattered an umpire’s mask. Dalkowski was the basis for wild fastball pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in the movie Bull Durham.

[ArealBASEBALLfan]

Does anyone know who has the fastest recorded pitch in MLB history? If so, please include pitcher and speed of pitch in MPH. My personal guess might be Nolan "Flame Thrower" Ryan, but if aware of one faster, please reply.

Thanks in advance, "TheHawkN02" out.

it is Nolan Ryan and it was like 102 MPH

[soberdennis]

I read a quote from Cy Young once concerning Feller that went something like this "I've seen faster. Johnson was faster. Russie was faster. And I was faster than all of them."
Young's modesty might leave something to be desired. But I had to laugh when I read it and I thought I'd share it with you.
Of course I don't know if we'll ever know just how fast Johnson, Russie, Young, or others from that time really were.

[tommydale1]

Their is no way to verify. That's the problem we are all up against. I've read the articles about Dalkowski, Smokey Joe Wood, and Smokey Joe Williams. It's hard to say, without some tangible records, who was the fastest. I'm suprised that no one else has mentioned either of the Smokey Joe's on this thread.

[Aqua]

There's absolutely no way to tell, for reasons that have been well enumerated above.

But just to throw another name out there, I remember Mark Wohlers being clocked at 104 in a spring training game several years ago, before he...um...stopped being any good.

[sfgiants29]

Don't know how old this thread actually is but I used to watch Billy Koch clocked at between 99 and 101 mph on a regular basis, and twice at 102mph. Assuming the Radar Gun is off by 1 MPH either way that would make it either 101MPH or 103MPH. I would say 'officially' it has to be Nolan Ryan at 100.9 MPH. What I would really like to see is an official competition similar to a home run derby, possibly during the all star break?

Anyways, here's some referance material on the subject:

Nolan Ryan 'official' Record:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_guin.shtml

Billy Koch Pitches 102 MPH @ Oakland:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_guin.shtml

List of Observed Fastballs, Speed Converter, & Misc Info on Fast Pitchers in MLB:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/arti...baseball.shtml

Most of those stats given in those links are dated. For example, in the highest attendance for a sporting event in the U.S. has been shattered year after year during the U of Michigan vs. Ohio State football games averaging over 100,000 for the past few years.

[baseball=my life]

I think I rememeber Robb Nen clocked 100 but I was just a kid so single pitch seemed that fast

[nosoupforyou]

RedSoxVT92 has the article posted above. There is no way to tell though, and there never will be. Nolan Ryan is in Guiness for 100.9, not 101.9. But every year someone comes and throws 100 mph. Detroit has two fireballer rookies who have both hit 101 on the radar gun this year, Verlander and Zumaya. But you can't go by radar guns because they are not 100% accurate, that's why most police departments don't even use them anymore. Mark Wohlers clocked 104 in the late 90's, but we can't be sure how accurate the gun was. Verlander, Zumaya, Koch, Jenks, Gagne, Farnsworth, and a number of others have all been clocked recently at 100 plus, but who knows if Ryan, Feller, Dalkowski, or someone else has thrown faster. I would be willing to put my money on Dalkowski based on the article, I wonder if there is anyone in the majors who could throw a ball more than 450 ft. If he could really throw that far, he had to of been able to throw it pretty damn hard a distance of 60 feet, 6 inches.

[trosmok]

Most of those stats given in those links are dated. For example, in the highest attendance for a sporting event in the U.S. has been shattered year after year during the U of Michigan vs. Ohio State football games averaging over 100,000 for the past few years.

Welcome aboard, sfgiants29! Right you are about ever changing stats, and accuracy of older ones. However, the largest attendance for a single sporting event has been the Indy 500 for decades. There are 250,000+ reserved seats, as well as 100,000+ general admission tickets sold since the new stands were constructed. That is, of course, if you consider the motor sports a sport. I've been to Ann Arbor for the Big Ten's biggest rivalry game, and it is truly awesome to see the throngs of Buckeyes and Wolverines that descend on the town that weekend.

But, back to baseball; I'm faily certain there have been dozens of pitchers capable of throwing 100+ mph long before accurate timing devices came into being. It is also logical to extrapolate there were also some mighty strong arms in the field, LF in particular, that could have easily topped three figures in speed. Former Reds nasty boy Randy Myers was clocked at 102 in a relief appearance, but as usual, the gun's accuracy was subject to debate.

[CanadianKid]

According to Baseball Almanac the fastest pitcher ever clocked was by Mark Wohlers at 103mph in a 1995 spring training game.

[Jays]

Most of those stats given in those links are dated. For example, in the highest attendance for a sporting event in the U.S. has been shattered year after year during the U of Michigan vs. Ohio State football games averaging over 100,000 for the past few years.

Yeah I admint that they are pretty dated, but it's pretty much all I could find, not like MLB is giving us much to work with are they? Too bad they can't show up every now and again at a park with a properly calibrated gun and measure everyones official pitch speed off of that. Ahh well, guess there will never really be a way to conclusivly say who is the fastest until MLB starts recording it as an official stat.

[nolanryan5714]

The Guiness record is just pure baloney. They don't ever keep track of it. I bet Walter Johnson or Bob Gibson threw it 101+ a couple times.

I can see where you are coming from with that comment, but in all fairness, don't you think Nolan threw a few pitches harder than 100.9? If Spring Training counts, or other "off-the-record" type of stuff, I'm sure the debate will rage on for eternity...but my gut feeling is that Nolan hurled a few fastballs topping 103 that went "unrecorded."

[Seurat]

I have a bet with an English Cricket lover, who is telling me cricket bowlers are faster than baseball pitchers.

I shouldn't think this bet is still running, but I thought I'd add a bit of cricket info for the records.

The highest electronically measured speed for a ball bowled by any bowler is 100.23mph by Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan in 2003. A similar speed was claimed for the Australian Jeff Thomson in the 1970s.

Speeds are now mostly measured using a system called Hawkeye info here which uses six cameras to measure trajectory and claims 99.99% accuracy. Speeds are given 0.5 seconds after the ball has left the bowler's hand.

Top speeds rarely top 90mph however, so I'd say that baseball pitchers are probably faster. Hard to compare considering the differences in action, run-up and objective though.

The debate about who was the fastest bowler of all time is just as heated as in baseball.

[carlos_delgado021]

i thank that randy johnson can throw it pretty hard i bet he can get at least 101 mph

[Tigersfan06]

Sorry guys all of you who have been saying the record is 101 or 102 are now wrong, on 6-24-06, Joel Zumaya of the Detroit Tigers threw a 104 MPH fastball against St. Luis at comerica park. so there ya go guys, the radar gun record in the mlb is now 104

[Tarheelfan44]

there was some guy who tried to pitch for the orioles, he had an elongated wrist bone, and he was SUPPPOSEDLY clocked at like 109, he couldn't throw strikes at all though, so i don't know if he ever pitched in the majors. i'll see if i can find his name