Fastest Fastball?

[webmaster]

A Useful Update

Hello Baseball Fans,

Many of you mentioned the original article written about Bob Feller. Others some anecdotes. Today I wrote an article about this topic and included a nifty little velocity calculator (in case you ever wondered how many feet per second a 100 mph fastball is actually traveling).

The Fastest Pitcher in Baseball History

Enjoy,

Sean

[Mulliganfan]

I'm still digging through my things to find the Baseball Digest article that said NY Yankee (infielder) Mark Koenig threw the fastest pitch on record. I actually wrote to Koenig at the time. He denied throwing a ball that hard, saying that it was physically impossible to throw a ball as hard as what they clocked him at.

[Mulliganfan]

Originally posted by Macker
Was is Koenig or Joe Gordon who was the Yankee 2nd baseman clocked as 117 (or was it 127) MPH? Maybe it was Koenig, but I seem to have misremembered it as Gordon. I think we are talking about the same story.

It was discussed in Baseball Digest several years ago. The editors stated that it wasn't clear what distance the 2nd baseman threw the ball (whether it was a 'pitch' or whether he was clocked from his 2nd base position.

OK, so you remember it too. It was Koenig. I wrote him a letter years ago about this and he replied "it is humanly impossible to throw a ball 117 miles per hour."

[cowboy15]

at a spring training camp for the astros is was reported that JR Richard hurled a fastball at 103. whether thats true or not i dont know....

[TheDarkDragon]

Eddie Feigner (the greatest fastpitch softball pitcher of all time) had a fastball clocked on a radar gun at 104. To my knowledge, this is faster than any clocked baseball pitcher.

I remember the game in which Randy was clocked at 100+, and it was in fact 102.

I seem to recall Nolan Ryan being clocked at 103.5 or so, in a controlled environment outside of a game.

Alan Embree, (setup man and now closer-by-committee chairman for the BoSox) was clocked at 100 at least once last season.

[Steffo]

I remember watching a Cubs game where I think it said 101 mph after Kyle Farnsworth pitched. 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.

[Ichi Ro]

Jenks of Chicago threw 102, two times tonight in Seattle.

[buckthis]

last year i saw randy at 102, Rob Nen at 100, Kyle Farnsworth at 101 and Felix Rodriguez at 100, to name a few.

The Dodgers Fan

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.

[Zito75]

How about Steve Dalkowski? He is the real version of "Nuke LaLushe." I've read stories that he could throw close to 110, this being back in the early 60's. He had massive control problems and eventually drank himself into dementia. Another tragic tale of wasted youth...

[Chisox73]

Jenks of Chicago threw 102, two times tonight in Seattle.

I saw that last night. I thought it was funny when Jenks threw that 1st 102 mph ball,Richie Sexson fouled it off the HP umps mask.That had to rattle the ump.

[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.