Steve Dalkowski: Baseball's Ultimate Flamethrower

Nolan Ryan. Bob Feller. Smokey Joe Wood. What did all these onetime phenomenal pitchers have in common?

They could throw a baseball fast. Really fast...

Hall of Famer Ryan, baseball’s all-time strikeout king, was clocked officially with the fastest pitch of all time, at 100.9 miles per hour in a game played on Aug. 20, 1974 against the Chicago White Sox.

Negro League pitching legend Satchel Paige said of fellow Hall of Famer Feller, “If anybody threw that ball any harder than Rapid Robert, then the human eye couldn't follow it."

Wood, a very good pitcher in the early 1910’s, got the endorsement of arguably the best pitcher of all-time, Walter Johnson, who remarked, “Mister, no man alive can throw a baseball harder than Smokey Joe Wood."

No one can dispute these men brought the heat in a huge way. However, no one in the history of the game could quite bring it like a career minor leaguer who was known simply as “White Lightning.”

Steve Dalkowki signed with the Baltimore Orioles during 1957, at the ripe age of 21. At 5’11" and weighing 170 pounds, he did not exactly fit the stereotype of a power pitcher, especially one who, in his prime, experts claimed could throw at least 105 mph.

He had the typical control issues like a lot of young power pitchers, but the Orioles believed this southpaw was young enough to fix them and fulfill his superstar potential.

Dalkowski never ended up making it to the majors and finished with a lifetime won-loss record of 46-80 and an ERA of 5.59 in nine minor league seasons, striking out 1,396... and walking 1,354... in 995 innings.

However, as is the case with a lot of the memorable characters throughout the history of the game, his stats only represent a small part of his legend.

Dalkowski’s unparelled velocity throughout history cannot be questioned, simply because so many back up the claim.

Cal Ripken Sr., recalling his favorite Dalkowki tale (and everyone had one), said, “Steve Dalkowski was the hardest thrower I ever, ever saw." In 1958, Dalkowski threw a pitch through the backstop of the Wilson, N.C., grandstand. I was back in Wilson in 1975 scouting for the Orioles. First thing I did was check to see if the hole was still there. It was."

Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver reiterated the fact, saying that he threw faster than anyone he ever saw, even faster than Nolan Ryan.

If that does not convince you, this should. Boston Red Sox OF Ted Williams, who many experts consider one of the best hitters of all-time, was never one to back down from anyone, not even from the likes of Feller.

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