Could Mike Trout outproduce a tanking team's entire lineup? One more factor: the hitters. Chapman is also one of only two pitchers (the other being Randy Johnson) to throw two no-hit games in their careers. They all thought he was faster than Bob Feller and Walter Johnson, though none of them probably saw Johnson pitch. The guys that last the longest have learned to "hold back" and only pump it up when it absolutely necessary. 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. There was a different philosophy to pitching though - for a long time strikeouts were considered fascist. Who could throw the fastest fastball? In 1989, Nolan Ryan returned to the mound with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hes actually more or less the same pitcher as Juan Marichal, and. The best mark he recorded was 119 feet. CLEVELAND (AP) - Three Boston Red Sox threw a baseball 122 feet a second into a new photo-electric pitching meter yesterday. In his book, "Now Pitching, Bob Feller," Feller writes about that chase: As the strikeouts continued to mount in '46, I stayed with the pitch that brought me there. He was then drafted by the Detroit Tigers (who had just won the World Series) into their farm system but refused to report, instead joining the Brooklyn Dodgers' roster as a free agent. At Griffith Stadium on Aug. 20, the machine was set up and Feller would fire in some fastballs. Feller was clocked at 98.6 mph. He won it over Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants. Follow him on Twitter for all your MLB news and updates. Three digits! But Major League Baseball now registers that pitch as a 105.8 mph fastball. Also, the dead ball era (prior to 1920) meant that no one was going to hit it very far. 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. He played in nine leagues in nine years. Walter Johnson was reportedly measured at 99.7 MPH at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where they could measure the speed of bullets. Pitchers are throwing harder than ever before. In 1958 the Orioles sent Dalkowski to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a military installation where Feller was once clocked. Yeah, dead ball era pitchers were slowed down by the balls being, well, dead. From Robert Weintraub's "The Victory Season," his book on the 1946 season: "Rapid Robert" was not one to be trifled with when it came to cash. BA Newsletter: Get Analysis, Rankings Delivered To Your Inbox! Money quote: I used to think that pitchers before Bob Feller didn't throw nearly as hard as pitchers throw today. After having it their way for the first two decades of the 20th Century, pitchers entered a dark age in which they were no longer allowed to use a ball that was dead, scuffed and (with few exceptions) wet. The device measures the ball's speed between the two points and flashes it on a scale facing the pitcher. Source: The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, 1997. He never finished outside of the top nine in strikeouts every year between 1969 and 1984. It was common for pitchers to "coast" until a runner got into scoring position. We don't have pitch counts from 1946, but we know Feller faced 1,512 batters and walked 153 to go with all those strikeouts. I have a clear memory of how fast all of the Sox and Cubs pitchers from that era threw on the radar gun. 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. The Meter to Record Feller's Speed article mentioned it was specifically going to examine his pitching speed. Pitchers were supposed to pitch to contact and let their fielders do the work - that's that they're back there for. Paige struck out a Negro League record 176 batters in 1929 and then set the single-game record by striking out 17 hitters on April 29 and then 18 hitters less than a week later. A fast fastball is a lot faster than it used to be. Feller won 4-1, striking out five to get his record. Wohlers was a failed starter who came out of seemingly nowhere to be a lockdown closer for the Braves in the mid 1990s. The Speedgun, developed by Decatur Technologies (a long-time maker of police radar guns) measured closer to the plate than the JUGS gun. Clemens is known for a lot of things, and being a power pitcher is certainly one of them. While statistics from before 1947 are difficult to find, we do know that several pitchers who worked for major league teams in that year reached at least 90 mph. According to University of Illinois physicist Dr. Alan Nathan, a pitch that leaves a pitcher's hand at 100. These questions, and others like it, are some of the most commonly asked items here on Baseball Almanac. The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. Even though both were clocked rather crudely, their measurements would extrapolate to over 100 mph on a modern radar gun. Wagner is the left-handed National League compliment to Mariano Rivera and was as dominant of a closer as you can find. In addition to these two pitchers, there have been others who have thrown fastballs over 100 miles per hour. Realistically low to mid 80s. Source: Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, June 7, 1939. Greg madux would only pump 90+ in later innings to throw hitters off. The Fastest Pitcher in Baseball by Baseball Almanac 2003-2007. Its believed he could throw upwards of 100 mph. I woudl suggest that it is in fact simply that they let the pitchers pitch so much back then. He threw 283 pitches in a complete game against Aberdeen and once threw 120 pitches in only two innings. Chapman's speed came in only one game during his career. I thought that even the top power pitchers of the 1920s and '30s -- again, before Feller -- topped out around 90 miles an hour. Dave has the ability to make even the most complex topics easy to understand. The best throw was 86 feet a second, the second best 84. Today's games often last three or four hours! What was a 105 mph fastball can now be said (with rounding) to be the first recorded 106 mph pitch in MLB history. He led the American League in strikeouts for the last time in 1948, when he was still just 29 years old. In any event, I think that it is a combination of all these factors. Pitchers dont usually return from Tommy John surgery with the same velocity, so we may never see the flame-throwing Strasburg ever again. This page was generated at 04:50 PM. He even saved four games for good measure. Mostly, pitchers tended to save themselves for key situations. Both were mentioned in the Meter to Record Feller's Speed article above and the unit of measure was feet per second. . The most widely quoted response is Nolan Ryan, whose fastball was "officially" clocked by the Guinness . It would be interesting to time-travel Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez in their youths back to 1894 and see how their careers as 450-inning starters would have fared. Document Creator: Sean Holtz of Baseball Almanac, Inc. 2003-2005. At the Aberdeen Proving Grounds he was measured using the ever-popular speeding motorcycle test, once used in 1914 with Walter Johnson who reached 99.7 mph, and Feller reached 98.6 mph. Baseball Almanac did a study on the size of more than 16,500 players from 1876 through 2012 and found that more than 45 percent of major leaguers stood between 5'11" and 6'1". I looked at the stats for the Pirates (cuz theyre my favorite team), and this past year they averaged 133 pitches/9 innings (or about 4.75/out). 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 had his: Lady Godiva Fastball - the one with nothing on it, the Peggy Lee Fastball - for those who wondered "Is That All There Is? McDowell, otherwise known as Sudden Sam, is another one of the pitchers youve probably never heard of unless you grew up as a Cleveland Indians fan during the 1960s and 1970s. The Pitch/FX system that MLB used in 2010 measured pitches at roughly 50 feet from home plate, which is where the 105.1 mph of Chapmans fastball was measured. He didn't even have the . Mookie Betts is playing like an MVP again, Real or Not? Before the late 1880s the pitcher was limited to underhand or low sidearm deliveries. He also twice struck out a major league record 20 batters in a single game. 100-mph fastballs have been attributed to many pitchers. He once threw a ball at least 450 feet on a bet. I would assume Ford threw in the mid-high 80s, topping out around 90. For decades, comparing pitch velocities has often been an apples-and-oranges discussion. The next year, as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies, she threw a no-hitter. The pitcher wants to keep the pitch count low because of his stamina. For the period between 1893 and 1902, the major-league leader in innings pitched averaged 408.5 innings. I don't believe they threw, on average, as hard as pitchers throw today. Whoops! Copyright 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc. Did Nolan Ryan throw the fastest pitch ever? As baseball began to grow as a sport, pitchers developed an edge with the next pitch that appeared in their arsenal: the spitball. This time was measured in the past 1999 baseball season. Who was the fastest pitcher in baseball history? No-hitter the latest feat in James Paxton's rise, Deal ends Matt Harvey's roller-coaster ride with Mets, Sizing up potential trade fits for Manny Machado, Real or Not? One other thing to remember. First Miss Cappy Ogiun, a visitor from Orlando, Fla., tried her speed yesterday. However i will not outright disagree. That sounds plausible, but he was averaging 6.6 K's per nine before that game, well below his 1946 figure. His career 11.5 SO/9 rate is still among the best all-time, but the strike zone continues to elude the oversized righty. Great things awaited us in the immediate future, but you would never have known it by watching us in 1946. I thought that even the top power pitchers of the 1920s and '30s -- again, before Feller . As long as hitters kept missing it, I was going to keep throwing it. But then again throwing is mainly a talent thing and is not supposed to be improved by modern training very much. The Detroit times. Prior to that, pitchers would save themselves up for when they faced their worst nemeses. 14. 1 farm systems fared in the following seasons. Others who claimed he was the fastest ever were Paul Richards, Harry Brecheen and Earl Weaver. During the 1999 baseball season, this moment was recorded. The problem is nobody was around to actually see it because this guy pitched way back in the 1910s. In high school he pitched a no-hitter while walking 18 and striking out 18. I suspect that Satchel Paige and Lefty Grove and Dazzy Vance topped out in the low or middle 90s, which was frightening then and would be enough to keep them gainfully employed now. I reached 261 in 320.1 innings, but I reached 262 in only 260.2 innings. Its not often you find a starter who can throw up to 102 mph in any inning in any count on any day. Up until 10 years ago, people werent just trying to throw gas. House replied, "Others will throw harder, but no one will throw harder for longer.". How were the arms of starters spared? Bob Feller was measured at 98.6 MPH. Who was president when the Orioles threw out the first pitch? Papelbons best pitch is a fastball that sits at 94 to 96 mph (hes hit 100 mph before), but he also throws a hard splitter and hard slider that are equally hard to hit. It measured velocity closer to the pitchers release point than the JUGS gun, so the JUGS flipped to being the slow gun. 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. Just imagine where Dr. K would rank if it wasnt for injuries. So Feller refused to take part, staying under the stands until (Senators owner Clark) Griffith was forced to come down to him and negotiate. Ich-i-ro!' An official reading is unavailable because Dalkowski pitched in the 1950s and 1960s, but some have estimated his fastball could reach 105 mph. There will be a contest for pitchers later. - Eddie Collins. MLB has gone back and recalibrated Pitch/FX pitches to convert them to their velocity at pitch release. Then there is no pitcher among the top 100 until 1964. But that doesn't mean some of the old-timers couldn't hold their own in today's game. His less-touted teammate, pitcher Johnny Humphreys, recorded 127 feet. Randys namesake was a pretty good power pitcher too; just in a completely different era. Moving closer to the batter enabled catchers to better frame the pitches, field bunts, and throw out base-stealers. Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. Real or Not? Plus, it's hard to know, 70 years later, how precise the Lumiline Chronograph was. Smoky Joe Wood often said, "I threw so hard, I thought my arm would fly right off my body." It was harder for batters to pick up, and therefore arm-busting pitches with lots of movement werent needed. 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. Spitballs and Sliders: 1900s to 1920s. If you want to share an another or provide an accurate game date for those we have in the chart please send us an email. I was never afraid to throw my curve when I was behind in the count, 2 and 0 or 3 and 1, or even late in a pressure situation. 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. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. We had a sixth-place ballclub, but Bill Veeck bought the ballclub and made some trades, and in 1948, we won the World Series.". In 1987, he started throwing the curveball more often than not. "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. Red Sox bullpen's tightrope act will wear thin, Real or not? On Sept. 24, 2010, Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest recorded pitch in major league history. He has also appeared in several television commercials, most notably for Old Milwaukee beer. The historical record suggests Feller paid a price for that record chase. I had two or three different kinds of curve balls and a lot of confidence in each of them. The best workhorses of that time approached 700 innings - and they weren't even playing 154 games in a season yet. In addition, he finished third three times. You couldnt hit it far no matter what. Stories about the fastest pitchers in history have also appeared in the Associated Press. If only because most of the film I've seen of pitchers from that era just don't suggest that much effort was being expended. There were freak arms throughout history. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Mike Trout Nobody else in the league can do that." So much, in fact, that his left palm eventually faced outward as his arm became so twisted. Ich-i-ro!' The true speed of Fellers fastball is a subject of great debate. Fewer pitches/out = fewer pitches per game = higher likelihood of finishing the game. **, Press J to jump to the feed. The Rocket struck out 4,672 helpless batters during his career, third all-time. At the height of his career (1998-2002), he was striking out more than a batter per inning, and who knows how many strikeouts he might have now if injuries hadnt derailed his promising career. He pitched 371.1 innings. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. Going through Feller's game logs produces more fascinating numbers. Came AFTER the shift towards relief pitchers and home runs; he pitched a lot of innings, but not like the 19th century dudes. I think some of these things are a bit overblown. So Feller started on Sept. 19, Sept. 22, Sept, 25, pitched five innings of relief on Sept. 27 and then started the season finale on Sept. 29, tied with Waddell at 343 strikeouts. Bench gave in to the veteran (who had recently strung together four consecutive seasons with 200+ strikeouts) and signaled for a fastball. To go along with his 714 home runs, Ruth ultimately retired with.