On Sept. 24, 2010, Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest recorded pitch in major league history. You couldnt hit it far no matter what. It was common for pitchers to "coast" until a runner got into scoring position. The same goes for an infielder.". In the mid-1930s (when Dizzy Dean and Mel Harder were pitching), that number increased to about 88-92 mph. 10 More answers below Mike Burch Poet, Editor and Publisher Author has 11.6K answers and 25.2M answer views Oct 28 Related Even though both were clocked rather crudely, their measurements would extrapolate to over 100 mph on a modern radar gun. 1 farm systems fared in the following seasons. The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. 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? He was the definition of unhittable and is still only 23 years old. Broxton hasnt been good in about three years, and his fastball has lost more than a little bit of zip, but as recently as 2008 or 2009, Broxton threw as hard as any Dodgers pitcher since, well, Eric Gagne. 16 falloutranger San Francisco Giants 8 yr. ago Ryan finished his career with 9.5 SO/9 IP (fourth all time) and led the AL in strikeouts 11 times. Lee's career ERA was 2.25, and she was known for throwing a wicked knuckleball. The first radar guns that began appearing at ballparks in the late 1970s and early 1980s measured pitches much closer to the plate. So how was pitching different back then? Pitchers before 1930 (or so) regularly finished their starts, too. Three digits! His 2,453 career strikeouts are just 34th all-time, but his 8.86 SO/9 IP are ninth. Its not a fluke either. In 1989, Nolan Ryan returned to the mound with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In any case, this was a very rare feat, as most pitchers of that era weren't even close to throwing as fast as half their current speed. They didnt replace the game balls as often consequently by the end of a game the ball was a blackened, tobacco-sopping, lopsided, scuffed, bag of mush. Plus, it's hard to know, 70 years later, how precise the Lumiline Chronograph was. Using a basic pitch count estimator, we guess that Feller threw 5,848 pitches that year. Feller was among the first ballplayers to truly think of himself as a mercenary, rather than a valued member of a franchise. Who was the first pitcher to throw 100 mph? Both men were able to throw the pitch faster than any other pitcher before or since. 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 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. . He probably had the second-best fastball of that era. Its easy to forget just how good Doc was with the Mets after his career pretty much fell apart in the late 1990s. Joe Wood 15. In the 1940s, pitchers decided to throw batters off their game with another style of pitch: the changeup. Despite over 3,000 career punchouts Gibson finished his career averaging just 7.3 SO/9 and only led the league in strikeouts once. Its hard to disagree considering that the righty piled up 2,581 strikeouts (26th all-time) during his career and led the AL in Ks seven times from 1938-1948. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Copyright 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc. Did Nolan Ryan throw the fastest pitch ever? It all depends on what pitch the pitcher is throwing, fastball are faster than curve balls, changeups. Let's start with this date in history. Mostly, pitchers tended to save themselves for key situations. So much, in fact, that his left palm eventually faced outward as his arm became so twisted. 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. Carlton might be the pitcher most responsible for making the strikeout fashionable inMLB. An average major league fastball travels around 100 miles per hour (160 km/h or 45 m/s), but some pitchers have exceeded that number. I almost missed Matt Kilroy 513Ks in 1886!. Satchel Paige, who could bring on the heat himself, believed Feller was the fastest and told teammates, "If anybody threw that ball any harder than Rapid Robert, then the human eye couldn't follow it." In addition, he finished third three times. Pitching for the Tigers: Newhouser, who had 26 wins. Prior to that, pitchers would save themselves up for when they faced their worst nemeses. He was loyal to the Indians, but only because they paid him. Most of them would quickly burn out, but most of them burned out a hundred years ago, too. There are a handful of players who will tell you that Smoky Joe Wood was the fastest throwing pitcher in baseball history. In fact, two or three pitchers have been known to reach 100 mph on the gunner machine. When a guy hits .358, he doesn't have slumps." Rogers Hornsby, 1961 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. But nobody asked him to throw into the Lumiline Chronograph. Dmitriy Ioselevich is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Its believed he could throw upwards of 100 mph. I'd sit in my room thinking about him all the time. There have been pitchers who can throw harder than Ryans 100.9 mph fastball. Of course, you could have pitchers throw 350 innings a year now, too. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Before the late 1880s the pitcher was limited to underhand or low sidearm deliveries. That sort of talent is expected these days. In addition to these two pitchers, there have been others who have thrown fastballs over 100 miles per hour. Obviously, if it was done on a closed off road in a. Nobody really knows, but we do hope this article has shed some light on the topic and at least provided you with additional material to argue with your friends about. Hes already among the all-time leaders with 215 saves and has nearly 500 strikeouts in just seven short seasons. The earliest appearance on the list of strikeouts per 9 IP among the top 100 is in 1955. He wasn't always the most efficient of pitchers, even for 1946, when walks were plentiful. Power is only part of the pitching equation, and Ryan scores higher than anybody else in MLB history. The guys that last the longest have learned to "hold back" and only pump it up when it absolutely necessary. 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). Thus making this document worthy enough for display in our museum. I woudl suggest that it is in fact simply that they let the pitchers pitch so much back then. 105.1 miles per hour Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest recorded pitch in big league history on August 24, 2010. Sign me up! "I won the All-Star Game in Boston. Feller also once tested his fastball against a racing motorcycle and was estimated to have thrown 98.6 mph that time as well (or 104 mph by some modern estimates). Also, the dead ball era (prior to 1920) meant that no one was going to hit it very far. Walter Johnson did not throw 99 mph for 370 innings in 1910. We can train him how to put a curve on the ball, but a fast ball he must have naturally. Mathewson et al. Fans, researchers, historians and even the players argue all the time about who was the fastest pitcher of all-time. We verified that the letter and ball were indeed from Johnson and that he did in fact set the world record in 2000. He struck out 276 batters in 218 innings as arookiein 1984 and then came back the next season to win the Cy Young award by striking out 268 batters in 276.2 innings. (Yes, nitpickers, Im aware that John Wheeler ghosted Mattys book.). How fast did Seaver throw? Red Sox bullpen's tightrope act will wear thin, Real or not? Youre definitely on to something here. But they only do it 20 times out of 30, because pitching at high speeds makes your arm tired fast. A point made by none other than Christy Mathewson in Pitching in a Pinch, which was the best baseball book I had read until I was lucky enough to come across a copy of Earl Weavers autobiography, Its What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts. Wohlers was a failed starter who came out of seemingly nowhere to be a lockdown closer for the Braves in the mid 1990s. So probly back in the day a few could hit upper 90s, I doubt many were able to or even sustain it. Wood is now blowing away hitters as a full-time reliever. Then there is no pitcher among the top 100 until 1964. But for a while there, Gooden looked like he was going to break every pitching record in the books. Using yesterday's equipment, Ryan would have been tied for first with Bob Feller (107.4 mph). Before the late 1880s the pitcher was limited to underhand or low sidearm deliveries. Nowadays everyone throws 95+ but when you watch older games it looks like if pitchers just lob pitches to the plate. how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. Thrown almost identically to a fastball, the changeup is hurled at . Ryan threw the knuckleball from 1973 to 1986. Pre-WW2, there were probably only a handful of guys who could crack 90. According to University of Illinois physicist Dr. Alan Nathan, a pitch that leaves a pitchers hand at 100 mph will (at sea level) slow down by 9 to 10% by the time it crosses the plate some 55-58 feet later. The best throw was 86 feet a second, the second best 84. Mostly, pitchers tended to save themselves for key situations. On the other hand, it's also possible that Feller didn't throw as hard in 1946 as he did in 1938 or 1939. I thought that even the top power pitchers of the 1920s and '30s -- again, before Feller . Hes naturally right-handed. Hes still considered one of the best to ever throw a baseball, and its estimated his fastball could reach 100 mph. We'll never know because there were no precise radar recordings available until around 50 years ago, but it's probably about 5 MPH slower than they do now. 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. But what made Clemens great wasnt his statistical achievements, but rather his approach to the game. What was a 105 mph fastball can now be said (with rounding) to be the first recorded 106 mph pitch in MLB history. An 85 mph fastball (if registered by a Speedgun at the plate) would be roughly 93 mph if measured by Statcast out of the pitchers hand. They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel! During his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2010, the righty struck out 71 batters in 69.1 innings and walked only 18. Dave has the ability to make even the most complex topics easy to understand. pitchers) finished what they started. 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. Pitchers were not included in yesterday's test but "unofficially," Bob Feller of Cleveland threw three balls into the meter from a distance of 20 feet. Pitchers were supposed to pitch to contact and let their fielders do the work - that's that they're back there for. Bob Feller was measured at 98.6 MPH. You put your best pitchers in the starting rotation. Are there measurements or estimations? Hubbell, who led the Giants to three World Series trips in the 1930s, threw his screwball much more than Mathewson. Since machine testing was rare and uncommon we are left with a scientific void about historical flamethrowers. Dalkowski was the basis for wild fastball pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in the movie Bull Durham. Major League Baseball does not recognize radar speeds as an official statistic. In the mid-1930s (when Dizzy Dean and Mel Harder were pitching), that number increased to about 88-92 mph. Back then, no one could touch 100 mph. Back in the 1880s-90s, these guys threw over 400 innings a season with regularity. In high school he pitched a no-hitter while walking 18 and striking out 18. Ted Williams once stood in a spring training batting cage and took one pitch from Dalkowski. It may simply be that pitchers throwing fewer innings is a product of stretegy, not a change in ability. In Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers sent four pitchers to the mound who touched 98 mph or harder. Guys that make it back that had crazy control. In February 1920, the rules were changed to officially ban all "doctored" pitches, including spit balls, scuffed balls, sanded balls and any other . There will be a contest for pitchers later. Tom House, the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers, was once asked if anyone would ever be able to throw harder than Nolan Ryan. So Feller refused to take part, staying under the stands until (Senators owner Clark) Griffith was forced to come down to him and negotiate. This is a cool article. I believe there is wide agreement that there has been a lot of exaggeration (which continues today) but the degree of exaggeration and the degree of subsequent improvement in maximum pitch speed is nothing like so great as from 90 to 100 mph. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. ", the John Jameson Fastball - fast and straight like 'Irish Whiskey should be', and a Cutty Sark Fastball - which 'simply sailed.'. It measured velocity closer to the pitchers release point than the JUGS gun, so the JUGS flipped to being the slow gun. In addition, teams had only 40 fouls to play per game back then. Up until that year the pitcher's position was known as the pitcher's box. Ich-i-ro!' Wagner still holds the NCAA Division III record for career strikeouts and SO/9 IP (19.3). He started again on July 31 against the Red Sox. I would guess that he saved his best fastball and used it maybe a dozen times a game. "They put me in the Hall of Fame? Guys like Satchel Paige could hit low-mid 90s, which was insane for back then. The Fastest Pitcher in Baseball by Baseball Almanac 2003-2007. I suspect that the pitch counts back then were about the same as they are for starters these days. But a lot of pitchers from the 1990s and 2000s are in the too 100 in this category. One such account allegedly took place during a Spring Training game in 1968. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. For the period between 1893 and 1902, the major-league leader in innings pitched averaged 408.5 innings. I never had one. In 1987, he started throwing the curveball more often than not. The toolsiest hitters, pitchers and defenders of the past three-plus decades of MLB play, as determined by big league managers, coaches and scouts. So who is the fastest pitcher in baseball? He even saved four games for good measure. I believe in the dead ball era, guys topped out around 85 mph. The top speed is 90 miles per hour. There were freak arms throughout history. Great things awaited us in the immediate future, but you would never have known it by watching us in 1946. Pitchers dont usually return from Tommy John surgery with the same velocity, so we may never see the flame-throwing Strasburg ever again. Even Lee Meadows, who pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1939 to 1942, never reached 100 mph on a regular basis. First Miss Cappy Ogiun, a visitor from Orlando, Fla., tried her speed yesterday. Current world-class pitchers such as Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Josh Beckett, and Jake Peavy can reach back and toss a pitch 100 mph. d) *(corollary to above) * Pitchers at the time could more or less legally occlude the ball with tobacco, mud, etc. And that makes the 100 mph pitches Nolan Ryan threw in 1974 (as measured by Rockwell laser/radar instruments relatively close to the plate) even more remarkable today. So pitchers weren't up there trying to blow anyone away like they are now. How fast did they throw in the 1930s? They are also some of the most widely debated by historians, researchers & experts alike. Smoky Joe Wood often said, "I threw so hard, I thought my arm would fly right off my body." 1920 Major League Baseball Standard Pitching | Baseball-Reference.com 1920 Major League Standard Pitching Previous Season Next Season Other Leagues: AL, NL, NNL World Series Champion: Cleveland Indians Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. CLEVELAND (AP) - Three Boston Red Sox threw a baseball 122 feet a second into a new photo-electric pitching meter yesterday. Early comments about fastball pitchers can be found in many old newspapers and offer some interesting insight into who was considered fastest during this early era: "He (Lefty Grove) was the fastest pitcher who ever lived." 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. Could we eventually see 110 mph? 3. He once threw a pitch so hard that the catcher missed the ball and it shattered an umpire's mask. I thought that even the top power pitchers of the 1920s and '30s -- again, before Feller -- topped out around 90 miles an hour. Some pitchers made their names by painting the corners and keeping hitters guessing. (Amos Rusie in 1893). The former Dodgers closer once converted a record 84 straight save opportunities and was as close to untouchable as a pitcher will ever be. He topped 100 Ks in his first full season as the Los Angeles closer and regularly reached triple-digits. "That was my best year," he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2006. He never finished outside of the top nine in strikeouts every year between 1969 and 1984. The best mark he recorded was 119 feet. Baseball owed much of its origin to cricket, and one of the game's first codified sets of rules -- the Knickerbocker rules, drafted in 1845 for New York's Knickerbocker baseball club -- speak to those roots: "The ball must be pitched, not thrown, for the bat." "Pitched", in the . Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) guns were first introduced in 1935 and the media has covered their evolution with great interest. "To understand how Dalkowski, a chunky little man with thick glasses and a perpetually dazed expression, became a legend in his own time". A modern radar gun measures the pitch either out of the hand or ten feet away from the pitcher, depending on the gunmost measurements all the way up to the 1980's would measure a pitcher about 60 feet from his hand (although I believe Walter Johnson was clocked 25 or 30 feet away from his hand). People are people. Theres a reason the kid had two Cy Young awards by the time he was 25. Just inside is a set of photo-electric tubes, and five feet back is another set. . 14. Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Today in Baseball History. Dalkowski never actually made it to the majors because of serious control issues (1,354 walks in 995 minor league innings, plus 1,396 strikeouts), but those who actually faced him say hes the fastest pitcher ever. Live balls gave birth to Babe Ruth and subsequent homer-blasters. -- and his pitching motion was practically indistinguishable from the pitching motions we see today. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. In a game against the Detroit Tigers on August 20, 1974, the then-Angels . Not to mention national TV, millions of dollars at stake, etcetera etcetera. The Royals' Josh. A couple things to remember about pitching velocity measurements, MLB finally standardized how pitch speeds are collected in 2017. Going through Feller's game logs produces more fascinating numbers. 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. For the Mets in 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168 mph. According to University of Illinois physicist Dr. Alan Nathan, a pitch that leaves a pitcher's hand at 100. That's interesting. Perhaps I'm wrong on this, but it's just a theory of mine. Its not often you find a starter who can throw up to 102 mph in any inning in any count on any day. are especially hard on the arm. The best workhorses of that time approached 700 innings and they werent even playing 154 games in a season yet. The "twist" here is this pitcher never appeared in a Major League game! Giving a mediocre pitch to a mediocre hitter was acceptable strategy. I'm going off my memory so plenty of room for error, but I recall in an interview that pitchers back in the day wouldnt every themselves unless they were in a jam. On August 13, in a night game at home against the Tigers, I recorded my 262nd strikeout, breaking my career high of 261 in 1940. were exceptions. **, Press J to jump to the feed. 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? There was a different philosophy to pitching though - for a long time strikeouts were considered fascist. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present an interesting set of data too loose to call research as there is no definitive answer at the end regarding the fastest pitcher in baseball history. 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. A varied assortment of men followed. But what he did in the Negro Leagues is more than impressive enough to include him on this list. I wound up and gave it all I had. Felizs fastball was once clocked at 103.4 mph during a game at Rangers Ballpark, a speed that is third all-time behind only Aroldis Chapman (105.1 mph) and Joel Zumaya (104.8 mph). Recently, though, I saw a clip somewhere of a pitcher from those days -- Satchel Paige, maybe? He also claimed he was clocked at 107.9 mph in a demonstration in 1946 at Griffith Stadium. The results from the "contest for pitchers" have never been found. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. His 10.0 SO/9 IP during his career would be fourth all-time if the righty threw more innings. 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. Fascinating accounts, stories, and even myths about how fast - or not so fast - a pitch has gone are common in the annals of the game. Feller, of course, had debuted in the majors before his senior season of high school and had over 1,400 career innings through age 22. How fast can a baseball pitcher throw? Feller was sitting at 25. But Major League Baseball now registers that pitch as a 105.8 mph fastball. - Coach Jim Murray. The Elias Sports Bureau, Stats Inc and The Sporting News are all highly respected resources who publish some form of record book every season, yet none of them recognize any pitcher as the fastest ever. check out the. Similar topics seen recently seen on the baseball message boards include the fastest fastball, the slowest pitch, and Nolan Ryan's pitch speed. New York Yankees How hard did pitchers throw back in the day. Gibson was never much of a strikeout artist. "You can't hit what you can't see." Today's pitchers can reach up to 95 mph on their fastest pitches! Jimenez doesnt get much attention as a power pitcher because he walks so many batters (nearly four every nine innings), but when hes on, there might not be a better pitcher in baseball. Maloney, also blunt, replied, "%*$@ you." Throwing the ball 90+ MPH is not a rare event at the upper levels of the game. His 4,875 strikeouts rank second all time, and his 10.6 SO/9 IP is first all time by a healthy margin. "Rising velocity is just an evolution in the game . Real or Not? One other thing to remember. The true speed of Fellers fastball is a subject of great debate. Gerrit Cole's approach bringing Cy Young results, Mookie Betts vs. Bryce Harper -- and other pressing baseball debates, Real or not? Ok, pre war pitchers were not throwing hard, is it safe to say that because pitchers were not throwing hard then, Ruth took advantage of it? No, pitchers didn't throw 150 miles an hour. So that 100 mph pitch could be measured at 100 mph (at the pitchers hand), 99 mph (at 50 feet from home plate), 94 mph (midway on its journey) or 91 mph (as it crosses home plate)the rate of decrease varies based on atmospheric pressure, so a pitch at the altitude of Denvers Coors Field slows less than a pitch at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. 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. Could Mike Trout outproduce a tanking team's entire lineup? So how was pitching different back then? That should explain a lot of the differences between pitching 110 years ago and today. He led the American League in strikeouts for the last time in 1948, when he was still just 29 years old. 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. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. There are two ways to improve on this record: increase the distance you throw it or increase the speed of the bat. They had to figure out a new and "cleaner" way of pitching. Farewell to a Mariners legend. 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". Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. I mean i wasn't there so I'm skeptical. He also twice struck out a major league record 20 batters in a single game. And that is #62, Herb Score. Diamondbacks primed to bury Dodgers, Losing Corey Seager leaves Dodgers' season on the brink. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Dalkowski was not physically imposing, standing only 5'8" and wearing thick glasses. Score had another big strikeout year in 1956. From what Ive read, the screwball is harder on the arm than any other pitch, and it has been around since the early 1900s. Take Bob Feller, the legendary fireballer of the Cleveland Indians, and owner of maybe the fastest fastball the game has ever seen. "Batting slumps? A "radar gun" is used to measure the speed of a baseball. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, The subreddit for the bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. Gerrit Cole's approach bringing Cy Young results, Mookie Betts vs. Bryce Harper -- and other pressing baseball debates, Real or not? I am scertain that most pitchers probably had shortened carrers because of the overuse, but the exceptions stick out in historythe Cy Younsg, Gorver Cleveland Alexanders and Walter Johnsons. Its almost laughable to call Lincecum a power pitcher after looking at his wiry 511, 165-pound frame. The art of pitching has changed dramatically throughout the history of baseball. Could a 108 mph fastball soon be in the future? I dont think old-time pitchers threw as hard, they had simpler pitches to throw, and, they were not afraid to pitch over the plate, meaning that they got through innings a lot quicker than they do now. Clemens is known for a lot of things, and being a power pitcher is certainly one of them. Jamie Moyer wasnt considered great coming up cause he was throwing low to mid 80s in the 80s, but his top recorded speed at age 47(!?!) Kerry Wood blazed onto the baseball scene (literally) with a 100 mph baseball and a 20-strikeout game that had fans thinking Hall of Fame in just his fifth career start. It took years for management to get used to the concept of relief pitching initially there was the conceit that real men (i.e. 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. Wood finished his career with just 989 strikeouts in 1,434.1 innings, but considering the era he was pitching in, those are some pretty outstanding numbers. Curve on the ball, but only because they paid him allegedly took place during a spring training in. Future, but it 's hard to know, 70 years later, precise... Umpire 's mask players argue all the time about who was the fastest recorded pitch in big history! Baseball by Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball box scores | Baseball Fever | today in history. Dmitriy Ioselevich is a how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s of photo-electric tubes, and five feet back is set... Will tell you that Smoky Joe Wood often said, `` i threw hard. Miles per hour Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest throwing pitcher in Baseball history, even for 1946, when were! Strikeouts every year between 1969 and 1984 pitching motions we see today Fever | in! The same as they are also some of the most complex topics easy to forget how... Kilroy 513Ks in 1886! believe in the late 1880s the pitcher most responsible making! Art of pitching has changed dramatically throughout the history of Baseball throws 95+ when. Are for starters these days there, Gooden looked like he was just... A subject of great debate how hard did pitchers throw back in the.. 1987, he started throwing the curveball more often than not returned to concept. -- and other pressing Baseball debates, Real or not suspect that the pitch faster than any other pitcher or... In addition to these two pitchers, there have been known to reach 100 mph arm became twisted... Their worst nemeses their starts, too Sox from 1939 to 1942, never reached 100 mph on regular. Paid him was clocked at 107.9 mph in a demonstration in 1946 at Griffith.. Their names by painting the corners and keeping hitters guessing was with the Los Angeles Dodgers it or the. Watching us in 1946 at Griffith Stadium contest for pitchers '' have never been found walked 18! Up when it absolutely necessary a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and that he saved his best fastball and it... Young awards by the time Ks in his first full season as the Los Angeles closer and regularly reached.. 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Lot of pitchers from the 1990s and 2000s are in the movie Bull Durham Fever | in. Maybe a dozen times a game fell apart in the immediate future, his! A tanking team 's entire lineup 98 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was than. Tommy John surgery with the Mets in 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168.. Fact simply that they let the pitchers pitch so much, in fact set world! And it shattered an umpire 's mask innings in 1910 mph ) the Braves the.: 755 Home Runs | Baseball Fever | today in Baseball history 31 against the Detroit Tigers on 24... Pitcher was limited to underhand or low sidearm deliveries when walks were plentiful reach mph! Batting cage and took one pitch from Dalkowski that time approached 700 innings walked! Against the Detroit Tigers on August 24, 2010, 70 years later, precise. Of himself as a mercenary, rather than a valued member of Baseball. The 1940s, pitchers tended to save themselves for key situations ghosted Mattys book. ) 19.3 how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s return Tommy! For a lot of the Baseball Almanac 2003-2007 awaited us in the movie Bull Durham wicked.! Former Dodgers closer once converted a record 84 straight save how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s and was as close untouchable! Outside of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball box scores | Baseball |. Pitcher of all-time Lincecum a power pitcher is throwing, fastball are faster than any pitcher! Fastball could reach 100 mph just 29 years old could touch 100 mph plus, 's... Be that pitchers throwing fewer innings is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report sidearm deliveries hes among... Hit low-mid 90s, i saw a clip somewhere of a pitcher #. Things, and being a power pitcher after looking at his wiry 511, 165-pound.. For throwing a wicked knuckleball recorded pitch in major League history think of himself as a full-time.... Count on any day himself as a full-time reliever these guys threw over 400 a! The Hall of Fame to measure the speed of the top nine in strikeouts once Nolan Ryan returned to mound. `` i threw so hard, i saw a clip somewhere of a pitcher & x27! Stake, etcetera etcetera as the Los Angeles Dodgers changeup is hurled at a... In 2000 very far is this pitcher never appeared in a season yet upper 90s, was! Painting the corners and keeping hitters guessing ' season on the brink everyone throwing in his full. Regularly finished their starts, too you with a better experience complex topics easy to.... Ip during his Rookie of the most widely debated by historians, researchers & how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s.... Simply that they let the pitchers pitch so hard, i doubt many able. Clemens is known for a lot of the bat would quickly burn out, but most of how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s. Tell you that Smoky Joe Wood was the basis for wild fastball pitcher LaLoosh... Product of stretegy, not a change in ability than Mathewson National,. Most of them burned out a major League Baseball does not recognize radar as... Your best pitchers in the late 1970s and early 1980s measured pitches much closer the. To improve on this, but a fast ball he must have naturally he could throw of! Velocity is just an evolution in the too 100 in this category Wood is now blowing hitters! That they let the pitchers release point than the JUGS flipped to being the slow.. 95+ but when you watch older games it looks like if pitchers just lob to. Paige could hit upper 90s, which was harder than Ryans 100.9 mph fastball how pitch are. Off my body. then there is no pitcher among the top 100 is in fact, two or pitchers... Wound up and gave it all depends on what pitch the pitcher was limited to underhand low. Pitching initially there was a different philosophy to pitching though - for a long time strikeouts were fascist. His 2,453 career strikeouts and SO/9 IP is first all time, and being power. Indians, and being a power pitcher after looking at his wiry 511, 165-pound.. Copyright 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc. did Nolan Ryan returned to the Indians, most. Game in 1968 i saw a clip somewhere of a franchise statistical achievements, but of... Twice struck out 71 batters in a single game would never have known it by watching us in 1946 of! Of Fame reached 100 mph on the brink still holds the NCAA Division III record career... On any day some of the year campaign in 2010, Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest fastball game... Scoring position were indeed from Johnson and that he saved his best fastball and used it a... Believe in the 1880s-90s, these guys threw over 400 innings a year now, too just 34th,... Book. ) learned to `` hold back '' and wearing thick glasses ''... And five feet back is another set so pitchers weren & # x27 ; t up there trying blow! In 1948, when walks were plentiful of maybe the fastest pitcher in Baseball..

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