Matt Anderson, has thrown the fastest pitched baseball which measured 103 miles per hour (166 km/h or 46.0 m/s). But they only do it 20 times out of 30, because pitching at high speeds makes your arm tired fast. Spitballs and Sliders: 1900s to 1920s. 100-mph fastballs have been attributed to many pitchers. 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). You put your best pitchers in the starting rotation. Thats why Chapmans fastest fastball found an extra .7 mph. I had my fastest pitched timed when I was younger. Most guys just used a lot more off-speed stuff as their bread-and-butter pitches than youd see in a modern game. This time was measured in the past 1999 baseball season. 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. I pitched a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium. Even Lee Meadows, who pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1939 to 1942, never reached 100 mph on a regular basis. In the 1920s Johnson was clocked at a munitions facility throwing 92mph, which probably looked even faster to hitters with his deceptive sidearm motion. 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). But I don't believe the difference between today's pitchers and the pitchers of 80 years ago is as great as I used to think. But Verlander is a pretty special player and will one day go down as one of the greatest pitchers ever. Using yesterday's equipment, Ryan would have been tied for first with Bob Feller (107.4 mph). His pitch speed was 108.1 miles per hour. Breaking the 100 mph plateau makes news that can often travel to the front office at nearly the same speed. The new meter, which gives an immediate reading which engineers said compared with standard laboratory meter accuracy, is built in a trailer. Copyright 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc. Did Nolan Ryan throw the fastest pitch ever? Copyright 2023 Baseball America Enterprises. In the mid-1930s (when Dizzy Dean and Mel Harder were pitching), that number increased to about 88-92 mph. Three Cleveland Indians could do only 119 feet. Cleveland men who developed the speed meter said the only comparable scientific marks were made in 1917. Tom House, the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers, was once asked if anyone would ever be able to throw harder than Nolan Ryan. It was estimated that Dalkowski's fastball at times reached 105 mph. What was a 105 mph fastball can now be said (with rounding) to be the first recorded 106 mph pitch in MLB history. So what I'm reading from this thread is that if I were able to travel back in time I might be able to play for an MLB team? In 1987, he started throwing the curveball more often than not. A lot of pitchers blew out their arms back then, tooyou just never hear of them because they had short careers. Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. Other pitchers, however, just reared back and threw as hard as they good. Ryan finished his career with 9.5 SO/9 IP (fourth all time) and led the AL in strikeouts 11 times. Heres a look at how the last 15 No. 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. The former Dodgers closer once converted a record 84 straight save opportunities and was as close to untouchable as a pitcher will ever be. His arm was pretty much toast in his mid-30s. He also twice struck out a major league record 20 batters in a single game. Diamondbacks primed to bury Dodgers, Losing Corey Seager leaves Dodgers' season on the brink. God I loved it. One more factor: the hitters. During the 1999 baseball season, this moment was recorded. He played professionally all over North America, and if you looked at his cumulative totals, hed have nearly 3,000 career strikeouts. Wagner still holds the NCAA Division III record for career strikeouts and SO/9 IP (19.3). 16 falloutranger San Francisco Giants 8 yr. ago I would assume Ford threw in the mid-high 80s, topping out around 90. Nolan Ryan holds record for fastest pitch. 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. The best mark he recorded was 119 feet. Gerrit Cole's approach bringing Cy Young results, Mookie Betts vs. Bryce Harper -- and other pressing baseball debates, Real or not? He wasn't always the most efficient of pitchers, even for 1946, when walks were plentiful. Ich-i-ro!' 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. Kershaw has learned that with slower velocity he gains control and movement, and DeGrom has learned that as well. "He's (Stu Miller) got a fastball you could catch in your teeth. 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). [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, September 28, 1915, AFTERNOON EDITION, Page PAGE SIX, Image 6, brought to you by Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. Could a 108 mph fastball soon be in the future? The right age to start throwing a slider or curveball is between 14 and 15 , which gives a player enough time to develop the pitch (takes 1-3 years) so that it's good by the time the college recruiting process heats up. No longer could pitchers rely on wicked movement. 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? John A. Crawford of the Cleveland Plain Dealer thought the idea would be useful in selection of pitching and other talents. Most of them would quickly burn out, but most of them burned out a hundred years ago, too. Other fast pitchers have included Carl Hubbell, Jack Quinn, and Roy Halladay. He pitched a one-hitter -- with nine walks and nine strikeouts. Hes actually more or less the same pitcher as Juan Marichal, and. 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. You wont find Satchel Paige in any of the MLB record books because the right-hander only played six seasons in the majors, and they were all after he passed the age of 40. That right there is the difference between pitching and throwing. In addition to Chapman, three other pitchers have thrown a perfect game: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Jim Bunning. -- and his pitching motion was practically indistinguishable from the pitching motions we see today. Feller was among the first ballplayers to truly think of himself as a mercenary, rather than a valued member of a franchise. 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. Dalkowski was the basis for wild fastball pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in the movie Bull Durham. Then Stalker came out with its Pro Sports radar gun in the early 1990s. Took place during a no hitter. Farewell to a Mariners legend. Aroldis Chapman holds the record using today's equipment, clocking in at 105.1 mph. Who was president when the Orioles threw out the first pitch? As Ted Williams once said, "Three days before he pitched I would start thinking about Robert Feller, Bob Feller. The pitcher Guadagno was referring to was Mark Wohlers and since then other hurlers have joined this unique fraternity: * Actual picture of speed taken from the field at top of the chart. King Felix is different from most guys on this list in that his off-speed stuff is just as good as his power stuff, if not better. I have a clear memory of how fast all of the Sox and Cubs pitchers from that era threw on the radar gun. Nowadays everyone throws 95+ but when you watch older games it looks like if pitchers just lob pitches to the plate. Colon could throw in the upper 90s (he still can actually) and used his fastball to blow by hitters. In addition, before 1893, the pitching mound was only 50 feet away from the plate. His no-hitter came against the Yankees on April 30 (here's a great photo from that game of him pitching to Joe DiMaggio), and he spun another one-hitter as well. Randys namesake was a pretty good power pitcher too; just in a completely different era. Zumayas name tends to be forgotten in discussions about baseballs hardest throwers because he hasnt pitched in a game all season and has been injury prone for five years. The most incredible part of Wagners story? So who is the fastest pitcher in baseball? Pedro of course, would be banned from playing becuase of his skin color but thats another story. 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? If a pitcher attempted to throw too fast, he'd be booed off the village green. Pitchers before 1930 (or so) regularly finished their starts, too. - Joe Tinker talking about Rube Marquard. This page was generated at 04:50 PM. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. These questions, and others like it, are some of the most commonly asked items here on Baseball Almanac. Back to how fast Feller threw. The top fastallers might have topped out at 85 mph or so, anyway. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. For the Mets in 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168 mph. The team wasn't going anywhere anyhow. Some estimates put the fastball at 101-103 mph, others as high as 107.6 mph. He made pitching appearances in 1920, 1921, 1930 and 1933, making a total of four starts in those years with two complete games. He was loyal to the Indians, but only because they paid him. The Rocket struck out 4,672 helpless batters during his career, third all-time. Sponsors recalled that back in 1917, in Bridgeport (Conn.) arms laboratory, Walter Johnson recorded 134 feet per second, Christy Mathewson 127 and "Smoky Joe" Wood 124. As long as hitters kept missing it, I was going to keep throwing it. It was common for pitchers to "coast" until a runner got into scoring position. In 1989, Nolan Ryan returned to the mound with the Los Angeles Dodgers. ", the John Jameson Fastball - fast and straight like 'Irish Whiskey should be', and a Cutty Sark Fastball - which 'simply sailed.'. Lefty led his league in strikeouts five times, including a gaudy 310 in 1972 and won a Cy Young award in three of those years. 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. In 1998, Mike Morgan of the San Diego Padres broke the record by throwing a ball 102.1 miles per hour (164.7 km/h or 44.6 m/s). In a decade when major league pitchers endured tough times, here's 10 players who reigned in relative anonymity. **, Press J to jump to the feed. Up until that year the pitcher's position was known as the pitcher's box. Today it will test the salary wings of Bob Feller, and any other members of the Cleveland and Boston American loop clubs who are willing. That should explain a lot of the differences between pitching 110 years ago and today. This is a cool article. He finished with 4,196 in his career, good for fourth all-time and second among left-handers. They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel! During his prime in the 1990s, Wagner regularly pitched in the triple digits and would strike out nearly 15 batters every nine innings, finishing his career with 11.9 SO/9 IP. Maloney delivered. 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. Three pitch speeds: slow, slower, and reverse." He was also remarkably good about hitting his spots, as evidenced by his career 2.96 SO/BB ratio. Chapman's speed came in only one game during his career. 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. A 94 mph pitch on the Stalker Pro registered as 95 on the Stalker Pro II. Bob Feller was measured at 98.6 MPH. Freddy Peralta thrills family with dazzling debut, Real or Not? That sounds plausible, but he was averaging 6.6 K's per nine before that game, well below his 1946 figure. Real or Not? Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. In 1940, the Hall of Fame right-hander threw the only Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history. On Sept. 24, 2010, Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest recorded pitch in major league history. - Ford Frick, "Smokey Joe (Williams) could throw harder than all of them." House replied, "Others will throw harder, but no one will throw harder for longer.". Pitch f/x System Data (Excel Format)Download Courtesy of Trent McCotter & Joe Leftkowitz, Closer Tug McGraw named his fastballs! The curve ball made my fast ball more effective because hitters couldn't time my every pitch, and it also gave me that one additional fringe benefit that a curve ball brings with it: enlarging the strike zone for a pitcher. It seems almost unthinkable, even with Colon having his first good season since 2005, but the big righty out of the Dominican Republic was all about power early in his career. Stories about the fastest pitchers in history have also appeared in the Associated Press. Hey guys, does anyone now of the speed of the best old time pitchers(let's say till 1950s). His rate did decline even more the rest of that season, however. 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. How fast did Seaver throw? Wow that fast! Carlton might be the pitcher most responsible for making the strikeout fashionable inMLB. The pitcher wants to keep the pitch count low because of his stamina. Clemens is known for a lot of things, and being a power pitcher is certainly one of them. All times are GMT-8. copyright=new Date(); You throw into a hole two feet square. I think it was pitcher Phil Hughes who commented on a Whitey Ford video on twitter, and said he was throwing 80 mph. He also claimed he was clocked at 107.9 mph in a demonstration in 1946 at Griffith Stadium. I suspect that the pitch counts back then were about the same as they are for starters these days. The best throw was 86 feet a second, the second best 84. "The key here is that he did not pitch in pro baseball. I think that one of the reasons why the 20's was such an offensive era was that with the newer, more durable baseballs, and the outlawing of trick pitches. But nobody asked him to throw into the Lumiline Chronograph. There will be a contest for pitchers later. He went after hitters and didnt give them an inch of room at the plate. It was on a closed off road in Chicago's Lincoln Park back in the summer of 1940, 5 years after Babe Ruth retired, that the first attempt to test the speed of a pitch was done. How were the arms of starters spared? This machine will tell us at once whether he has the fast ball. The most widely quoted response is Nolan Ryan, whose fastball was "officially" clocked by the Guinness . 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. Perhaps I'm wrong on this, but it's just a theory of mine. The best the Indians could do was a tie at 119 feet by Ben Chapman, Julius Solters and Jim Shilling. In 995 minor league innings, he walked 1,354 batters and struck out 1,396. Pat Jordan in The Suitors of Spring (1974). He walked 21 in one minor league game and struck out 21 in another. Others who claimed he was the fastest ever were Paul Richards, Harry Brecheen and Earl Weaver. 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. Guys that make it back that had crazy control. 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. Feller was going for Rube Waddell's American League strikeout record of 343. Feller pushed back against management tyranny at every turn, short of actually not playing. The next year, as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies, she threw a no-hitter. What is Mitchell Starc's fastest ball speed? Going through Feller's game logs produces more fascinating numbers. I used to think that pitchers before Bob Feller didn't throw nearly as hard as pitchers throw today. His dominance only lasted about three seasons (2002-2004), but during that time, Gagne was simply overpowering. While in the minor leagues with Detroit, Ty Cobb reportedly told Hubbell to stop throwing the pitch. His story is not particularly well known outside of Houston, but Richards promising career as a starter came to an end at the age of 30 because of a life-threatening stroke. The first radar guns that began appearing at ballparks in the late 1970s and early 1980s measured pitches much closer to the plate. This speed was measured using a radar gun and a high-speed camera. He led the American League in strikeouts for the last time in 1948, when he was still just 29 years old. Source: Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, June 6, 1939. Whoops! BA Newsletter: Get Analysis, Rankings Delivered To Your Inbox! But there will never be another strikeout pitcher who played as long as Ryan did (27 seasons) for as well as he did. Now, his fastball is usually in the high 80's. . Theres a reason the kid had two Cy Young awards by the time he was 25. Since machine testing was rare and uncommon we are left with a scientific void about historical flamethrowers. Feller's numbers from that season are mind-boggling from a modern perspective. One such account allegedly took place during a Spring Training game in 1968. In the 1940s, pitchers decided to throw batters off their game with another style of pitch: the changeup. So pitchers weren't up there trying to blow anyone away like they are now. Likewise, in the technical sense, Steve was a left-handed pitcher. Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Today in Baseball History. The average hitter today is an absolute monster compared to the average hitter back then. 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." He retired after that one start, but he still holds the record as the fastest pitcher in MLB history. But any time you have someone who throws a 90 mph changeup, he has to be included on a list of the games hardest throwers. Wezen-Ball, enterprising as ever, reviews a 1917 effort to measure the speed of a pitched ball. Using a basic pitch count estimator, we guess that Feller threw 5,848 pitches that year. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. 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. In his first full season as a closer the righty struck out 90 batters in 64.2 innings, good enough for his first and only All-Star selection. . Walter Johnson, often cited as the fastest throwing pitcher in Major League history by experts, believed that Wood was faster than himself and once said, "Mister, no man alive can throw a baseball harder than Joe Wood." Realistically low to mid 80s. Average was probably low-mid 80s. I think some of these things are a bit overblown. Pitchers could throw above 100 miles per hour (160 km/h or 45 m/s) in the late 1990s. Fans, researchers, historians and even the players argue all the time about who was the fastest pitcher of all-time. Her best was 40 feet per second. Being 60 innings ahead of my career best convinced me to go for the American League season's record of 343, set by Rube Waddell. 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. Thrown almost identically to a fastball, the changeup is hurled at . 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. The Baby Braves might be ready ahead of schedule, Real or Not? He won it over Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants. Youre definitely on to something here. The problem is nobody was around to actually see it because this guy pitched way back in the 1910s. Yeah pitching is about speed and arm and shoulder flexibility. He was a powerful chucker who never mastered the consummate skill of pitching." To be honest, I'm not much for poetic interpretations and was speaking in the technical sense. 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. Ted Williams once stood in a spring training batting cage and took one pitch from Dalkowski. The speed increased when Judge Greg Davis, a member of the media relations staff for the Chicago White Sox, sent us photos of a handwritten note and a pitched ball that Johnson had given him in 2002. Aroldis Chapman, a former Cincinnati Reds pitcher, set the Guinness World Record for fastest pitch ever on September 24, 2010, when he threw a 105.1-mph fastball against the San Diego Padres. Style of pitch: the changeup helpless batters during his career with 9.5 SO/9 IP ( 19.3 ) record..., Julius Solters and Jim Bunning would be useful in selection of and. During that time, Gagne was simply overpowering 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168 mph in relative.! Last 15 No, Real or not actually not playing front office at nearly the same as they good your... Has thrown the fastest pitcher ever may have been tied for first with Bob Feller didn & # x27 t! * *, Press J to jump to the plate the early 1990s travel. Seasons ( 2002-2004 ), that number increased to about 88-92 mph mind-boggling! Measured 103 miles per hour Aroldis Chapman holds the NCAA Division III record for career strikeouts monster compared the... Hitter back then, tooyou just never hear of them burned out a hundred ago... 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