Legend of the 105 MPH Fastball

[Gil Dobie]

Something for the baseball historians that haven't heard of this guy.

............few people in organized baseball at that time had not heard of Steve Dalkowski.

The legend began 10 years before, on a hot spring day in Miami, Fla., when Dalkowski was pitching batting practice for the Baltimore Orioles before an exhibition game with the Red Sox. According to several guys who were there, Ted Williams was watching curiously from behind the batting cage. After a few minutes Williams picked up a bat and stepped into the cage. Reporters and players moved quickly closer to see this classic confrontation. Williams took three level, disciplined practice swings, cocked his bat, and motioned with his head for Dalkowski to deliver the ball. Dalkowski went into his spare pump, his right leg rising a few inches off the ground, his left arm pulling back and then flicking out from the side of his body like an attacking cobra. The ball did not rip through the air like most fastballs, but seemed to appear suddenly and silently in the catcher's glove.

The catcher held the ball for a few seconds a few inches under Williams' chin. Williams looked back at it, then at Dalkowski, squinting at him from the mound, and then he dropped his bat and stepped out of the cage. The writers immediately asked Williams how fast Steve Dalkowski really was. Williams, whose eyes were said to be so sharp that he could count the stitches on a baseball as it rotated toward the plate, told them he had not seen the pitch, that Steve Dalkowski was the fastest pitcher he ever faced and that he would be damned if he would ever face him again if he could help it.

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[93henfan]

Interesting story. Unfortunately, it sounds like the fact the guy couldn't hit the strike zone was his undoing.

[UNHWildCats]

Interesting story. Unfortunately, it sounds like the fact the guy couldn't hit the strike zone was his undoing.

come on.. it was one pitch and he was throwing it to the great ted williams... had it been you, you would have probably flipped it 10 feet behind you and peed your pants

[93henfan]

Interesting story. Unfortunately, it sounds like the fact the guy couldn't hit the strike zone was his undoing.

come on.. it was one pitch and he was throwing it to the great ted williams... had it been you, you would have probably flipped it 10 feet behind you and peed your pants

Wtf? Did you even read the article?

[UNHWildCats]

come on.. it was one pitch and he was throwing it to the great ted williams... had it been you, you would have probably flipped it 10 feet behind you and peed your pants

Wtf? Did you even read the article?

nope... do I need to retract my previous post?

[eagleskins]

Strasburg will get there before his time is done.

[BlueHen86]

Wtf? Did you even read the article?

nope... do I need to retract my previous post?

Yes. All 4426 of them.