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Although radar guns were not in use in the late 1950s, his fastball was estimated to be traveling more than 170 km per hour.
Baseball is in mourning again after learning on Friday that Steve Dalkowski, considered by many to be the “fastest” pitcher in the national hobby sport, passed away this week.
Dalkowski, a demolishing left-hander who, according to legendary hitter Ted Williams, was unrivaled in making the quickest pitches, died at the age of 80 in his hometown of New Britain, Connecticut.
Although he struck out 24 rival hitters in a minor league game and also walked 18 in a minor league game, Dalkowski never made the jump to the major leagues.
Although radar guns were not in use in the late 1950s, when he was making his way in the minors, his fastball was estimated to be traveling more than 170 km / h.
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The manager of the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken Sr., went as far as setting Dalkowski’s pitching speed to 185 mph, and claiming that he threw stronger than Hall of Fame members Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan.
Dalkowski, a soccer and baseball star in New Britain, signed a minor league deal for the Orioles in 1957. He had an unusual whip style, and his throws were as wild as they were tough.
His first year in the minors, Dalkowski threw 62 innings, struck out 121 and walked another 129 batters.
He also had 39 wild pitches and won just one game. He finished his minor league career with a 46-80 losing record and a 5.57 ERA.
Dalkowski fanned 1,396 hitters and walked another 1,354 in 995 innings of work on the mound.
Writer and film director Ron Shelton, who spent five years in the Orioles’ minor league system, heard about Dalkowski’s exploits and based Nuke Laloosh on “Bull Durham” as the deceased pitcher.
Shelton says Williams once faced Dalkowski and called him “the fastest.” After a pitch, Shelton says, Williams came out of the box and said, “I never want to face it again.”
Dalkowski struggled against alcoholism all his life. When his career ended in 1965, after he reached out to make a touch, Dalkowski became a worker after moving to live in California.
“He had an endless record within the Bakersfield, California, police station,” Shelton wrote, “all the fighting at the bar, nothing serious,” according to law enforcement officials.
She was driving the trucks at dawn to pick grapes with Kern County’s immigrant farmworkers, and ultimately couldn’t keep that job, either.
Dalkowski returned to his Connecticut home in the mid-1990s and spent much of the rest of his life in a limelight, suffering from dementia induced by excessive alcohol use.
EFE
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