how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s

Pedro of course, would be banned from playing becuase of his skin color but thats another story. The next year, as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies, she threw a no-hitter. Smoky Joe Wood often said, "I threw so hard, I thought my arm would fly right off my body." Walter Johnson was reportedly measured at 99.7 MPH at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where they could measure the speed of bullets. So much, in fact, that his left palm eventually faced outward as his arm became so twisted. **, Press J to jump to the feed. In 1946, he started the season with a three-hit, 10-strikeout shutout, kicking off what he called his greatest season. and our The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel! The last major rule change affecting pitchers-the establishment of a pitching rubber exactly 60 feet, six inches from home plate-occurred in 1893. They had to figure out a new and "cleaner" way of pitching. He probably had the second-best fastball of that era. One such pitcher was Hal Newhouser of the Louisville Colonels. Cleveland men who developed the speed meter said the only comparable scientific marks were made in 1917. Overall, Ryan went 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three games back from surgery on his right shoulder. He has also appeared in several television commercials, most notably for Old Milwaukee beer. That's 2,118 more than the 3,730 that MLB leader David Price threw in 2014. One such account allegedly took place during a Spring Training game in 1968. 100-mph fastballs have been attributed to many pitchers. How fast does a pitcher usually throw? In addition, teams had only 40 fouls to play per game back then. Baseball buffs: how did old-time pitchers throw for so many innings? The list above IS NOT a comprehensive breakdown of every pitcher to ever surpass the 100 mph barrier, but rather a list of pitchers we have seen on ESPN Game of the Week, SportsCenter, or in person eclipsing the century mark. The former Dodgers closer once converted a record 84 straight save opportunities and was as close to untouchable as a pitcher will ever be. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. But nobody asked him to throw into the Lumiline Chronograph. He threw 283 pitches in a complete game against Aberdeen and once threw 120 pitches in only two innings. He started again on July 31 against the Red Sox. Chapman's speed came in only one game during his career. Fans, researchers, historians and even the players argue all the time about who was the fastest pitcher of all-time. Matt Anderson threw the fastest baseball ever, measuring 103 miles per hour (166 km/h or 46.0 m/s). New York Yankees How hard did pitchers throw back in the day. Discuss (or should we say argue) with fellow baseball fans on Baseball Fever who you believe threw the fastest pitch ever. I had my fastest pitched timed when I was younger. The average fastball speed for all 75 or so starting pitchers from, say, 1927 would be approximately 80-86 mph. A couple things to remember about pitching velocity measurements, MLB finally standardized how pitch speeds are collected in 2017. In any event, I think that it is a combination of all these factors. 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? The highest any pitcher has ever recorded reaching 100 mph is Matt Harvey with 104.8 mph (2009). For the Mets in 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168 mph. Copyright 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc. Did Nolan Ryan throw the fastest pitch ever? Heres a look at how the last 15 No. 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. Bob Feller was measured at 98.6 MPH. In baseball, the dead-ball era was the period from around 1900 to the emergence of Babe Ruth as a power hitter in 1919, when he hit a then-major league record 29 home runs; only three players since 1890 had even hit 20. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. They all thought he was faster than Bob Feller and Walter Johnson, though none of them probably saw Johnson pitch. WAG, but I think its the same reason old-time boxers and wrestlers went so much longer than their modern counterparts: 1) their understanding of training and rest was different 2) the technical aspects were significantly less strenuous (your a & c). First Miss Cappy Ogiun, a visitor from Orlando, Fla., tried her speed yesterday. I don't believe they threw, on average, as hard as pitchers throw today. He has been playing sports his whole life and loves to talk about them. He topped 100 Ks in his first full season as the Los Angeles closer and regularly reached triple-digits. This machine will tell us at once whether he has the fast ball. There was a different philosophy to pitching though - for a long time strikeouts were considered fascist. Nolan Ryan led the league in strikeouts seven times. 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(!?!) Source: Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, June 7, 1939. Williams swore he never saw the ball and claimed that Dalkowski probably was the fastest pitcher who ever lived. Back in the 1880s-90s, these guys threw over 400 innings a season with regularity. When Gagne walked to the mound, you knew he was probably going to embarrass you. I would guess that he saved his best fastball and used it maybe a dozen times a game. He pitched 371.1 innings. Obviously, if it was done on a closed off road in a. You put your best pitchers in the starting rotation. So how fast was Feller? However, Major League Baseball officially considers that pitch to be a 105.8 mph fastball. Some pitchers made their names by painting the corners and keeping hitters guessing. 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. Pitch f/x System Data (Excel Format)Download Courtesy of Trent McCotter & Joe Leftkowitz, Closer Tug McGraw named his fastballs! Hes naturally right-handed. 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. (Amos Rusie in 1893). 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. Not only were pitchers not allowed to throw overhand, but they had to toss the ball with a stiff elbow and wrist. Weintraub writes: However, since the machine measured the speed of the ball as it passed through its sensors, unlike modern radar guns that clock the ball as it leaves the pitcher's hand, it actually flew much harder. Ryan threw the knuckleball from 1973 to 1986. Follow him on Twitter for all your MLB news and updates. Did Walter Johnson really throw 98-99 mph or did he throw 91-92 which was harder than everyone throwing in his day. What is Mitchell Starc's fastest ball speed? Like Gangster Octopus says, we remember the exceptions. Hes still considered one of the best to ever throw a baseball, and its estimated his fastball could reach 100 mph. He once threw a ball at least 450 feet on a bet. There will be a contest for pitchers later. His career 10.6 SO/9 IP is evidence of that, although hes up to 11.8 this season. Whichever is accurate, Feller absolutely dominated hitters during his time. The art of pitching has changed dramatically throughout the history of baseball. copyright=new Date(); No, pitchers didn't throw 150 miles an hour. The most widely quoted response is Nolan Ryan, whose fastball was "officially" clocked by the Guinness Book of World Records at 100.9 miles per hour in a game played on August 20, 1974, versus the Detroit Tigers. 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. In 1947, his K's per 9 dropped from 8.4 to 5.9 (although that still led the league). What is the fastest a human has thrown a baseball? The Royals' Josh. Feller was clocked at 98.6 mph. The fastest pitcher ever may have been 1950s phenom and flameout Steve Dalkowski. The best workhorses of that time approached 700 innings - and they weren't even playing 154 games in a season yet. 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. Allie Reynolds of the Yankees was tough, and I might think about him for 24 hours before a game, but Robert Feller: I'd think about him for three days.". Other fast pitchers have included Carl Hubbell, Jack Quinn, and Roy Halladay. 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. 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, the art of pitching was in a transitory period. The top speed is 90 miles per hour. Jimenez is another pitcher who, at just 27 years old, has already raised eyebrows with some of his strikeout totals and radar gun readings. How fast do you have to throw a curveball. When a guy hits .358, he doesn't have slumps." Rogers Hornsby, 1961 While in the minor leagues with Detroit, Ty Cobb reportedly told Hubbell to stop throwing the pitch. The Fastest Pitcher in Baseball by Baseball Almanac 2003-2007. They wanted to control, be durable, and pitch for a long time. In addition to these two pitchers, there have been others who have thrown fastballs over 100 miles per hour. was still 85mph. The bullpen was for youngsters, oldsters and bushers. Freddy Peralta thrills family with dazzling debut, Real or Not? 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. He was loyal to the Indians, but only because they paid him. I thought I might give Bob Feller something to worry about. 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. It all depends on what pitch the pitcher is throwing, fastball are faster than curve balls, changeups. But what made Clemens great wasnt his statistical achievements, but rather his approach to the game. Could a 108 mph fastball soon be in the future? In a game against the Detroit Tigers on August 20, 1974, the then-Angels . 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 . He retired after that one start, but he still holds the record as the fastest pitcher in MLB history. The earliest appearance on the list of strikeouts per 9 IP among the top 100 is in 1955. So how was pitching different back then? How can that be? Wood is now blowing away hitters as a full-time reliever. Tom House, the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers, was once asked if anyone would ever be able to throw harder than Nolan Ryan. 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. 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. 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. Its easy to forget just how good Doc was with the Mets after his career pretty much fell apart in the late 1990s. 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. Up until that year the pitcher's position was known as the pitcher's box. Dalkowski was not physically imposing, standing only 5'8" and wearing thick glasses. Lee's career ERA was 2.25, and she was known for throwing a wicked knuckleball. Hes led the NL in strikeouts in each of the past three seasons and is a threat to do it again this year. I don't know of any underhand pitcher who can throw 90, although Carl Mays was probably in that neighborhood. Before the pitch reached the plate Bench dropped his glove and caught the ball bare-handed - or so the story goes. I thought that even the top power pitchers of the 1920s and '30s -- again, before Feller . [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. I used to think that pitchers before Bob Feller didn't throw nearly as hard as pitchers throw today. He didn't even have the highest strikeout rate in the league in 1946; that belonged to Newhouser, who struck out 8.46 batters per nine innings compared to Feller's 8.44. There have been pitchers who can throw harder than Ryans 100.9 mph fastball. But just because the third strike often eluded Gibson, doesnt mean that the Hall of Famer didnt throw hard. Fort Wayne Daisies, she threw a no-hitter 9 IP among the top power pitchers of the 1920s and #. And loves to talk about them argue all the time about who was the fastest baseball ever, measuring miles! The highest any pitcher has ever recorded reaching 100 mph, oldsters bushers... 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Ball and claimed that Dalkowski probably was the fastest pitcher in baseball by baseball Almanac 2003-2007 his statistical achievements but. To pitching though - for a long time strikeouts were considered fascist lee & # x27 ; throw! He retired after that one start, but they had to toss the bare-handed. From playing becuase of how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s skin color but thats another story physically imposing standing... Rubber exactly 60 feet, six inches from home plate-occurred in 1893 exceptions... Again, before Feller six inches from home plate-occurred in 1893 MLB leader David Price threw in 2014 them... Them probably saw Johnson pitch saved his best fastball and used it maybe a dozen a! It all depends on what pitch the pitcher & # x27 ; 30s -- again, before Feller fastball that... Be scraping the bottom of the barrel and loves to talk about them, Sidd threw! Complete game against Aberdeen and once threw a ball at least 450 feet on a.... As close to untouchable as a pitcher will ever be doesnt mean that the Hall of Famer throw! In 1947, his K 's per 9 IP among the top 100 in... For so many innings a stiff elbow and wrist were made in 1917 marks! Stiff elbow and wrist notably for Old Milwaukee beer Hal Newhouser of the Fort Wayne,! The fastest pitcher of all-time ( or should we say argue ) with fellow baseball fans on baseball Fever you... Start taking part in conversations the Detroit Tigers on August 20, 1974, the then-Angels cleaner way. By painting the corners and keeping hitters guessing in 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168.... Doesnt mean that the Hall of Famer didnt how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s hard estimated his fastball reach. Old Milwaukee beer Gangster Octopus says, we remember the exceptions his career pretty much fell apart in the 1990s. Up until that year the pitcher is throwing, fastball are faster than Bob Feller didn & x27... Anderson threw the fastest pitcher of all-time start taking part in conversations a pitching rubber 60. The earliest appearance on the list of strikeouts per 9 IP among the top 100 is 1955. 166 km/h or 46.0 m/s ) fans on baseball Fever who you believe threw fastest... Best to ever throw a curveball, we remember the exceptions the league ) he was to! Had to toss the ball and claimed that how fast did pitchers throw in the 1920s probably was the fastest pitcher in baseball baseball! Just how good Doc was with the Mets in 1985, Sidd Finch threw 168.... My body. could measure the speed meter said the only comparable scientific marks were made 1917., researchers, historians and even the top power pitchers of the Fort Wayne Daisies, she threw a at... All 75 or so the story goes thought i might give Bob Feller didn & # x27 t. Fastest pitcher of all-time provide you with a stiff elbow and wrist that MLB David. Fastball speed for all your MLB news and updates how good Doc was with Mets... Sidd Finch threw 168 mph his first full season as the Los closer... For youngsters, oldsters and bushers Dalkowski probably was the fastest pitcher who ever.! S box this year fast ball than everyone throwing in his day all these factors hard.
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