Old Palmer interview

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Hallas said:

From what I've heard, he threw pretty hard early in his career, but he had an arm injury when he was 22 that robbed him of that velocity.  I'm not sure if it was 97 though...

It’s hard to tell.   Pitches weren’t routinely tracked in those days.    I’d say Palmer had above average velocity but probably exceptional spin rate.    As he alludes to in the article, his fastball seemed to rise (which really means, didn’t drop as much as other pitchers) and he was very adept at getting hitters out at the top of the zone (which was higher than it is today).

[bobmc]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

It’s hard to tell.   Pitches weren’t routinely tracked in those days.    I’d say Palmer had above average velocity but probably exceptional spin rate.    As he alludes to in the article, his fastball seemed to rise (which really means, didn’t drop as much as other pitchers) and he was very adept at getting hitters out at the top of the zone (which was higher than it is today).

They sometimes went to extremes to attempt to estimate, however ...

Due to Feller's pitching speed, Lew Fonseca was commissioned by the Office of the Commissioner to pit Feller's fastball against a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in a speed trial. The test was conducted in Chicago's Lincoln Park and required Feller to hit a target 12 inches (300 mm) in diameter, 60 feet 6 inches (18.44 m) away. The motorcycle passed Feller going 86 miles per hour (138 km/h) and with a 10 foot (3.0 m) head start but the ball beat the bike to the target by three feet (0.91 m). Feller's throw was calculated at the time to have reached 98.6 mph (158.7 km/h), and later 104 mph (167 km/h) using updated measuring methods.^{[3]:27[6][18]}

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Feller}

[mdbdotcom]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s hard to tell.   Pitches weren’t routinely tracked in those days.    I’d say Palmer had above average velocity but probably exceptional spin rate.    As he alludes to in the article, his fastball seemed to rise (which really means, didn’t drop as much as other pitchers) and he was very adept at getting hitters out at the top of the zone (which was higher than it is today).

He did not like pitching with a National League umpire behind the plate in an All Star or World Series game, because the strike zone was lower in the NL. Back then, AL umpires wore the big, bulky chest protectors that made them more upright, while NL umpires wore the smaller, inside protector that allowed them to get lower.

[NashLumber]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s hard to tell.   Pitches weren’t routinely tracked in those days.    I’d say Palmer had above average velocity but probably exceptional spin rate.    As he alludes to in the article, his fastball seemed to rise (which really means, didn’t drop as much as other pitchers) and he was very adept at getting hitters out at the top of the zone (which was higher than it is today).

I remember reading in one of Earl's books about how Jim put up a protest about Earl naming him as Game One starter in one of the World Series. Jim felt McNally deserved the start. Earl's response was "No one can hit your high fast ball. You're my Game One starter" (paraphrasing). 

[BarclaySouthway]

Palmer also argued against Earl naming him the Game 1 starter in the 1979 ALCS.  

You have to take Earl's side on these arguments.  You name a guy the starter, and he says NO?

They won both games, so Earl was vindicated.