RIP Steve Dalkowski

[Moose Milligan]

https://www.espn.com/minor-league-baseball/story/_/id/29094015/steve-dalkowski-dubbed-fastest-pitcher-baseball-history-dies-80

[Can_of_corn]

Report says Covid-19

 

[Aristotelian]

Featured in the documentary Fastball, which was available thru Netflix last time I checked. Sad story in life, even sadder now.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm very familiar with Dalkowski and his exploits, but given that he played before I was born and had so many alcohol problems I think I assumed he'd died many years ago.  Sounds like he had a pretty tough existence.

[Redskins Rick]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Report says Covid-19

 

People over the age of 80 are at a high risk of dying with this virus. Throw in additional medical underlying conditions and that increases the odds against  them.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

People over the age of 80 are at a high risk of dying with this virus. Throw in additional medical underlying conditions and that increases the odds against  them.

I'm with Drungo, I figured he had passed some years ago.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

39 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm with Drungo, I figured he had passed some years ago.

That makes three of us, I thought he passed away several years ago. Or it's the Mandela effect in play. 

Nuke LaLoosh in the Movie Bull Durham was based partially on Dalkowski, and his penchant for throwing fast and very wild. Too bad Tim Robbins wasn't very convincing as a pitcher in the movie, he didn't look like he could break a pane of glass with his fastball. 

[bericbnauff]

From about three weeks ago:

https://theathletic.com/1711134/2020/03/31/favorite-players-steve-dalkowski/

[GuidoSarducci]

I'm wondering, if they told him to just try to throw right over the plate every time would have fared better.  If you can't pick spots, might as well just try to overwhelm guys with speed. And maybe develop a changeup to throw off the batter.

[Aristotelian]

56 minutes ago, GuidoSarducci said:

I'm wondering, if they told him to just try to throw right over the plate every time would have fared better.  If you can't pick spots, might as well just try to overwhelm guys with speed. And maybe develop a changeup to throw off the batter.

That's what Palmer says whenever a guy is struggling with control. If you aren't hitting spots, aim for the middle and you will hit the corners.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 hour ago, GuidoSarducci said:

I'm wondering, if they told him to just try to throw right over the plate every time would have fared better.  If you can't pick spots, might as well just try to overwhelm guys with speed. And maybe develop a changeup to throw off the batter.

Earl might have fixed Dalkowski before he hurt his elbow.

How do you solve a problem like Dalkowski?

Quote

 

What did he know of Dalkowski? He knew Dalkowski was a borderline alcoholic. He also knew Dalkowski was a hard worker. He knew the organization had tried countless things to fix Dalkowski’s control problems. When Weaver gave his team IQ tests, he found something that for him unlocked the mystery: Dalkowski scored the lowest IQ on the team.

“That meant we were going about it all wrong with him,” Weaver was quoted saying in Tim Wendel’s book “High Heat.” “We were telling him to hold runners close, teaching him a changeup, how to throw out of the stretch. The problem was he couldn’t process all that information. We were overloading him. Those tests showed that if you had something to teach 100 people, Steve would be the last to learn.”

Weaver began formulating a whole new plan. He told Dalkowski to lay off the road, and he had teammates watch him. He told Dalkowski to stop thinking about anything except throwing the ball over the plate. He had Dalkowski run constantly. And finally, he told Dalkowski that until he got the signal, he should take some speed off his fastball, throw it nice and easy and hit the catcher’s mitt. It was only when he heard the signal, that Dalkowski was allowed to unleash the hardest pitch he could throw.

 

Quote

 

That, sadly, is where our fairy tale ends. Steve Dalkowski did go to spring training in 1964 and he did pitch brilliantly. He not allow a single hit in 7 2/3 innings. He struck out 11. He made the club. On March 22, Dalkowski showed up to a game somewhat hungover from another wild night, and he was fitted for his Major League uniform.

In his final inning of work that very day, he threw one pitch way over the catcher’s head — old Dalkowski style. He heard something in his elbow pop. “It isn’t believed to be serious,” The Sporting News wrote. But when pitcher’s elbows pop, it is always serious. Steve Dalkowski would not make it to the Major Leagues. He was never the same again

 

 

[DrungoHazewood]

9 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Earl might have fixed Dalkowski before he hurt his elbow.

How do you solve a problem like Dalkowski?

 

We'll never know, but that kind of adds to the mystique.  If he had made the team and didn't get injured until later he might have ended up as Brad Pennington.

For those that don't remember Pennington, he was an Oriole prospect in the 1990s.  In 1990 at single A Wausau he threw 106 innings, struck out 142 and walked 121.  Cesar Devarez and Gregg Zaun must have put in an heroic effort behind the plate because he only threw 10 wild pitches.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

5 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

We'll never know, but that kind of adds to the mystique.  If he had made the team and didn't get injured until later he might have ended up as Brad Pennington.

For those that don't remember Pennington, he was an Oriole prospect in the 1990s.  In 1990 at single A Wausau he threw 106 innings, struck out 142 and walked 121.  Cesar Devarez and Gregg Zaun must have put in an heroic effort behind the plate because he only threw 10 wild pitches.

I think that home run Pennington gave up to Ken Griffey Jr is still in orbit. One of my friends asked Pennington for an autograph and he talked smack to him instead. 

[Tony-OH]

In the way that "the Wrestler" was a great tragic movie, there's probably a great movie in his life as well. The fact that he was once homeless, found under a bridge, and eventually taken to a facility to live out his years with alcohol related dementia, is a sad fate, but he's such an interesting story.

[fansince1988]

On 4/25/2020 at 1:22 PM, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I think that home run Pennington gave up to Ken Griffey Jr is still in orbit. One of my friends asked Pennington for an autograph and he talked smack to him instead. 

I attended that game in April of 1994 as a teenager with my Dad and brother. Our family had a Sunday plan in the early days of Camden Yards, and in those days crowds of 47,000 plus were the norm. Its very hard to imagine that will ever happen again. The ball that KGJr hit off Brad has to be one of the furthest ever hit at the ballpark and I'll never forget it. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1994/04/25/orioles-yield-to-mariners-7-6/fbbb49a6-3612-41ae-b2fa-3f6e5873383c/