Steve Dalkowski

Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 – April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko, was an American left-handed pitcher.

He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph. Some experts believed it went as fast as 110 mph, others that his pitches traveled at less than that speed.

As no radar gun or other device was available at games to measure the speed of his pitches precisely, the actual top speed of his pitches remains unknown.

Regardless of its actual speed, his fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning".

During his time with the football team, they won the division championship twice, in 1955 and 1956.

However, he excelled the most in baseball, and still holds a Connecticut state record for striking out 24 batters in a single game.

After graduating from high school in 1957, Dalkowski signed with the Baltimore Orioles for a $4,000 signing bonus, and initially played for their class-D minor league affiliate in Kingsport, Tennessee.

He spent his entire career in the minor leagues, playing in nine different leagues during his nine-year career.

Pitching for the Kingsport (Tennessee) Orioles on August 31, 1957, in Bluefield, West Virginia, Dalkowski struck out 24 Bluefield hitters in a single minor league game, yet issued 18 walks, and threw six wild pitches.

Dalkowski pitched a total of 62 innings in 1957, struck out 121 (averaging 18 strikeouts per game), but won only once because he walked 129 and threw 39 wild pitches.

In 1957–58, Dalkowski either struck out or walked almost three out of every four batters he faced.

Moving to the Northern League in 1958–59, he threw a one-hitter but lost 9–8 on the strength of 17 walks.

His only appearance at the Orioles' Memorial Stadium was during an exhibition game in 1959, when he struck out the opposing side.

Dalkowski's claim to fame was the high velocity of his fastball.

Accurate measurements at the time were difficult to make, but the consensus is that Dalkowski regularly threw well above 100 mph. Dalkowski's raw speed was aided by his highly flexible left (pitching) arm, and by his unusual "buggy-whip" pitching motion, which ended in a cross-body arm swing.

"I hit my left elbow on my right knee so often, they finally made me a pad to wear", recalled Dalkowski.

Dalkowski often had extreme difficulty controlling his pitches.

He often walked more batters than he struck out, and many times his pitches would go wild — sometimes so wild that they ended up in the stands.

Batters found the combination of extreme velocity and lack of control intimidating.

Oriole Paul Blair stated that "He threw the hardest I ever saw. He was the wildest I ever saw".

McDowell was regarded as one of the fastest MLB pitchers during the 1960s.

Dalkowski was born in New Britain, Connecticut, the son of Adele Zaleski, who worked in a ball bearing factory, and Stephen Dalkowski, a tool and die maker.

He began playing baseball in high school, and also played football as a quarterback for New Britain High School.

During a typical season in 1960, while pitching in the California League, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters and walked 262 in 170 innings.

Dalkowski for 1960 thus figures at both 13.81 K/9IP and 13.81 BB/9IP (see lifetime statistics below).

In comparison, Randy Johnson currently holds the major league record for strikeouts per nine innings in a season with 13.41.

In separate games, Dalkowski struck out 21 batters, and walked 21 batters.

Because a pitcher is generally considered wild if he averages four walks per nine innings, a pitcher of average repertoire who consistently walked as many as nine men per nine innings would not normally be considered a prospect.

But such was the allure of Dalkowski's explosive arm that the Orioles gave him chance after chance to harness his "stuff", knowing that if he ever managed to control it, he would be a great weapon.

Such was his reputation that despite his never reaching the major leagues, and finishing his minor league years in class-B ball, the 1966 Sporting News item about the end of his career was headlined "Living Legend Released."

Dalkowski was also famous for his unpredictable performance and inability to control his pitches.

His alcoholism and violent behavior off the field caused him problems during his career and after his retirement.

After he retired from baseball, he spent many years as an alcoholic, making a meager living as a manual laborer.

In 1970, Sports Illustrated's Pat Jordan wrote, "Inevitably, the stories outgrew the man, until it was no longer possible to distinguish fact from fiction. But, no matter how embellished, one fact always remained: Dalkowski struck out more batters and walked more batters per nine-inning game than any professional pitcher in baseball history."

His 1988 film Bull Durham features a character named Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh (played by Tim Robbins) who is based loosely on the tales Shelton was told about Dalkowski.

Brendan Fraser's character in the film The Scout is loosely based on him.

He recovered in the 1990s, but his alcoholism left him with dementia and he had difficulty remembering his life after the mid-1960s.

Screenwriter and film director Ron Shelton played in the Baltimore Orioles minor league organization soon after Dalkowski.

A full biography of Dalkowski was published in 2020, Dalko: The Untold Story of Baseball's Fastest Pitcher.

In "Sudden" Sam McDowell's foreword to the book, he writes: "I will tell you this about Steve Dalkowski with absolute certainty, after seeing and listening to his fastball, and witnessing some very wild pitches: I truly believe he threw a lot harder than I did! It's likely he delivered the fastest pitch I ever saw!"