steve dalkowski

Steve "White Lightning" Dalkowski (born June 3, 1939 in New Britain, Connecticut) is a former Minor League Baseball left handed pitcher. He is sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history with a fastball that may have exceeded 100 mph (161 km/h). Experts believe it went as high as 110 mph (177 km/h), but some have stated that his pitches only traveled at 105 mph (169 km/h) or less. His fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning". He was also notorious 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 migrant worker. He cleaned up in the 1990s but his alcoholism has left him with dementia and he has difficulty remembering his life after the mid 1960s. Writer and director Ron Shelton played in the minor leagues alongside Dalkowski. His 1988 film Bull Durham contains a character named "Nuke" LaLoosh (played by Tim Robbins) who is based loosely on his life.

Baseball career

Dalkowski began playing baseball in high school and also played football as a quarterback for New Britain High School. During his time with the team they won the division championships 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 was immediately signed by the Baltimore Orioles franchise for a $4,000 bonus. He initially played for their Class D minor league affiliate of Kingsport. He spent his entire career in the minor leagues, playing in nine different leagues during his nine-year career. His only appearance at the Orioles' stadium was during an exhibition game in 1959, when he struck out the opposing side. Dalkowski's reputation has as its centerpiece the high velocity with which he was able to throw his fastball. But Dalkowski also often had extreme difficulty controlling his pitches; many times they would go wild on him, sometimes so wild they would end up in the stands. Often, he would walk more batters in a game than he would strike out. Batters found his wild pitches intimidating. Oriole Paul Blair stated that "He threw the hardest I ever saw. He was the wildest I ever saw." During a typical season in 1960, while pitching in the California League, Dalkowski struck out 262 batters and walked 262 in 170 innings. These numbers will yield the statistics strikeouts per nine innings and walks per nine innings. Dalkowski for 1960 thus figures at both 13.81 k/9IP and 13.81 BB/9IP. Just for comparison, Randy Johnson currently holds the major league record for strikeouts per nine innings in a season with 13.41. On the other hand, a pitcher would be considered wild if he averaged four walks per nine innings, and it's safe to say that a pitcher of average repertoire who consistently walked as many as nine men per nine innings would shortly be out of work. But such was the allure of Dalkowski's velocity; the Orioles gave him chance after chance to harness his stuff, knowing that if he ever were able to control it, he'd be unstoppable. During a game at Kingsport on August 31, 1957 Dalkowski struck out 24 Bluefield hitters in a single minor league game, yet lost, 8-4. He had issued 18 walks, hit four batters, 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 (8 more than he struck out) and threw 39 wild pitches. During the 1960s under Earl Weaver, the manager for the Orioles' Double-A affiliate in Elmira, New York, his game began to show improvement. Earl had given all of the players an IQ test and discovered that Dalkowski had an IQ of only 60. Armed with this knowledge, it became apparent why Dalkowski had had such difficulty keeping his game under control: he hadn't the mental capacity. Weaver kept things simple for Dalkowski, allowing him to concentrate on his fastball and strikeouts. Under Weaver's leadership, he had his best season in 1962; for the last 57 innings, he struck out 110, walked 11 and had an ERA of only 0.11 - a remarkable improvement and one that must have had the Orioles' upper management drooling. He was finally invited to major league spring training in 1963. On March 23, he was called up as a relief pitcher during a game against the New York Yankees. Whilst throwing a slider to Phil Linz, he felt something pop in his left elbow, which turned out to be a severe muscle strain. He was out for the rest of the 1963 season and his arm never fully recovered. When he returned in 1964 his fastball had dropped to 90 mph (145 km/h) and midway through the season, he was released by the Orioles. He played for two more seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Angels organizations but was unable to overcome his injuries, retiring in 1966. He had a lifetime won-loss record of 46-80 and an ERA of 5.59 in nine minor league seasons, striking out 1396 and walking 1354 in 995 innings.

How fast did Dalkowski throw?

Estimates of Dalkowski's pitching speed abound. Figures as high as 115 mph (185 km/h) are quoted; however, these are likely to be exaggerations. Most observers agree that he threw at least a hundred miles an hour (160 km/h). Radar guns, which are routinely used today, did not exist when Dalkowski was playing, so no evidence beyond the anecdotal supporting this kind of velocity exists. It is certain that with his high speed and penchant for throwing wild pitches he would have been an intimidating opponent for any batter who faced him. Andy Etchebarren, a catcher for Dalkowski at Elmira, described his fastball as "light" and fairly easy to catch. According to Etchebarren his wilder pitches usually went high, sometimes low; "Dalkowski would throw a fastball that looked like it was coming in a knee level, only to see it sail past the batter's eyes". The only direct evidence of his pitching speed stems from 1958. Dalkowski was sent by the Orioles to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a military installation. Here using a radar machine he was clocked at 93.5 mph (150 km/h), a fairly average speed for a professional pitcher. However, not only had Dalkowski pitched a game the day before, but he also had to throw pitches for 40 minutes before the machine could give an accurate measurement and did not have a pitchers mound. Therefore, it is fair to assume that he would not have been pitching to his full capabilities that day. (Source: Baseball Almanac). Had he been clocked at the 100+ his was purportedly capable of, he could have beaten the current record holder Nolan Ryan, whose pitch of 100.9 mph set in 1974 is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Dalkowski was so fast that he once threw a pitch that tore off part of a batter's ear and observers believe that this incident made Dalkowski even more nervous and contributed further to his wildness. In 1960 at Stockton he threw a pitch that broke an umpire's mask in three places, knocking him 18 feet (5 m) back and sending him to a hospital for three days with a concussion. Dalkowski once won a $5 bet with team-mate Herman Starrette who said that he couldn't throw a baseball through a wall. Dalkowski warmed up and then moved 15 feet (5 m) away from the wooden outfield fence. His first pitch went right through the boards. http://www.sportshollywood.com/poorsports13.html.

Career statistics

idth="60"\|Year	width="100"\|Club	width="60"\|Class	width="60"\|Games	width="40"\|IP	width="40"\|H	width="40"\|BB	width="40"\|SO	width="40"\|W	width="40"\|L	width="50"\|ERA
a href="/encyclopedia/1957" title="1957">1957	Kingsport	D	15	62	22	129	121	1	8	8.13
a href="/encyclopedia/1958" title="1958">1958	Knoxville	A	11	42	17	95	82	1	4	7.93
nbsp;	Wilson	B	8	14	7	38	29	0	1	12.21
nbsp;	Aberdeen	C	11	62	29	112	121	3	5	6.39
a href="/encyclopedia/1959" title="1959">1959	Aberdeen	C	12	59	30	110	99	4	3	5.64
nbsp;	Pensacola	D	7	25	11	80	43	0	4	12.96
a href="/encyclopedia/1960" title="1960">1960	Stockton	C	32	170	105	262	262	7	15	5.14
a href="/encyclopedia/1961" title="1961">1961	Kennewick	B	31	103	75	196	150	3	12	8.39
a href="/encyclopedia/1962" title="1962">1962	Elmira	A	31	160	117	114	192	7	10	3.04
a href="/encyclopedia/1963" title="1963">1963	Elmira	AA	13	29	20	26	28	2	2	2.79
nbsp;	Rochester	AAA	12	12	7	14	8	0	2	6.00
a href="/encyclopedia/1964" title="1964">1964	Elmira	AA	8	15	17	19	16	0	1	6.00
nbsp;	Stockton	A	20	108	91	62	141	8	4	2.83
nbsp;	Columbus	AAA	3	12	15	11	9	2	1	8.25
a href="/encyclopedia/1965" title="1965">1965	Kennewick	A	16	84	84	52	62	6	5	5.14
nbsp;	San Jose	A	6	38	35	34	33	2	3	4.74
b>Total			236	995	682	1354	1396	46	80	5.59

Life after baseball

In 1965 he married schoolteacher Linda Moore in Bakersfield but the marriage did not last long and they divorced two years later. Unable to find any gainful employment he became a migrant worker. Already a heavy drinker during his baseball career his alcoholism escalated and he was frequently arrested for drunkenness. He received help from the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America periodically from 1974 - 1992 and went through rehab. He was able to find a job and stay sober for several months but soon went back to drinking and so the organization dropped its support. Little is known about his life after the 1960s due to his failing memory and because he did not keep in contact with his family. What is known is that poor health in the 1980s finally prevented him from working altogether and by the end of the decade he was living in a small apartment in California, penniless and suffering from alcohol induced dementia. At some point during this time he married again to a motel clerk named Virginia who moved him to Oklahoma City in 1993. After her death from a brain aneurysm in 1994, one of his former catchers Frank Zupo - a team mate at Stockton in 1960 - and Dalkowski's sister, Pat Cain, brought him back to his home town of New Britain, Connecticut, and placed him in the care of the Walnut Hill Care Center. After being placed in the Walnut Hill Center's care he was not expected to live very long but he has endured and is in remarkably good health. In recent times he is managing to stay sober but still suffering from the effects of his years of alcohol abuse. He has difficulty remembering much of his life after 1964, however he still attends baseball games and spends time with his family. On September 8, 2003 he threw the ceremonial first pitch to relief pitcher Buddy Groom before an Orioles game against the Seattle Mariners.

References

Online

Literary

The Suitors of Spring by Pat Jordan (1973, ISBN 0396067115)
That Last Rebel Yell by Ken Brooks (1986, ISBN 0961644702)
From 33rd Street to Camden Yards : An Oral History of the Baltimore Orioles by John Eisenberg (2001, ISBN 0809224860)

Personal

Krieger, Kit: Posting on SABR-L mailing list from 2002. Used with permission. (See talk).
Beverage, Dick: Secretary-Treasurer for the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America.

Steve Dalkowski