Ted Williams, the consensus Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, watched the hard-throwing left-hander pitch batting practice for the Baltimore Orioles one spring. Williams had heard about the kid and asked if he could take a crack at him. Williams, who was known for his superior eyesight. Williams, who claimed he could see the stitches on the ball as the pitch came in. Williams, who returned from the Korean War, stepped into the batter’s box at Fenway Park for the first time in two years and noticed that the left field foul line was a few inches off. That Ted Williams. He stepped into the batting cage. The kid’s first pitch whizzed just under his chin. Williams exited the cage. He said he never saw the pitch.
The Legend
Such was the legend of Steve Dalkowski, reputed to be the hardest-throwing pitcher anybody ever saw. Evidence of this is, of course, purely anecdotal. There were no radar guns in his day. Rather, scouts measured velocity with a box-like device. Standing 10 feet away, pitchers would wind up and throw the ball through an opening in the machine to get a reading. Dalkowski’s first pitch broke the machine.
Need more anecdotal evidence? Dalkowski once threw a pitch over the catcher’s head and through a wire mesh screen, knocking down a hot dog vendor. On a dare, he once splintered a wooden outfield fence with a throw. A pitch of his once broke a batter’s arm above the elbow. Umpire Doug Harvey told Robert Graziul of Baseball Digest, “In one season, he broke my bar mask, split my shin guards, split the plastic trim on my chest protector, and knocked me back 18 feet.” He also hit 18-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Robert Beavers with a pitch that split his ear, ending his career. Years later, Beavers told Don Amore, another Digest writer, “I did hear that he was very upset about it, and tried to see me in the hospital, but they wouldn’t let him in.”
“If I Didn’t Strike Out 18, it was a Bad Day”
If you’ve never heard of Dalkowski, by now, you’ve figured out why. He lacked control, to say the least, and thus never pitched in the major leagues. He was one of the hottest high school prospects in the country when the Orioles signed him as an 18-year-old on June 22, 1957. Pitching for New Britain High School in New Britain, Connecticut, he threw two no-hitters, then followed that up with three more no-hitters, three one-hitters, and a two-hitter in American Legion ball. He averaged more than two strikeouts per inning. “It was easy then,” he told Graziul. “It was just like handing the catcher the ball. If I didn’t strike out 18 in a game, it was a bad day.”
The Orioles officially signed him for $4,000. Dalkowski later revealed to Graziul that he got “$10,000 under the table and a brand new Pontiac.” Baltimore announced that his contract was with their Vancouver club in the Pacific Coast League, but he started with the Kingsport Orioles, a Short Season D team in the Appalachian League. On August 24, facing the Bluefield Dodgers, he famously struck out 24, walked 18, hit four with pitches, and threw six wild pitches. He lost, 9-8, despite pitching a one-hitter.
#OTD in 1957: 18-year-old #Orioles minor-league fireballer Steve Dalkowski strikes out 24, but issues 18 walks, hits four batters, uncorks six wild pitches and loses 9-8. Wild lefthander’s minor-league career inspired creation of Nuke LaLoosh in “Bull Durham.” He died in April. pic.twitter.com/xAka8jmo1m
— Orioles Magic (@1983Orioles) August 31, 2020
“I Just Lost My Concentration”
All told, Dalkowski pitched from 1957-64 at seven minor league levels. His statistics for 1958 and 1959 are incomplete. The following is what’s known, according to Baseball Reference. His record was 46-80. In 956 innings, he posted 1,324 strikeouts, 1,236 walks, 37 hit batters, and 145 wild pitches. He gave up 666 runs (561 earned). Baseball Reference doesn’t compute an ERA based on these incomplete figures, so I’ll do it: It’s 5.28. They list him at five-foot-11, 175 pounds. Some contemporary accounts had him at five-foot-eight. Eventually, he would wear thick glasses. He didn’t look like a fireballer. He couldn’t explain all the walks. “Sometimes I just lost my concentration,” he told Gruzial. “The truth is, I don’t really know what it was.” He drank a lot and participated in more than one barroom brawl. His career was the inspiration for the character Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham (except LaLoosh was right-handed).
In 1960, Dalkowski pitched for the Stockton Ports in the Class C California League. His manager, Billy DeMars, remembered that season for Richie Ashburn in a column in The Philadelphia Bulletin. “Once I built a wooden target with a bullseye painted on it and told Steve to practice throwing against it. Steve missed it his first few pitches and then hit it square with one that smashed it to splinters.” DeMars also remembered the night when Dalkowski took the mound to start a game and threw his first two warm-up pitches through the screen behind home. A fan stood up and yelled, “Hey, Dalkowski, you pitching tonight?” When the pitcher nodded, the fan moved his family to another section.
Help Comes from “Harry the Cat”
Finally, in 1962, when Dalkowski was with the Single-A Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League, he had a manager and a pitching coach who helped him with his control. They were, respectively, future Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver and 12-year major-league pitcher and two-time All-Star Harry Brecheen. In his autobiography, Weaver recalled Dalkowski hitting a batter in the head so hard that the ball ricocheted past second base. Dalkowski had an odd, buggy-whip cross-body motion that ended with his left elbow hitting his right knee. Brecheen drew a line in the dirt and told Dalkowski not to cross it when he finished his motion. It prevented him from throwing across his body as much. Weaver had him back off the fastball a little to improve his control. The pitcher finished the 1962 season with a 1.444 WHIP, 6.4 walks per nine innings, and a 1.68 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those figures still left much room for improvement, but they were career bests at the time by a good margin, and his ERA dropped to 3.04 from the previous year’s 8.39.
Tragedy Strikes
The Orioles brought the new and improved Dalkowski to spring training in 1963. In three exhibition games, he pitched 7.2 innings, allowing no earned runs, one hit, and five walks while striking out 11. Manager Billy Hitchcock was looking for a Ryne Duren-type relief pitcher with an explosive fastball, and Dalkowski was the guy. He was fitted for a major league uniform. “I think he has a good chance to make our staff, especially to come in from the bullpen to pitch three or four innings,” Hitchcock told the Hartford Courant. On March 23, Hitchcock brought Dalkowski into a game against the New York Yankees. Pitching to Phil Linz, Dalkowski felt a burning sensation in his elbow. Against the next batter, Bobby Richardson, Dalkowski felt a pop in the elbow. He lost the feeling in his hand. His next two pitches missed the strike zone by 15 feet, and he was removed from the game, his dream shattered. He’d pinched an ulnar nerve. Today, it could be repaired with Tommy John surgery. But in 1963, it was a disaster.
“He Actually Scared Hitters”
Dalkowski persevered in the minors through 1965, bouncing around to different teams, before giving it up. By this time, he broke curfew and missed the team bus at times. “It wasn’t fun anymore,” he told Graziul. “The arm was never the same.” His name came up in 1975, when Bill Christine of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette surveyed a few major league hitters on the subject of the hardest-throwing pitcher they’d ever seen. Reggie Smith chose Dalkowski. “He threw so hard he actually scared hitters with his wildness,” said Smith. “He could pitch games where he’d strike out 17 guys, and walk 17, too.” Willie Stargell compared him to Sandy Koufax. Said Stargell, “There were only two things you’d do with Dalkowski pitching. Walk or strike out.”
Alcoholism eventually took over Dalkowski’s life. He became homeless, and on Christmas Eve 1992, a family found him sleeping in a laundromat. They took him in and managed to find his sister, who brought him back home to New Britain and got him into a rehabilitation center. In 1994, doctors informed her that Dalkowski had alcohol-related dementia and had about a year to live. But he got good care and, for once, beat the odds. He lived until April 19, 2020, when COVID-19 took his life at age 80.
