Last Updated: September 22nd, 2026 by Matthew Brown
When it comes to pitching, velocity has always been a focus. Even when we grew up playing baseball, organized or not, we would see an opposing pitcher and tell our friend, "Do you see how hard that guy's throwing?" Velocity has captured the imaginations of countless baseball fans throughout baseball history. Speaking of imaginations, there was a real player who ended up becoming a sort of tall tale.
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Pitcher Steve Dalkowski never really made it to the MLB, but he always had rumors swirling around him about how great his fastball was. The only problem was that his control was even more infamous than his fastball was famous. I want to direct you to this video made by Foolish Baseball, who does these great videos on some obscure things in baseball. Steve Dalkowski certainly is the most obscure hard thrower in baseball history.
Unfortunately, we will never know how hard his pitches came in, as we have no video proof, nor were radar guns a thing during the 1950s and '60s. I want to highlight a particular stat that Foolish Baseball brings up in this video. One season in the minor leagues, Dalkowski accumulated an unreal 262 strikeouts and 262 walks. It is basically unfathomable how he did that.
The more I see of this player, the more I wish I could have seen him in person. Even if the feast-or-famine results of his pitching made the game take even longer, I still would have thought it was highly entertaining. I'm surprised there wasn't even more fanfare in the small towns that he would pitch in during his minor league career.
By every account, people who watched him said that Steve Dalkowski was like something they've never seen before. I'm glad Foolish Baseball has featured him in this video for the modern audience to learn about. But boy, do I wish I had the opportunity to watch him in person.
