Quote:
Originally Posted by perezfan
This one...
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Mark,
I own a different photo and ticket of this same speed test that occurred on 8/20/46 at Washington Senators depicted here.
The slug on my photo says that:
"The Army Ordinance Dept. brought it's Sky Screen Chronograph to Griffith Stadium in Washington August 20 (1946)to clock the speed of Bob Feller's fireball. The Chronograph, consisting of three boxes-- two containing photo electric cells, and the third, high speed computing mechanisms-- developed by the Army Ordinance Dept. to time the velocity of shells in the battlefield, and can do it accurately to 1/100,000th of a second"
Feller's fastball speed was confirmed to be 98.6 MPH.
Although radar was first invented in the mid-to-late 1930's it was crude.
It wasn't until many years later that it was refined enough to be used to effectively measure the speed of a fastball.
Ironically, on August 20th, 1974 (the 20th anniversary of Feller's speed test in Washington DC), aerospace company Rockwell International in Anaheim, CA used their refined version of the radar technology to effectively measure the speed of Nolan Ryan's fastball at Anaheim Stadium. Ryan's speed was clocked at 100.9 MPH which is still listed as the fastest pitch ever recorded in The Guinness Book of Sports Records. It's important to note that the way that Nolan was recorded uses a different standard of measurement than today's radar guns. Nolan was measured as his fastball passed through a beam at home plate.
It's my understanding that today's radar measurement is recorded 10 ft. after a pitch leaves a pitchers hand. FWIW, by today's measurement standard Nolan's heater on Aug. 20, 1974 would be 110.9 MPH and Feller would be about 108.9 MPH from his 1946 measurement...