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Originally Posted by sycks22
I remember hearing recently somewhere that they did some formulas to figure out that Walter Johnson threw 92-93 mph and he was "unhittable" during his time. If the fastest pitcher threw 92 back then wouldn't it be assumed that the average pitcher threw mid 80's or d-3 college?
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I doubt this was true. Wasn't Bob Feller "unofficially" clocked by scientists and early equipment at 100 mph in his prime? There were players that easily saw both in their prime and some may have faced both. The way it seems almost all early players say Walter Johnson was the fastest and some say best pitcher which makes me think he was a hell of a lot better than D3.
In that same though, I am pretty sure way back it was still natural ability to throw a ball hard as it is today. For the sake of the initial arguement and for those who have never faced a pitcher who throws serious smoke, I highly encourage you to go to your local batting cage and step into the 85 or 90 mph stall and then give your answer afterwards in this thread. Many of the greatest pitchers had the natural ability to throw hard back then and today. They didn't do a bunch of exercises to throw harder, mostly just to loosen up. In fact, they probably went out drinking that night and got up and threw another 9 innings the next day. I think those guys were a lot tougher than you think. Jason