From what I've read of him, Dalkowski probably had the fastest fastball ever. It probably isn't an exaggeration to estimate his top speed at 110+ mph in the pre-radar gun era. He could throw a baseball clear over a 400' center-field fence from home plate. He even through a baseball right through that wooden fence!
Ted Williams himself stood in for batting practice against Dalkowski at the tail end of Ted's career. He took one pitch - a fastball that popped into the catcher's mitt right under his chin . . . and promptly left. "I never want to face him again," is the quote I recall Williams saying, followed by, "I never even saw the ball."
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