Quote:
Originally Posted by G1911
Johnson was clocked at 91.36 mph by Remington Arms in 1917. This was measured at some distance from the actual release, but I haven't seen an account that gives the actual distance from release. If it was different from the point it is measured today, things would need to be scaled to make them align. While not radar, the arms world could and did measure pretty accurately the speeds of moving objects, which is one reason a whole lot of things changed in that world before modern testing methods became available.
It seems pretty clear that pitchers back then threw hard as well, not quite as hard as today, and likely less frequently as they had to hurl 350+ innings and surely conserved their arms unlike todays pitchers that go all out 100% of the time because there's 12 relievers to come in and they have little responsibility for any great length of time.
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He was measured at 122 ft/sec, which is 83 mph. That measurement was taken 7 ft behind home plate. Adjusting for where pitches get recorded today, just a few feet from release, estimates put his velocity in the low 90s. Johnson likely topped out around 95mph.