Does Steve Dalkowski Have A Card?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Anyone know if a minor league card was made for this phenom? For those who don't know who he was, he was a pitcher in the Orioles system in the late 1950s-early 1960s who may have been the hardest thrower in the history of the game.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I just realized he was in the 1963 Topps set on one of the 4 player cards...but I'm still wondering if he has a minor league card.

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Posted By: bobw

Found this article on the ToppsVault web site:



CLICK BELOW FOR THE ARTICLE

http://www.thetoppsvault.com/pages_greatfinds/greatfinds7_dalkowski.htm

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Posted By: Rich Klein

Was the 63 Topps card. You never know, something might pop up in an unknown set.

Rich

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Posted By: Walter

Here is his 1963 Topps issue. The thing I find most remarkable is his stat line on the back. Just amazing. He must have had some great stuff for the orioles to keep him around as long as they did. Too bad he couldn't get it under control. Just for comparison, it took David Cone 17 years and 2900 innings to issue 1137 walks.





Always looking for T59 Flag cards and T113 Types of Nations.
http://www.t59flags.com

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Posted By: peter chao

That is pretty amazing. To have both more strikeouts and walks than innings pitch, that's pretty amazing.

Peter C.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

He had lightning in his arm, but he could not contain it. Ted Williams said he was the fastest pitcher he ever faced. Some people estimate he threw the ball 110 mph, but I think that's exaggeration. My guess is he probably threw as hard as Joel Zumaya which is a legitimate 100mph pitcher. Zumaya hit 107 mph on the radar gun in spring training this year. In game one of the ALCS last year Zumaya hit 104.8 using enhanced pitch reading software which is said to be more accurate than the radar guns.

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Posted By: sagard

1.5 walks and 1.5 k's per inning in the minors.

Wiki says Nuke Laloosh was loosely based on Dalkowski.

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Posted By: William

I read an article in a late 1980's, earlyish 1990's issue of Baseball Digest about Dalkowski.

If my memory serves me correctly, I think it stated something to the effect that Dalkowski developed another pitch and/or slowed his fastball down a notch to get it across the plate, etc. Anyway he had finally gotten his pitches under control and there was real hope he could become a quality starter that season. But in spring training, he blew out his arm and never pitched again.

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Posted By: Glen Turner

I visited Harry Brecheen in Ada, Oklahoma a few years ago and talked baseball for several hours. Mr. Brecheen was a great pitcher and saw many pitchers over his career as a player and as a pitching coach. He was pitching coach for the Orioles in the 1950s and 1960s. I asked him about Dalkowski and he said without a doubt he threw harder than anyone he had ever seen. He said he must have been able to throw a 110 MPH. He said he couldn't imagine what he might have done in the Major Leagues if he had had control of his pitches.

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Posted By: Rich Klein

Was when Earl Weaver was his manager. Weaver figured out that Dalkowski was the prototypical million dollar arm and 10 cent head and never made him do anything more than throw the baseball. If Weaver had been managing the Orioles in the early 60's, we just might have seen Dalkowski with a brief but exciting major league career.

And on a sadder note, IIRC -- Dalkowski ended up a migrant farmer and drank away most of his memory. His sister helps to take care of him but he is in a nursing home now and has been for some time

Rich

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Posted By: Marty

My references say that the 1963 Topps is his only card.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I'm just wondering if there was a minor league issue of Dalkowski, but I'm guessing that's probably a "No" if someone hasn't stepped forward with one yet.