Steve Dalkowski RIP

Steve Dalkowski(LHP), a legendary pitcher who never made it to the major leagues, died on March 23, 2020 of complications of COVID 19.  He was living in a care facility in Connecticut due to dementia believed to be caused by longstanding alcoholism.  Dalkowski was signed by the Orioles to a $4000 bonus out of high school in 1957 after striking out 24 batters in a game.  His pitches were never measured by a radar gun, but some observers estimate he may have hit 110 MPH.  He was challenged to throw and ball through a 1 inch thick wooden fence and successfully did so from 15 feet.

The reason Dalkowski never made the major leagues was extreme wildness.  He piled up huge strikeout number and equally huge walk numbers.  In 1960 in the California League he struck out 262 batters in 170 IP but also walked 262.  In two separate games he struck out 21 and walked 21.  Earl Weaver was his manager in AA in 1962.  Now, Weaver didn't have access to the computerized statistical spreadsheets today's managers do, but he was way ahead of his time in so many ways.  According to Dalkowski's Wikipedia biography, Weaver had him narrow down his pitch repertoire to just his fastball and slider.  He told Dalkowski to simply aim the fastball at the middle of the strike zone and depend on velocity and pitch movement to do the rest.  That was his best ERA season and he walked fewer than a batter an inning.  He appeared to be finally headed to the majors but felt a pop in his elbow during a spring training game in 1963, immediately lost velocity and never got it back.  In retrospect, he almost certainly suffered a UCL tear.  Tommy John surgery had not been invented.  Ted Williams batted against him and called him the hardest thrower in history and said he never wanted to face him again.

Steve Dalkowski was the inspiration for the character Nuke LaLoosh in the movie Bull Durham and it is said that Brendan Fraser's character in the movie The Scout was also based on him.

RIP