How do you solve a problem like Dalkowski?
A nice summary of the career of the fastest pitcher who ever lived, a lumpy, unassuming, bespectacled lefty who just happened to have a 110 MPH fastball.
The piece doesn't mention my favorite Dalkowski story, which may be apocryphal. One day in 1958, pitching for Knoxville on the road against Charlotte in the SALLY league, he had a rather unusual four innings of shut-out ball. In each of those innings he had allowed three walks - but struck out the other three guys. Mind you he did that not once, but four times in a row. He changed the pattern in the fifth. He again walked the first three batters, but this time he also walked the next three. Then, without saying a word, he simply walked into the clubhouse, changed, and left without telling anyone!
I actually saw him pitch once, for the Rochester Red Wings in late May of 1963, but that was after his injury and he was just ordinary. He pitched well that day, as I recall, in his first and highly anticipated home appearance, but was just another guy. He did nothing to live up to his legend. I think he threw a couple of innings in relief and never walked a single guy, although he did manage to hit one poor schmuck - little Don Buford, who was the star of the Indy team - with a pitch.
Buford must have been OK, because he went on get more than 200 hits, score more than 100 runs, steal more than 40 bases and then get promoted to the majors, where he played at an excellent level for many years.
Dalkowski is still alive, by the way, living in an assisted-living facility somewhere.
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