Word: dalkowski
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...hardest thrower in organized baseball is Steve Dalkowski Jr., a sturdy lefthander who pitches for the Stockton Ports in the Class C California League. The wildest pitcher in baseball is also Steve Dalkowski Jr.-and as such he has, at 21, already become legendary...
...Dalkowski seems pure fiction. In four years with six clubs in six minor leagues, he has struck out 665 batters, walked 726, thrown as many as six wild pitches in a row, broken one hitter's arm, torn the lobe off another's ear, and sent an unsuspecting umpire to the hospital with a stray fastball that popped him flush on the mask, knocked him 18 ft., chest pad over whisk broom. At Aberdeen, S. Dak., in 1958, Dalkowski pitched a one-hitter and lost, 9 to 8. Against Reno's Silver Sox this summer, he whiffed...
...Dalkowski's father, a vocational buffer in an electric-tool plant in New Britain, Conn, and an avocational baseball buff, trained Steve for the outfield. But the boy tried pitching in high school, quickly caught the strike-out bug. Says Dalkowski: "I didn't win, but when I got the ball over the plate, it was fun to watch them swing." Signed by the Baltimore Orioles after graduation in 1957, Steve joined a rookie farm club in Kingsport, Tenn. "I remember my record," he recalls, "because it was so even: 121 strike-outs and 129 walks...
...Legend? Back in the minors, Dalkowski labored nervously while a succession of anxious managers concocted bizarre schemes to improve his accuracy. They tried pitching him only 15 ft. from the plate, gradually lengthening the distance, only to discover that Dalkowski's wildness increased in direct ratio to the distance. A wooden target was erected in the bullpen; Dalkowski missed it completely on his first few pitches, then hit it square, smashed it to splinters and ended the experiment. "One night during a game," recalls Steve. "I threw three hard ones over the catcher's head. Each ball went...
...Stockton last week, Steve Dalkowski was midway through his best season, with six wins and ten losses. He was leading the league in strikeouts, with 170-and, of course, in walks, with 162. Manager DeMars was almost hopeful. Said DeMars: "If I could sit in a chair behind the pitcher's mound and just tell him not to get nervous, he'd be a major leaguer right now." As for Steve Dalkowski, he wanted only to live down his own legend. "It's no picnic," he said, "watching every other batter walk to first...
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