Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Fastball

Starting point is 00:00:00 In baseball, a millisecond can mean the difference between a home run and a strikeout. For over a century, pitchers have pushed the limits of human performance, throwing baseballs at speeds once thought physically impossible. But behind these extraordinary feats is a combination of biomechanics, physics, and a long history of innovation that has transformed the game. Learn more about the history and science of the fastball, and some of the legendary pitchers who perfected it, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Starting point is 00:00:57 it's all about the friendships. Cute, Kevin, but I disagree. Like with about 365. I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends. No hard feelings, Kevin.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Just faster. payouts from Bet365. The home of winning early. Must be 19 and older. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you were someone you know is concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca or call 1-8665-3-1-2,600. Terms and conditions apply. In a previous episode, I discussed the knuckleball, the rarest and most confounding pitch in baseball that only a small number of pitchers have ever mastered. In this episode, I'm going to go in the opposite direction and talk about one of the most common, straightforward pitches, the fastball. The strategy behind the fastball is very simple.

Starting point is 00:01:47 Throw the ball as hard as you can and try not to give the batter much time to react and swing. When organized baseball began developing its rules in the mid-19th century, pitching was very different from what it is today. Under the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, pitchers had to deliver the ball underhand. They were not supposed to whip their arms forward using a modern throwing motion. The pitcher's original function was largely to just put the ball into play. But in 1883, pitchers were permitted to deliver the ball with their arms above the waist, and in 1884, restrictions on overhand pitching were removed.

Starting point is 00:02:21 And this was a revolutionary change. Pitchers could now use their entire bodies to generate velocity with their arms moving in a manner resembling the modern pitching motion. The results were dramatic. Pitching velocity increased, strikeouts became more common, and baseball's rules increasingly had to account for the pitcher's growing advantage. In 1893, the pitchers' growing advantage. distance was standardized at 60 feet 6 inches, where it remains today. The pitching box was also

Starting point is 00:02:47 replaced by a pitching rubber. One of baseball's first legendary power pitchers was Amos Rousie, who earned the nickname the Hoosier Thunderbolt. He was particularly dominant during the 1890s when he played for the New York Giants. Walter Johnson, nicknamed the Big Train, became the dominant fastball pitcher of the early 20th century, and one of baseball's greatest pitchers. Johnson was unusual because he used a low three-quarter almost sidearm delivery instead of throwing over the top of his shoulder, and he delivered the ball with a sweeping motion that batters found exceptionally difficult to track. His contemporaries frequently described his fastball as the fastest they had ever seen. Every generation has one or more pitchers that are widely considered the hardest throwing of their era.

Starting point is 00:03:30 One of the most celebrated fastball pitchers of his generation was Satchel Page, whose extraordinary career largely took place in the Negro leagues because of baseball segregation. Bob Feller was perhaps the first baseball pitcher whose fastball became his scientific curiosity. His remarkable velocity made him a national celebrity and inspired attempts to measure exactly how fast a human could throw a baseball. Nolan Ryan is probably the most famous fastball pitcher in baseball history. His remarkable velocity, extraordinary longevity, and unparalleled strikeout totals made him synonymous with the power fastball.

Starting point is 00:04:05 More recently, the number of dominant fastball pitchers has increased. Randy Johns and Roger Clemens, Rob Dibble, Aroldus Chapman, and Jacob Mizorowski are all known for their fastballs. Usually anything above 90 miles per hour is considered a typical Major League fastball, and anything over 100 miles per hour is considered an elite level fastball.

Starting point is 00:04:26 And for those of you outside the United States, I'm going to be using Imperial units for the rest of this episode, but 100 miles an hour is 160.9 kilometers per hour. So why can some people pitchers throw a ball so fast. It all comes down to biomechanics. A fastball isn't just about arm strength. It results from a carefully coordinated sequence of movements involving almost the entire body, with energy transferred from the ground through the legs, hips, torso, shoulder, and finally into the fingertips. The fundamental principle behind pitching is called the kinetic

Starting point is 00:05:04 chain. This describes how different parts of the body accelerate in sequence, transferring energy from larger, heavier body segments to smaller, lighter ones. A useful analogy is cracking a whip. The handle moves relatively slowly, but a wave of motion travels along its length, accelerating the tip to extraordinary speeds. Something similar happens with a fastball. The process begins with the pitcher pushing against the pitching rubber and the ground. Newton's third law states that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction,

Starting point is 00:05:37 As the pitcher pushes against the ground, the ground pushes back, and this helps accelerate the pitcher's body towards home plate. As the pitcher moves forward, the leading leg strides towards the plate. Research on pitching mechanics suggests that a stride length of about 85% of the pitcher's height is common in efficient throwing mechanics, though the ideal stride can vary by individual. The front leg then braces against the ground redirecting forward momentum into rotation. The pelvis begins rotating towards home plate, while the shoulders initially remain turned away. The separation between hip rotation and shoulder rotation stretches muscles and connective tissues through the torso, allowing them to contribute to a powerful subsequent rotation.

Starting point is 00:06:23 As the torso turns, the throwing arm initially rotates backwards relative to the upper body, reaching extreme external rotation. The shoulder then rapidly rotates forward internally. In elite pitching, shoulder internal rotation, can reach approximately 7,500 degrees per second, making it one of the fastest measured joint movements in the human body. As the shoulder accelerates, the elbow extends rapidly and the hand moves forward. The wrist and fingers contribute the final release and impart spin to the baseball.

Starting point is 00:06:55 At release, a typical 95-mile-an-hour pitch carries about 128 joules of kinetic energy. A 100-mile-an-hour pitch, just 5-miles per hour more, carries about 142 joules. And one of the interesting consequences is that kinetic energy increases with the square of velocity. Increasing a fastball from 90 to 100 miles per hour requires about 23% more kinetic energy, even though the speed increases only 11%. And that helps explain while gaining the last few miles per hour is so difficult. The faster you throw, the more energy it requires. The human body also pays a price for producing these velocities. The shoulder and elbow undergo tremendous rotational forces.

Starting point is 00:07:44 The ulnar collateral ligament, or UCL, resist stress on the inside of the elbow, which is why UCL injuries and Tommy John surgery are such prominent issues in professional baseball. And it's also one of the most remarkable things about Nolan Ryan's career. He was not only one of the hardest throwing pitchers in history, but he also had one of the longest careers. height provides several advantages for fastball pitchers. Many of the greatest fastball pitchers have been well over six feet tall. The first advantage is leverage. Taller pitchers generally have longer arms,

Starting point is 00:08:17 which can create higher hand speeds at the same angular velocity. However, longer arms also create greater rotational inertia, so the relationship between height and throwing velocity isn't as simple as a longer lever. The second advantage is a longer stride. A taller pitcher can cover more ground during the delivery, bringing the release point that much closer to home plate. And the third advantage is release height. Taller pitchers often release the ball from a higher position,

Starting point is 00:08:44 giving the batter a different angle of approach. From the batter standpoint, more speed equals less time. The difference between a 90-mile-per-hour pitch and 100-mile-per-hour pitch is only about 50 milliseconds. And that might not seem like much, but for a batter, it means less time to identify the pitch and prepare a swing. Swinging a baseball bat takes time. Research places the forward swing phase at about 130 to 280 milliseconds,

Starting point is 00:09:14 depending on the hitter and how you define the start of the swing. The nervous system also needs time to process visual information and initiate the swing. Consequently, a batter facing a 100-mile-an-hour fastball often has to form a prediction and commit to the swing during roughly the first 150 to 200 milliseconds after the ball is released. One of baseball's biggest questions is who was the fastest throwing pitcher of all time. Until recently, this has actually been a difficult question to answer because there hasn't been a reliable way to measure a baseball speed. One of the first attempts was to measure Walter Johnson's speed. Researchers conducted experiments at the Remington Arms factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut, using equipment normally used to measure projectile velocity.

Starting point is 00:10:01 historical accounts described tests taken in 1912 and 1917, although details of these early experiments have sometimes been confused. But one widely cited figure places Johnson's fastball at 122 feet per second or about 83.2 miles per hour. That might not seem like much. However, the measurement was taken beyond where home plate would have been after the baseball had already slowed considerably. In the 1930s, Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians had developed a reputation as baseball's fastest pitcher. Feller's velocity became a major attraction and promoters looked for ways to dramatize his speed. One of the most famous demonstrations took place in 1940 when Feller threw a baseball as a motorcycle race past him. A much more serious attempt occurred on August 20th,

Starting point is 00:10:48 1946 when Feller participated in a speed test at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. Feller threw a baseball through a testing apparatus, which measured how long the ball took to travel between two detection points. Feller's fastest recorded pitch was 98.6 miles per hour. However, once again, the apparatus measured the ball near home plate, not at its release point, and this actually makes an enormous difference in speed. In 1974, the Angels contacted Rockwell International, an aerospace company, to develop an instrument that used reflected infrared radiation and the Doppler effect to determine the ball's speed. On August 20, 1974, Ryan hit 100.9 miles per hour during a game against the Detroit Tigers.

Starting point is 00:11:35 However, the instrument measured the ball about 10 feet in front of home plate after it had already slowed substantially. From 2006 to 2014, the pitchfx system was used in Major League Baseball, which was much better as it used multiple high-speed cameras. However, pitch FX initially reported velocities at a point 50 feet from home plate rather than precisely at the pitcher's release point. On September 24th, 2010, a Rolla's Chapman threw a fastball

Starting point is 00:12:04 originally recorded at 105.1 miles per hour. The pitch was subsequently recalculated at 105.8 miles per hour. In 2017, Major League Baseball standardized its reported pitch velocity to the ball's speed at release, making measurements more representative of the initial speed generated by the pitcher.

Starting point is 00:12:25 Another major advance occurred in 2020, when Major League Baseball replaced its original radar-based tracking hardware with a system developed by the company Hawkeye. The new system uses 12 cameras positioned around each ballpark, several of which are specifically dedicated to tracking pitches. The pitch tracking cameras were upgraded from 100 to 300 frames per second in 2023. A Roldes Chapman is still credited with the record at 105.8 miles per hour, but with the new equipment, Jacob Misaroski and Ben Joyce are tied at 105.5.

Starting point is 00:12:57 point five miles per hour. Given the errors in measurement, it's entirely possible that Bob Feller or Nolan Ryan might have hit 106 to 108 miles per hour, but we just don't have any evidence for it. I want to end the episode with the pitcher who may have been the fastest of all time, but he never made it to the major leagues. Steve Delkowski. During the late 1950s and early 60s, Delkowski developed a reputation. as perhaps the hardest throwing pitcher anyone had ever seen.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Some observers believe that he threw well over 100 miles per hour, with estimates occasionally reaching 110 miles per hour or higher. Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who faced Bob Feller, said that Dolkowski was the fastest he had ever seen. Manager Earl Weaver, who faced Nolan Ryan, said, Dolkowski was the fastest he had ever seen. And manager Davy Johnson, who played with Delkowski and saw a Roldus Chapman pitch, said that Delkowski was the fastest he had ever seen.

Starting point is 00:14:00 Sadly, Steve Dolkowski had very poor control, an extremely low IQ and a drinking problem, and never made it to the majors. But the character, Nook Leloush in Bull Durham, was modeled after Steve Delkowski. The fastball is one of the purest expressions of human athletic ability. You're taking a ball and throwing it fast. Yet despite all the advances in biomechanics,

Starting point is 00:14:26 training and technology, the fundamental challenge remains the same. A pitcher has to throw a five-ounce ball past someone standing a little more than 60 feet away, and the batter has only a fraction of a second to do something about it. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast. And links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read

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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Fastball

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