RIP Steve Dalkowski - Printable Version
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RIP Steve Dalkowski - BobK - 04-24-2020
https://www.mercurynews.com/bull-durham-inspiration-steve-dalkowski-dies-at-80
For those who thought Bull Durham was all someone’s made up idea.
RE: RIP Steve Dalkowski - JJJ - 04-24-2020
Wow, did not know this. Obviously, loved the film. Thanks for sharing. RIP
lex24 - lex24 - 04-25-2020
Dalkowski was mentioned in Joe P’s Athletic Top 100 Articles. The one on Walter Johnson. He listed six or seven guys with almost mythical fastballs. The ones I remember, Johnson, Paige, Feller, Ryan and Dalkowski. I think it was Ted Williams that faced him for one AB in an exhibition game. Said he wouldn’t do that again. EDIT- Judt read the Merc article. Guess it was BP not a game
How frustrating it must have been for Dalkowski.
RE: RIP Steve Dalkowski - Mick - 04-25-2020
Not sure if this is appropriate here, but it's a story about a hard thrower. My son's little league in Willow Glen was small as was the adjacent little league in Santa Clara, so the two leagues scheduled each other. I managed his team this one year, a team of 9 and 10 year olds, called the minors if you're familiar with it.
At the first game in Santa Clara, the umpire tells me and the other manager "I don't like to see kids walk, so I call the biggest strike zone you ever saw. If it's within range of the bat, I'm calling it a strike." Little League rules recommend a standard strike zone, plus a larger perimeter equivalent to the width of one baseball all around the strike zone. Think of what Eric Gregg used to do with the low-and-outside, four-inches-off-the-plate strike. So we both agree.
As visitors, we bat first. And two things become very clear. The pitcher threw extremely hard -- and he had no idea where the ball was going. First pitch is over our batter's head. "Strike one" yells the ump. Second pitch, six inches outside "Strike two," yells the ump. Third pitch bounces on the back of the plate. "Strike three" calls the ump. Pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches.
I asked to see the umpire and the manager, both grinning like Cheshire cats. I said, "Look fellas, you just taught a ten year old that a pitch in the dirt and outside and very high are all strikes. That's not doing him any favors. Now he thinks he's throwing strikes." Ump says he calls em like he sees him. 17 of our 18 batters strike out.
Two years later, as 12 year olds, the Santa Clara all-star team lost its first game. Same pitcher. He walked the first six players in a row. Coach yelled and screamed and stomped his feet and took his team off the field. Only time I ever saw that. But every pitcher has to throw strikes to get batters out.
RE: RIP Steve Dalkowski - Phogge - 04-25-2020
We had great umps in The City. Some of the guys in Park/Rec umped my games in Midgets (there was no Little League in SF) and umped some of my games in college. You got to know them and they got to know you. Very little parental interference which if I read correctly is a gigantic problem today, especially in rich suburbia. I coached DiMaggio League for a couple of years in the 60's and had a few kids who signed. My rule at practice day one was if your dad gets pissed over playing time you sit automatically. I don't think that would work with today's entitled parent.