Rare Video of Walter Johnson Pitching

great clip.

The thing that jumps out at you is how loose his arm action was from the time he got into the "upward L" in the back through the release and follow through. Then he threw against a very stiff front side -- a sudden, violent stop that released the ball like cracking a whip. Considering the film clip says it was taken very late in his career, you have to wonder how hard he threw 10 years earlier at his physical peak.

Even if he was only upper 80's, he was probably significantly faster than the average pitcher of his day. Back then the emphasis was on getting the ball in play and moving the game forward quickly, then coming back to pitch again in just a few days. Against that background a guy throwing 10+ mph faster than everyone else would have seemed overpowering. And he might've been mid 90's, at least at one time. That would've made him 15 mph faster than just about everyone but Mathewson at the time. Add to that the sidearm action and I would think right-handed batters of the era would've run like John Kruk from Randy Johnson in his prime.

By the way, click the bottom-right rectangle on youtube to enlarge picture to full size
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"The first time I faced him [in 1907] I watched him take that easy windup-and then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him...every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park." Ty Cobb

quote:

Even if he was only upper 80's, he was probably significantly faster than the average pitcher of his day. Back then the emphasis was on getting the ball in play and moving the game forward quickly, then coming back to pitch again in just a few days. Against that background a guy throwing 10+ mph faster than everyone else would have seemed overpowering. And he might've been mid 90's, at least at one time. That would've made him 15 mph faster than just about everyone but Mathewson at the time.

Are any of these numbers on par with what they really threw?

Those who saw Feller, Smokey Joe & the Big Train throw debate who was the fastest.

And Feller was clocked - at the plate - at 98.6 mph. Which is about 107-108 mph out of hand.

Some swore that the Train threw faster than Feller. Others say it was Smokey Joe who threw the fastest.

Removed the link to the WJ video on youtube. Too bad. Someone posted some great classic pitching videos there. They were only up for about 2 days and will almost certainly be taken down quickly.

Excellent clips of Sandy Koufax there, including one of him striking out Mickey Mantle. Pretty sure all came from Ken Burn's "Baseball" series which can be rented. There's also a new video of Christy Mathewson on Youtube and several of Bob Feller. All very rarely seen stuff.

You might want to search for your favorite pitcher on Youtube. No telling what might turn up. Archive.org is a good source for public domain material.

www.youtube.com
www.archive.org

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
I would think right-handed batters of the era would've run like John Kruk from Randy Johnson in his prime.

One of my favorite baseball moments that didn't involve my son.

Great footage
All the "I don't like sidearmer guys" need to see this.

I'm so skeptical of how hard these guys actually threw.

Fact is, no one really knows.

The Big Train would make one NASTY RH set-up man, mix that fastball, with a frisbee slider, I'm not hitting.

quote:

I'm so skeptical of how hard these guys actually threw.

Not sure how far back you want to go, but this rare 1946 video of Bob Feller clocks him at 98.6 mph... AT THE PLATE or about 105 mph out of the hand using an Army device that resembles equipment used today to accurately measure bullet velocity.

http://www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/1617567_028.do

Note that Feller appears to be just easily tossing the ball. Very smooth delivery with not much follow through. He only threw a few times for this test. IF he threw 105 (out of his hand) I bet he could do better yet with more experience with the new measuring device.