Baseball: Fast ball, a question

[Chiwas]

Two questions:

1.- Who are the current pitchers that pitch the fastest ball and what's their speed?
2.- Who has the All Time record (I imagine that ALL Time means since the speed device was introduced)?



Edit. Already in the correct section. Tkx, MFF.

[Rod1975]

Well, until the thread gets relocated to the other sports section, I'll answer what I know.
Randy Johnson can still bring it at about 98, but his slider is wicked at about 93.
Curt Schilling can bring it about 96, but its his offspeed cheese that strikes people out.
Troy Percival can bring it at 98.
Eric Gagne can bring it about 97.
Francisco Rodriguez at about 97.
Mariano Rivera at about 96.
Pedro martinez at about 96.
Billy Wagner at about 96.
Jorge Sosa can pitch 95. (not much else)

If I missed anyone, feel free to interject any others 95 and above.

There are alot of pitchers that can bring it in the low 90's

[Murphy3]

wagner consistently hits 97-101 mph
martinez hit's 89-92 mph most of the time..but, it's by choice. he can reach back and hit 95-96 or so
Francisco Cordero hit 95-98 on a regular basis for the rangers...
Kevin Brown can throw a 95mph sinking fastball

[Fidel]

I think that Nolan Ryan holds the record for MLB with 100.9 mph. Is that correct? (probably not if Wagner hits 101 like Murphy said)

[Chiwas]

The highest figure that I have watched on TV has been 98 mph, some times, but I don't watch many games.

[Fah Q]

actually I thought Ryan hit 103 or 104, I could be wrong though

[Murphy3]

i don't think ryan ever hit 103-104.
if memory serves me correctly, wagner throws harder than ryan ever did..but, it's pretty close

[Drbio]

J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros once hit 104 on a "slow gun". It is the highest documented major league pitch as I recall.

[Rod1975]

The record for fastballs is a difficult one to set.
Nolan Ryan set the record by pitching over 100 mph on a dozen or so straight fastballs in a game while he was an Angel.
As far as single pitches, there have been a few pitchers to go over 100, but none have come close to the volume of 100s in the same game as Ryan.

Billy Wagner is a good pitcher, but I would'nt count on too many 100s in the same game.
He also needs to get better at his off speed junk.

[Drbio]

Technically, Noaln Ryan had the fastest pitch ever during a game at 101.4 mph. J.R. Richard hit 104 on an Astros gun during a rpegame warmup. Eddie Feigner, the King in the classic softball touring group The King and his Court was clocked during games at 104 mph on numerous occassions. Of course, he was throwing a softball though.

[Murphy3]

Sunday, October 19, 1997

Nen's fastball blows Indians away
MIAMI (AP) -- Everything the Cleveland Indians have heard about the dreaded Florida heat is true.
Robb Nen really can throw 100 mph.
He did it four consecutive times Saturday night during Game 1 of the World Series. When two pitches registered at 102 mph on the scoreboard radar gun, the crowd of 67,245 gasped in awe.
Who says baseball is too slow?
Working with a scowl on his face and a skip in his motion, Nen pitched the ninth inning to earn a save in the Florida Marlins' 7-4 victory over Cleveland.
"When you throw 102 mph, you can put out a lot of fires," Marlins first baseman Jeff Conine said. "I'm glad he's on my team."
The Indians were divided about the accuracy of the radar-gun readings.
"I don't know that I've seen anybody throw the ball any harder than Nolan Ryan, and I'm not sure he threw it more than 100 mph," manager Mike Hargrove said Sunday. "I know Robb Nen throws the ball hard, but I don't know about 102 mph."
"You could believe it," slugger Manny Ramirez said. "He was throwing it real hard."
Whatever the exact speed, no one disputed that Nen had a hurricane-force fastball. That didn't mean the ninth inning was a breeze.
After Ramirez led off with a groundout, David Justice somehow managed to pull a 102 mph pitch into right field for a single, and Matt Williams reached on an infield single.
Jim Thome, who hit 40 home runs this season, stepped to the plate hoping to continue the Indians' recent pattern of late-inning heroics.
"I was looking for a ball to drive and tie up the ballgame," he said.
Instead, he swung and missed at a 102 mph fastball for strike three.
Next was Sndy Alomar, who has made clutch homers a habit this year. But he struck out swinging on another fastball, and Nen had his third save of the postseason.
"You've got me and Sandy at the plate, and you've got a guy throwing hard," Thome said. "He won."
Nen's 102 mph cocking was a personal best, and teammates said the triple-figure readings were legitimate.
"The radar doesn't lie," catcher Charles Johnson said. "He was really fired up, and his ball was taking off."
"I think one was even a changeup," pitcher Alex Fernandez joked.
Nen's changeup is a 93 mph slider. He attributed the extra hop on his fastball to the frenzied crowd, the largst at the World Series game since 1963.
"This was awesome," he said. "When you go out there and the people are cheering for you, it makes you get a little excited. The adrenaline gets going."
Nen doesn't seem the excitable type. He may throw hard, but he speaks so softly that reporters in the back of a pack around his locker after the game complained they couldn't hear him.
New to the national spotlight, the right-hander was asked about his unorthodox throwing motion, which includes a skip-step with his left foot before his arm starts forward. NBC commentator Joe Morgan saw the awkward-looking delivery during the National League division series and thought Nen had hurt himself.
Actually, he added the foot tap several years ago trying to improve his control.
"There's no purpose to it," Nen said. "It's a complete screw-up. It happened, and it stayed there. Half the time I look dumb doing it."
The Marlins are sold on the approach. As part of owner Wayne Huizenga's spending spree last winter, they signed their 27-year-old closer to a four-year, $17.5 million contract.
A standout closer makes managing easier for Jim Leyland, who often relied on a bullpen by committee in Pittsburgh.
"My mom could bring in Goose Gossage in his heyday, and Dennis Eckersley," Leyland said. "When you can throw it 102 mph, it becomes an eight-inning game if you've got the lead. It really kind of makes it a no-brainer for you."
Nen struggled with his control at times this year, which accounts for his 3.89 ERA, but he had a 9-3 record with 35 saves in 42 chances. In postseason play he has yet to give up a run in five innings.
"Velocity is not the key," Nen said. "Whether it's 102 mph or 92, it's more a matter of location."
Nen's performance Saturday supported that theory: 16 of his 19 pitches were strikes. But it had to help that he threw them fast.

[Murphy3]

Ramirez nears record RBI pace

Click here for more on this story
Posted: Tuesday May 15, 2001 2:44 PM

The legend of Manny Ramirez grows by the day. On Saturday the Red Sox slugger belted what he thought was a long foul ball. But it curved over the Green Monster in Fenway Park, over the netting atop the wall, over Lansdowne Street and off the roof of a parking garage, finally coming to rest somewhere near the tracks that run next to the Mass Pike. Best guess on distance traveled: about 468 feet.

On Sunday, Oakland manager Art Howe finally tired of watching Manny beat his team. Ramirez had 12 hits in 23 at-bats against the A's, including a game-tying homer in his previous plate appearance, when he came up in the 10th inning with one out and nobody on base in a tie game. Howe ordered him intentionally walked. None of the Red Sox coaches could ever recall seeing a batter walked with nobody on base. Softball, maybe; the big leagues, no way.

Said third-base coach Gene Lamont, "You're defending against the home run right there."

RBI machines
All-time leaders in RBIs per game (minimum 1,000 games).
Rank Player RBI/G
1. Sam Thompson .93
2. Lou Gehrig .92
3. Hank Greenberg .92
4. Joe DiMaggio .89
5. Babe Ruth .88
6. Manny Ramirez .846
7. Juan Gonzalez .845
8. Jimmie Foxx .83
9. Cap Anson .83
10. Al Simmons .82



Ramirez said he'd never been walked intentionally with nobody on, not even in high school. That's a testament to just how hot Ramirez has been at bat. How hot? He's driving in runs at a faster clip than he did last year or in 1999, when he became the first player in 61 years to exceed 160 RBIs. Ramirez had 46 RBIs in 37 games this year. That's 1.24 RBIs per game, or almost exactly what Hack Wilson averaged (1.23) when he set the RBI record with 191 in 1930.

"It's not going to happen," Ramirez said when asked about his chances of breaking Wilson's record. "That's why I'm not even thinking about it. That's impossible."

He might be right about that, but Ramirez has carved out a niche for himself among the greatest RBI machines in history. Last week he played in his 1,000th career game, reaching the minimum required by Total Baseball to make the all-time list of RBIs per game. Ramirez drops into the list at No. 6, just behind a fellow named Babe Ruth, and barely ahead of contemporary rival Juan Gonzalez (entering Tuesday's games).


Chicago hope
The great start by the Cubs' pitching staff has been helped by three pleasant surprises: Tom Gordon, Kyle Farnsworth and Kerry Wood.

Gordon, coming back from elbow surgery, is throwing his fastball in the high 90s again, breaking off his vicious curveball and throwing a new secret weapon. The Cubs closer holds the ball with his curveball grip but moves it as far back into his hand as he can. Gordon then throws the pitch like a curveball but much harder. The result is an 88 mph pitch that breaks like a curve.

"I don't even have a name for it yet,'' he said.

Farnsworth, a right-handed set-up man, has a fastball that's been clocked as fast as 102 mph.

"Last year he threw 97,'' Chicago manager Don Baylor said. "The big difference is we gave him a splitter he can throw 91.'' Said Cubs pitcher Kevin Tapani, "He's a harder version of Kevin Brown."

Wood often has pitched in poor luck this season, winning only one of his eight starts despite an astronomical 72 strikeouts in 45 innings, or 14 per nine innings. (Pedro Martinez holds the record with 13.2 punchouts per nine innings in 1999). Baylor recently arranged a private meeting between Wood and strikeout king Nolan Ryan.

"The thing Nolan told him is he has to get to the point where he can throw his fastball for strikes any time he wants,'' Baylor said. "He made a big impression on Kerry with that.''

To improve Wood's control, the Cubs have changed his delivery so that Wood has a slight hesitation as he kicks and drives his leg toward home plate. That delay helps keep his weight back and over the rubber a little longer, which prevents his front side from "flying open,'' which causes pitches to sail off course.

Wood's delivery isn't nearly as violent as it was pre-surgery. For instance, after Wood recently topped out at 99 mph in a start against Milwaukee recently, he said after the game, "I felt like I was throwing only about 91.'' That's good news for the Cubs, who figure if Wood can hit 99 without maximum effort, he'll stay healthier and improve his control.


Young guns
Just when you thought the NL Central was gaining a reputation as a slugger's paradise -- Enron Field, Miller Park, PNC Park and Wrigley Field all offer inviting targets for power hitters -- the division quietly is developing some young, elite right-handed pitchers who figure to be at the front of their team's rotation for years to come.

Joining a healthy Wood, 23, on the fast track to pitching stardom are Ben Sheets, 22, in Milwaukee; Wade Miller, 24, in Houston; Matt Morris, 26, in St. Louis; and Kris Benson, 26, in Pittsburgh. (Benson, by the way, will likely make his return with the Pirates on May 21.) No other division can boast of each team having one, major-league-ready ace-in-the-making. With the unbalanced schedule, the division could be chock full of pitching duels for years to come.

The Lineup
If offense is down this year, perhaps doctors around the majors can provide one clue as to why. Check out the disabled list. It's chock full of some of the biggest sluggers in the game -- several of whom have not played or will not play for extended periods. Here's an All-DL team that reads like an All-Star team. These players have combined for nine home run titles, 11 batting titles, five Most Valuable Player awards and 66 All-Star appearances.
Pos Player All-Star apps.
C Ivan Rodriguez* 9
1B Mark McGwire 11
2B Carlos Febles 0
SS Nomar Garciaparra 3
3B Travis Fryman 4
OF Albert Belle 5
OF Ken Griffey Jr.* 11
OF Tony Gwynn 15
DH Frank Thomas* 5
PH Mo Vaughn* 3
*former MVP

However, when you look at disabled pitchers this season, many fewer stars populate the list, especially with John Smoltz and David Cone making their season debuts this week. The best of the DL'd pitchers include Al Leiter, Scott Erickson, Kevin Millwood, Jose Rosado, Todd Stottlemyre, Shawn Estes and Scott Williamson -- nobody who has a ticket punched to Cooperstown.




Nomar unsure of return
The most optimistic people in the Red Sox organization think shortstop Nomar Garciaparra could be playing again before August. Garciaparra says it's much too soon for him to predict a return date, but he did promise this: "I will definitely play again this season. Definitely.''

Monday marked the six-week anniversary of the surgery that repaired a tendon and its sheathing in Garciaparra's right wrist. The original prognosis called for the shortstop to wear a hard cast for six weeks, but he switched to a removable soft cast two weeks ago.

"There's no way of knowing when I'll be back until I start testing it, and I'm still a long way from that,'' Garciaparra said. "I've started some real simple wrist exercises -- barely moving it -- so the scar tissue doesn't build up. The key for me right now is I'm getting the rest of my body in shape so that when it's time to get the wrist ready, the rest of me is ready to go. For a week or two after the surgery I couldn't do anything. Nothing. That killed me.''

The wrist is still so weak that when a water bottle recently slipped right through his hand at a restaurant, Garciaparra didn't have the strength to retain his grip on the bottle. Still, the sight of Garciaparra hitting next to Ramirez in the Boston lineup might only be two or three months off.

Meanwhile, Garciaparra's little brother, Michael, an outstanding high school baseball player, soccer player and placekicker, has decided to play baseball at the University of Tennessee, with the possibility of suiting up for the football team as well. However, those plans could change depending on where he is drafted next month and how much money he is offered to sign.


Erstad finally hitting
We're six weeks into the season and only now is Anaheim's Darin Erstad getting healthy and getting on base with regularity. Erstad has been limited at the plate because he hurt his right knee during his offseason strength training program.

"I had no torque in my swing,'' Erstad said. "And it caused me to have some stiffness in my back. I'm getting better now, though. It feels much better.''

Erstad took a seven-game hitting streak into play Tuesday, giving indications that he's putting behind him an awful start in which he lost his leadoff spot to David Eckstein. Erstad failed to reach base 10 times in his first 28 games. Last season, while joining Wade Boggs as the only players in the past 70 years to get 240 hits, Erstad was kept off base only 14 times all year.


All your base
Why in the world would the Red Sox and other teams play a drastic overshift -- with three infielders to the right of second base -- on sweet-swinging Jason Giambi? Consider this: Giambi has hit 23 infield grounders this year. Only one of them has gone to the left side of second base. It's the right defensive strategy against Giambi, but it doesn't stop the defending MVP from getting on base just about every other at bat. Giambi reached base an amazing 84 times in his first 37 games.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers the baseball beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his baseball mailbag.

[Murphy3]

Astroday

Baseball In The Old Style,
added 08/02

If you didn't enjoy Friday night's 2-1 Astros win over the Florida Marlins, check your pulse.

Time and time again, non-baseball fans ask, "How can a game in which so few runs score be exciting to watch?" The best answer to such fans is to have them watch, either live or on tape, a game like the Astros (59-50) and the Marlins put on tonight. Houston had only four hits and Florida had only six, but just about everything that can happen in a baseball game happened in this one, a marvelously well-pitched pitcher's duel between Tim Redding (8-9) and Josh Beckett in front of 12,392 fans. Both principal pitchers had electric stuff and knew what to do with it, and both bullpens supported them well, but we also saw power from one club and speed from another that led to runs, and controversial umpiring that determined the game's outcome but didn't detract from the performances on the field. The Astros maintain a two-game lead on St. Louis by virtue of a Jeff Kent homer, Redding's stout pitching, an umpire's questionable call, and top-notch relief work from Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner, who earned his 32nd save of the season.

The Astros did try, I believe, to look at a few more pitches tonight, but that's only a general rule a team tries to follow. There are times--and tonight was one of them--when the opposing pitcher just has stuff that blows you away. Josh Beckett had the whole package Friday: a fastball you couldn't catch up to (ask Geoff Blum; he struck out twice), and a jaw-dropping curve (ask Colin Porter; he fanned three times, twice on the curve). Beckett struck out nine over seven lovely innings of work and he didn't walk a soul. It's funny how Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies were talking about 1968 during the telecast, that freakishly-wonderful season of pitching in baseball that yielded a 1.12 ERA for Bob Gibson of the Cardinals and a 1.60 ERA for the little Cuban master Luis Tiant, then of the Cleveland Indians, and also yielded Don Drysdale's streak of 58.2 consecutive scoreless innings, a record I once thought would last forever, because Friday's game reminded me a lot of the games we saw back then. Beckett's fastball and curve were were as dominating a pair of pitches as Tom Seaver's used to be, but I don't want to push the comparison any farther than the action of his stuff. Bill Brown hit the nail on the head when he likened Beckett's delivery to that of John Smoltz; the two are very similar.

This is not to say, however, that Beckett didn't make mistakes. He made a big one to Jeff Kent leading off the second inning. The entire at-bat was a great one to watch. Kent took an excruciatingly-close pitch just off the outside corner--a pitch that home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth sometimes gave to the pitchers and sometimes not--to fill the count, then Beckett came back back with a fastball that was aimed for the outside corner again. Beckett missed with it, but Kent didn't, ripping it high and deep into the LF seats for homer number fourteen on the season. At the time he hit it, I daresay a lot of Astro fans thought Kent's run was going to be the only run Houston got all night. Beckett was that good.

While it was instantly obvious what kind of game Beckett was going to pitch, with eight strikeouts through four innings, Tim Redding was pitching a completely different kind of game with almost the same kind of stuff. I cannot praise Redding's toughness too much tonight, especially the toughness he showed in the opening inning. He allowed a single to LF to Juan Pierre and a bunt base hit down the 1B line upon which Redding missed the tag on Luis Castillo--exactly the kind of start against those speedy men a pitcher must avoid. But Redding maintained both his poise and his command throughout the game for the second consecutive start, and he clamped down on the Marlins here. A low fastball was enough to get Ivan Rodriguez to ground into a 6-4-3 double play and, although Redding pushed the count full to Mike Lowell, he got the Florida cleanup hitter to fly to Lance Berkman in LF. Redding had a few full counts tonight, but he walked only one over seven innings and struck out only five. His fastball was used most often to set up the hitters tonight. It was a strikeout pitch on occasion--in the second against Derrek Lee, in the third against Beckett, in the seventh against Miguel Cabrera--but it wasn't the only thing Redding had going for himself, and that enabled him to pitch another efficient game. If Redding is destined to become a top-flight pitcher, the one we saw tonight is the kind he must learn to be every time out; and if the Astros are fated to win the NL Central without Roy Oswalt (we don't know that yet), these are the kinds of games Redding has to pitch down the stretch.

Bill Brown referred to tenseness in tonight's game. It was there, I'm sure, for most fans, but I didn't feel it. (I feel five lifetimes worth of tension every time the Astros play the Mets, the Braves and the Dodgers). What I felt tonight was simple calm, a relaxed happiness at seeing a really well-thrown game. Part of me didn't care who won or lost. It was the kind of game I could just sit and watch in admiration of both sides' pitching staffs. For that reason, I can say without the least bit of traitorous intent that Beckett got a really bad call laid on him in the fourth by 3B umpire Marty Foster. Jeff Bagwell had tripled with one out to the deepest part of RCF, a ball that Pierre tried to make a diving catch on going parallel to the ground. The ball got past him and Bagwell motored into 3B. Beckett, however, wasn't fazed. He just rared back and trried to blow it by the Astros to get out of the ininng. He did blow it by 'em, too, but after fanning Kent, he did something wrong in the eyes of Foster, either not stopping long enough before his delivery or possibly rocking before the delivery. Whatever the case, if Beckett really did balk, honey, I didn't see it. Bagwell trotted him with a huge second run, though, and Beckett? Beckett, to his credit, finished the strikout on Berkman and went back to the dugout without so much as a glance in Foster's direction. I felt for him.

There are times when a starting pitcher knows he's got to pitch a great game. Not just say to the press before the game, "Yeah, I try to pitch a great game every time out," but know while the game's going on that night that he must pitch a great one. Maybe every pitcher has had that feeling at least once in his big-league career; I don't know; but I do know that Juan Marichal of the Giants acknowledged he had such pressure several times; so did Bob Gibson. I'm willin' to bet everything I know that Redding knew he had to pitch a great game Friday as early as the first inning. And by golly, he did. The fifth was very hard for him. After a strikeout of Cabrera, Alex Gonzalez singled to RF and Beckett bunted down the 1B line, ostensibly for a sacrifice. Bagwell let it roll, thinking it would eventually go foul, but the ball (hereafter soberly referred to as the freaking ball!) kept going straight as an arrow down the line. I'm telling you, the freaking ball simply would not turn foul. Bagwell, of course, watched it and watched and watched it and if he had it to do over again, he would have picked it up and gotten the tag on Beckett, but when the freaking ball doesn't go foul when it's that far down the line, what's a guy to do? Redding kept cool and got the groundball he needed from Juan Pierre. The infield went after the 6-4-3 double play and in reality they got it, but umpire Terry Craft, down at 1B, gave a veteran's call to Pierre, and the Marlins were still in business. Luis Castillo, with runners at the corners, followed Pierre with another bunt, this of the swinging variety, also down the 1B line Once more, the freaking ball would not go foul, and Castillo beat the play cleanly with his speed. Florida had a run with only one hit of the three leaving the infield. Freaking ball.

Redding got out of that jam, too, thanks to a very nice catch by Porter in RF, who was subbing for a resting Richard Hidalgo Friday. Porter had a hopeless night at the plate, as did almost everyone who faced Beckett, but he moved very well in the OF on a couple of important catches.

Both bullpens were good in relief. Nate Bump gave up a hit in both the eighth and ninth but showed fine stuff for the Marlins and Octavio Dotel was perfect in setting the ninth up for Billy Wagner. Wagner fought his stuff a little bit in the ninth. He tried to establish the slider early in the inning, but two walks (to Mike Lowell and Derrek Lee) sandwiched around a bunt try popped up by Juan Encarnacion compelled Wagner to spend most of the rest of the inning throwing fast stuff, and boy, was it fast. Clocked at between 99 and 102 m.p.h., Wagner's fastball struck out Cabrera swinging and it set up a slider in the dirt for a strikeout of Alex Gonzalez that ended the game. As he has done especially well in recent games, Wagner once again kept his focus on the man at the plate rather than the baserunners. He threw over to first once or twice, but reserved his best throws for Ausmus's mitt behind home plate. Because of that, the two-run homer that would have won it for Florida, although technically possible, was never really a deep worry for me. Along with a much better slider this year, Wagner's increased concentration on the man he has to get out rather than the man or men he had let on has made a big difference in his performance. Wagner himself may not be able to tell much difference about his focus, but I can, and I'm glad it has improved.

One would think that with only four hits on one side and six on the other, there wouldn't be much action in a game, but there was in this one. Beckett and Redding both showed their fans what they can do when they are at their best, and the two clubs collectively showed us what old-style baseball was like--bunts, steals, occasional power, and great pitching.

What Saturday night will bring no one knows, but one hopes for a bounce back performance from Jeriome Robertson. Sunday, I've kinda got my fingers crossed for a rainout. It's nothing against Jared Fernandez, who's been called up to take Roy Oswalt's spot in the rotation, but I'd rather the knuckleballing Fernandez didn't have to face the Marlins, with those two jackrabbits, Pierre and Castillo, at the top of the lineup. They're tough enough to keep off the bases when a pitcher throws as hard as Redding does.

[Drbio]

The Nen story is interesting. MLB records show the info I posted above. I wonder if Nen was clocked on an official gun? J.R. Richards ball was not clocked on an approved MLB gun.

[Murphy3]

doc, i'm curious as to how often they have "official" major league guns present.

it's also been reported...hold your breath now... it's also been reported that Bob Feller through a pitch over 107 mph back in 1946..but, i'll have to find the article
(and i'm not sure i believe it)

[Drbio]

107? Is that physically possible?

They said that J.R. Richards arm was so stressed when he threw a fastball that he risked breaking his arm when he dug deep to throw the heater.

[Murphy3]

there's been a couple of pitchers that have broken their arms while throwing fastballs in the past decade and a half..

dave dravecky and...can't remember the other.

but, dravecky had obviously had some other issues..such as cancer. He eventually had to have his arm amputated along with part of the shoulder

[Drbio]

I heard Dravecky speak. He was an amazing dude. His fastball was nothing near 100. the cancer is what did in his arm. That kid from Tampa was the other but his name escapes me. That was a fracture based on the tortion on his arm. He did the same thing twice.

Three other major league pitchers -- San Francisco's Dave Dravecky, Cincinnati's Tom Browning and Cleveland's John Smiley -- have broken their arms throwing a pitch since 1989. None recovered to pitch effectively again and with the exception of Browning, none of them ever really pushed 100.

[Murphy3]

didn't dravecky break his arm twice as well?

once before he found out about the cancer and once after he returned to the game after receiving treatment for cancer?

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
didn't dravecky break his arm twice as well?

once before he found out about the cancer and once after he returned to the game after receiving treatment for cancer?

Not sure to be honest.

[Murphy3]

From WWW.Lordly.com


Dave Dravecky has left two indelible images in the minds of baseball fans worldwide. The first was August 10, 1989, when he triumphantly pitched a 4-3 win for the San Francisco Giants in his first major-league game following cancer surgery. The second was five days later in Montreal, Canada, when a loud crack was heard in the stadium, and Dravecky was suddenly lying on the mound writhing in pain from a broken arm. It has been said that "he had delivered the pitch heard around the world."

Dravecky's story neither begins nor ends here. He fell in love with baseball as a seven-year-old playing ball with his dad in their backyard in Boardman, Ohio. He went on to graduate from Youngstown State University in 1978 and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 21st round. A few months later, he married his high school sweetheart, Janice Roh. After playing Double-A ball in Buffalo and Amarillo and six weeks of Triple-A ball in Hawaii, he was called up to the major leagues by the San Diego Padres in 1982.

Dravecky's seven-year career in the majors was one of boyhood dreams. While pitching for the Padres, he appeared in the 1983 All-Star Game and played in the 1984 National League Championships and World Series. He was traded to the San Francisco Giants where he again had the opportunity to pitch in the National League Championships. He seemed to have it all: an all-star career, a beautiful wife and two children. But his 1988 opening day victory over the Dodgers (5-1) was overshadowed later that fall by the discovery of cancer and removal of half of the deltoid muscle in his pitching arm. According to his doctor, "Short of a miracle, he'll never pitch again."

Two months after he broke his arm in Montreal, his arm was broken again while celebrating the Giant's National League Championship Series victory over the Chicago Cubs. The cancer returned, and Dravecky retired from professional baseball in November 1989.

Additional surgeries and the recurring cancer finally led to the drastic amputation of his left arm, shoulder blade and left side of his collarbone. In the book, When You Can't Come Back, written with his wife, Dravecky describes his loss: "My arm caught the attention of the entire school, when, as a teenager, I pitched my first no hitter... (Later) my ability to provide for my family was not based on how smart I was, or how hard I worked. It was based solely on what my arm could do on game day. When people talked with me, it was the center of conversation. 'How's the arm today, Dave?' 'Is your arm ready for tonight?' My arm was to me what hands are to a concert pianist, what feet are to a marathon runner. It's what people cheered me for, what they paid their hard-earned money to see. It's what made me valuable, what gave me worth in the eyes of the world.Then suddenly my arm was gone."

With the stress of Dravecky's illness and the loss of her parents, Jan Dravecky had a nervous collapse. She and her husband both sunk into a severe clinical depression and many of their friends withdrew. The Draveckys were forced to face the most frightening questions of their lives: What happens when a part of your life is taken away forever? When you want to help the thousands of people with loves ones dying from cancer who beg you to give them strength, but you have nothing to give?

In their book, the Draveckys give a behind-the-scenes look into their personal pain- how they've lived through it and grown from it. Their story is a message of hope in the midst of devastating and disorienting circumstances.

Dravecky's story continues. With the amputation of his arm, he was stripped of his sense of identity and the worth he derived from it. He was propelled on a grueling journey to search for answers to questions every man must face: What gives a man identity and value? Is a man's merit deeper than what he has and does? He explores the answers to these questions in his book, The Worth of a Man.

Because of the overwhelming response to their story and their desire to help others, the Draveckys founded Dave Dravecky's Outreach of Hope, a non-profit organization in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which provided encouragement to those whose lives have been devastated by cancer or amputation.

Dravecky is in great demand as a speaker, addressing a wide variety of audiences across the country. His messages range from motivational to inspirational to evangelical. Through his experience, he addresses loss and suffering, faith, encouragement and hope, reaching out to others and saying goodbye to the past.

[Drbio]

There you go.....

[Murphy3]

Monday, April 2, 2001

Reitsma finally gets a good break
By JON COOK -- SLAM! Sports

SARASOTA, Fla. -- After suffering two broken arms, nearly being hit by lightning and four years in the minor leagues, Calgary, AB pitcher Chris Reitsma's luck has finally changed for the better.

This week the Cincinnati Reds named the 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander their No. 3 starter and he will make his first ever major league appearance next Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Reitsma will be one of three Canadians to make starts for major league teams during the first three days of the season. Gibson's, B.C. right-hander Ryan Dempster will pitch the opener for the Florida Marlins on Monday and Montreal, Que. right-hander Eric Gagne will throw for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

Whatever happens in the game, just making it to the majors will make up for all the adversity Reitsma has had to overcome to get this far.

"I've been through a lot, but hopefully I can take those experiences and parlay them into a good life lived," said Reitsma, who became the first Canadian selected in the first round of baseball's June Draft, when he was taken 34th overall by the Boston Red Sox in 1996.

That season Reitsma was voted the Red Sox's Minor League Pitcher of the Year, going 3-1 with a 1.35 ERA in short-season Class A Sarasota in the Gulf Coast League. However the next season his promising career was derailed by a devastating broken arm he suffered while throwing a pitch in a game in Rockford, Ill.

Reitsma rebounded quickly from the injury only to fracture the same arm again the next season and throw his career in jeopardy.

"I sat in the hospital bed that night, after I had done it a second time, and said 'Man I don't know if I'm going to throw again,'" said the 23-year-old, who was born in Minneapolis, MN and has dual citizenship. "I consider it a miracle that I'm even throwing today after breaking my arm twice. I think I might be the only guy who's been able to do that and that's definitely a God thing."

If that wasn't enough to make him a believer, his experience at the Canadian Little League championships in 1994 were.

A 16-year-old Reitsma was pitching for the Calgary Blues in Stoney Creek, ON, when lightning struck the outfield, killing his friend and teammate Matt Kroll and knocking all the other players to the ground - except him.

"I still think about that often," said Reitsma. "My buddy was in left-field and lightning came down and I was on the pitcher's mound and I was the only one left standing on the field, because I was on the rubber. You never question what God's doing to your life and I have nothing to complain about; I have a beautiful wife, nice family and I've been very blessed and to still be able to play baseball is a just a bonus."

The son of a minister, Reitsma said he has always been devout, but the extraordinary events of his life have made his faith that much stronger.

"Whenever those things happen to you, you feel a little more strongly about it, but for the most part I've felt like that my whole life," said Reitsma, whose father Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a decade ago. "Without Jesus Christ I have nobody and that's truly the way I feel. He does things for a reason and I'm here for a reason, so hopefully I can just continue to do my best."

Reds pitching coach Don Gullett sees a great deal of potential in Reitsma, despite the fact he has never pitched above Double-A.

"There's a lot of things I like about him, he's got all the tools and he's going to get his shot," said Gullett, who suffered a heart-attack in 1986 at age 35 that required triple bypass surgery. "I see a pitcher with all the tools to be a good major league pitcher. He's got enough velocity to pitch at the major league level without question."

Reitsma has rebounded nicely from the broken arms and has surprised Gullett by throwing 95 mph this spring.

"We've got no indication that he's suffered any ill effects from having the problem before and he looks completely normal now," said Gullett, who owns the third-highest winning percentage (109-50, .686) in major league history for a pitcher with at least 100 victories. "He's had a good spring and we like what we see."

While Reitsma has spent just a month under Gullett, he believes he has helped him improve as a pitcher. "I've only worked with him a month, but from what he's done with me I've really enjoyed working with him."

After four seasons with the Red Sox and one brief stint with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last spring as a Rule V draft signing, Reitsma was traded to the Reds last August along with left-hander John Curtice for outfielder Dante Bichette. The move shocked Reitsma at the time, because the Sox were touting him as a future No. 2 behind Pedro Martinez.

"They really didn't want to let me go and I've been told that many times, but that's the business of baseball," said Reitsma, who was nearly traded to Colorado last summer for Mike Lansing and pitcher Rolando Arrojo. "I was excited to get over here and start something new. In baseball you're prepared to move around a lot. Being here is a really good opportunity and I've enjoyed it so far."

Reitsma nailed down the starter job with a great spring, going 0-1, but posting a 3.52 ERA while striking out 16 in 15 1/3 innings, walking just four and holding opposing hitters to under .200.

"I feel pretty comfortable right now; my fastball and changeup look great as well as my curveball and slider, so everything's working out pretty well. Whenever I start I don't really go for the strikeouts, I just go for the quick innings, but in relief I try to get after people a bit more. It's always nice to reach back into your bag of tricks and hopefully pull something out."

It's also nice for Reitsma to know that he has perrenial gold-glover Ken Griffey Jr. in the outfield and a 50-homer threat behind the plate when he starts.

"It's fun," he admitted. "Whenever you're on the pitching mound and look back and see Ken Griffey Jr. there it's very confidence building and I'm glad he's on my side."

If Reitsma continues his success story, it may well be Junior who's glad to have him on the team.

"It's been an up-and-down ride, but at the same time I feel like I belong here now."

[Chiwas]

I remember when Valenzuela won the Cy Young in his first year -I think the only rookie who has won it-, he was very dominant with his screwball. Later, he was using it less and less with the years and soon rarely he used that pitch again and became a regular pitcher. It seems the screwball spoils quickly the elbow or something, and he and the Dodgers prefered not to risk him.

[grbh]

Sid Finch could really bring it.

[Murphy3]

Yeah, wasn't it around 168mph or so?

[grbh]

Yea, I think that's right. It's a shame what happened with him.

[Murphy3]

He plays on the same team as Toe Nash

[Drbio]

ahh.....I wondered if someone would bring up the great Sid Finch. George Plimpton created that story. RIP.

[Chiwas]

I watched moments ago Kerry Wood pitching at 98 mph IN THE SEVENTH INNING.

I would like to watch a 100 in my TV screen.