Billy Wagner....101 mph!

[Chisox17]

this guy is unreal, he throws absolute gas. got clocked at 100 and 101 mph

[Franchise]

was it accurate?

[two-six]

Originally posted by Franchise
was it accurate?

during the braves/astros series last week, he was consistently hitting 100 and 101 on the home gun(on the scoreboard), but the braves guns were backing it up...it was legit......AND throwing it for strikes

at 5'10 or whatever, he sure doesn't look like a flamethrower, but he sure can bring it

[Franchise]

the only problem w/ a fastball pitcher these days, is the harder they throw it, whenever the team does pick up on it, the harder they hit it.

[two-six]

thats what i've always told myself when i'm at bat, "the harder he brings it, the further i hit it". unfortunately i'm still waiting to test that theory, as i have yet to catch one of those hard ones solid

yes, a pitcher cannot live on fastball alone these days, even at 100 it better have some nasty movement...percival of the angels is the only one i can think of that gets away with it most of the time

[Franchise]

hes hurt now isn't he?

[sockittome16]

Didn't Nolan Ryan hit 103 at the top of his game? I've come to the conclusion that Billy Wagner is the boy from Rookie of the Year. Just had to wait till he got more movement on his offspeed, and had to break his arm again

[The Brain]

Originally posted by sockittome16
Didn't Nolan Ryan hit 103 at the top of his game? I've come to the conclusion that Billy Wagner is the boy from Rookie of the Year. Just had to wait till he got more movement on his offspeed, and had to break his arm again 105

[Franchise]

I am not doubting that, but do you have a link for proof? I have never heard that.

[two-six]

i thought the record was 101.....could be wrong though, wouldn't be the first time

[Franchise]

yea, i have never seen or heard word of 105 by anyone, in a game.

[Franchise]

"The greatest reliably recorded speed at which a baseball has been pitched is 100.9 mph by Lynn Nolan Ryan (California Angels) at Anaheim Stadium in California on August 20, 1974"

source baseball almanac

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_guin.shtml

anymore proof out there?

[two-six]

franchise, that is what my search came up with as well. on a side note, also saw he recorded 19 K's in a game 3 seperate times that year....wow

[Franchise]

I would venture to say he threw that fast in a practice game or at practice with a amateur gun. I dont doubt he threw that fast on a "good" day or what not. But never in a game.

I would never doubt the 2nd best pitcher ever.

[mattarific]

Saw Wagner pitch a few years back....unfortunatly he was saving a game against the Braves. He hit 100 on the Braves gun that day. I don't think he is as impressive as Randy Johnson.....I'm 80 percent positive i saw him hit 100 in the 7th inning of a game once, he was about 100 pitches into the game too.

[Chisox17]

no one has thrown a baseball 105. i do rememeber hearing that mark wholers threw 103mph in a spring training game back in the early 90s

[wossa]

Originally posted by Chisox17
no one has thrown a baseball 105.


Sidd Finch could throw 168 mph. Sports Illustrated did a story on him. You don't believe me just ask Braves. He'll confirm it. ;)

edit - and since I know you won't believe me here's the SI article as proof

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2000/07/24/finch_flash/

[two-six]

hmmmmmm

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by wossa


Sidd Finch could throw 168 mph. Sports Illustrated did a story on him. You don't believe me just ask Braves. He'll confirm it. ;)

edit - and since I know you won't believe me here's the SI article as proof

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2000/07/24/finch_flash/

There was also some guy from Cuba or somewhere that the Mets looked at back in the '80's that could throw 120. But he was getting old or somthing.

[Franchise]

Originally posted by wossa


Sidd Finch could throw 168 mph. Sports Illustrated did a story on him. You don't believe me just ask Braves. He'll confirm it. ;)

edit - and since I know you won't believe me here's the SI article as proof

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2000/07/24/finch_flash/

there are a couple things on that. I think that would be all over the news, or I would have heard about it or anyone for that matter, and he would be pitching. 2, why isn't that in the Baseball Almanac? http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/fastest-pitcher-in-baseball.shtml

I just dont think thats possible.

[slydevl]

Doesn't Dwight Gooden have or hold the record at one time for the fastest pitch?

[DaveW]

Originally posted by slydevl
Doesn't Dwight Gooden have or hold the record at one time for the fastest pitch?


no..fastest sniff

[Franchise]

Did you click that link, the baseball Almanac still has Nolan Ryan, and I can't seem to find anything else that would state otherwise.

[Yuck]

I've heard rumors of the 103-105 mph pitch over the last few years, but I've never seen it documented. That said, I think it's odd that the 100.9 has held up over the last 30 years.

[Franchise]

oh, i find it hard to believe to, i just wanna see something besides SI, which is an unreliable source, IMO, something that holds validity that says there is a faster pitch recorded.

[DaveW]

check out the date on the article, Sherlock.:)

[Franchise]

it says updated Feb 2003

[wossa]

the article was written by George Plimpton - he's a pretty famous author. If you read the article you see it was written back in 1985. It quotes most of the higher ups on the Met's at the time.

Finch was a flake that's why he never made it to the big leagues. I guess they were leery of him firing a 168 mph fastball at some guys head.

;)

[DaveW]

April 1, 1985

[wossa]

Originally posted by DaveW
April 1, 1985

so what's your point? :p

[two-six]

Originally posted by DaveW
April 1, 1985

so i wasn't the only one that saw that date.....i just didn't want to ruin wossa's fun

[two-six]

I think it needs to be noted that the 100.9 was the fastest speed ever officially recorded in a game. So its not to say that someone hasn't surpassed that in practice, or even in a game. It just hasn't been officially recorded.

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by CharPirates26
I think it needs to be noted that the 100.9 was the fastest speed ever officially recorded in a game. So its not to say that someone hasn't surpassed that in practice, or even in a game. It just hasn't been officially recorded.

Right on.

And the reasons why the Sidd Finch story wasn't all over the news are in the article.

[wossa]

Originally posted by mathmajors


Right on.

And the reasons why the Sidd Finch story wasn't all over the news are in the article.

no they aren't.

not in that article.

[PantherPaul]

April 1st ala APRIL FOOLS DAY Read this SI Hoax article (http://www.worldzone.net/sports/baseball/baseballhoax.html)

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by wossa


no they aren't.

not in that article.

Sure they were. The main reason why word didn't get out is because Finch insisted on keeping his tryouts private.

[wossa]

Originally posted by mathmajors


Sure they were. The main reason why word didn't get out is because Finch insisted on keeping his tryouts private.

oh.

I thought it was because it was one of the biggest and most succesfsul Aprils Fools pranks ever.

but what would I know

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by wossa


oh.

I thought it was because it was one of the biggest and most succesfsul Aprils Fools pranks ever.

but what would I know

I haven't read that yet. Shall I go ahead and retract to save myself from further embarassment?

[DaveW]

Originally posted by PantherPaul
April 1st ala APRIL FOOLS DAY Read this SI Hoax article (http://www.worldzone.net/sports/baseball/baseballhoax.html)

Glad someone finally got here to clear that up. thanks, Nancy Drew.:rolleyes:

[UNCfever]

I do think I remember hearing that Ryan did throw 104 or 105 in a game before. I think the problem is that it was on the home teams gun, so maybe a little home cooking for not. I would guess somebody from the league would have to have their own gun and run the gun for it to count.

[wossa]

Originally posted by mathmajors


Shall I go ahead and retract to save myself from further embarassment?

Did you mean all 11,944 posts?

by all means...

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by wossa


Did you mean all 11,944 posts?

by all means...

It's actually more than that....