1974 Nolan Ryan : 235 pitch 13 inning game (no decision)...also threw 108.1 mph the same year!!
1966CUDA
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The man was in his physical prime for sure. an amazing athlete.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Nolan Ryan is to pitchers what Babe Ruth is to hitters. Not that Ryan was as good at pitching as Ruth was at hitting (or pitching), but Ryan is easily the most legendary pitcher of all time. And my personal favorite player of all time. It was just plain fun watching Ryan pitch, and I watched him whenever I had the chance. He came to his first fame helping the Miracle Mets win a World Series, and he went out with his epic beatdown of Robin Ventura and in between was every bit as exciting.
I was at Anaheim Stadium when Ryan struck out 19 against the Red Sox April 30, 1974- It was surreal
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Ryan was a stud for sure but I dont believe the 108.1. Id believe the radar said that but it wasnt all that accurate back then. Even now with guys throwing max effort, using high speed cameras to optimize their motions and spin, specialized training, individualized nutrition etc you rarely see even 105 which is basically the max. Ryan threw really hard but I suspect he just put it in the right place where the reading gave him a few extra MPH like you see in those pitching machines in stadiums
Fire AJ Preller
The radar was very erratic that measured the 108 in that game. It was measuring other fastballs of his in that game at 83 MPH etc.. The readings were all over the place.
These were the top speeds of his fastballs in each inning in that game. Keep in mind they were the top speeds and aren't showing the other fastball speeds that varied even lower.
It never actually read 108 MPH, that was an extrapolation based on where the radar picked up the ball...which since the gun itself was erratic, the point of pick up isn't a guarantee either.
There are some frame by frame side by side comparison of Ryan vs current pitchers(Hicks and Chapman) from a modern gun throwing 105 MPH that measure up though to a tee, so Ryan's top fastball was legit as anyone else's that has been measured.
Ryan was a pioneer. He changed the way pitchers were desired. After him, the ability to throw gas became more desired by MLB teams.
@dallasactuary Ryan is to fastballs and pitcher strikeouts as Ruth is to HR. I think that is a good comparison.
There are enough flame throwers to watch with each pitch being measured in the last 25 years to know that it would be extremely odd for their top speeds each inning to vary by that much. Maybe in an entire game or month for some physical reason, but not during the same game.
Still right up there... and the 235 pitches! Starting pitchers now get pulled under 100 pitches.
"pitch counts per start in the MLB, the average MLB team has their starting pitcher throw fewer than 100 pitches and it's safe to peg the average starting pitcher pitch count at 95 pitches"
Would you believe two guys in just one week matched Nolan Ryan's 1974 record of 21 K's in a seven inning HS game? I can't tell one way or the other though whether it was a super perfect game (perfect game where every batter struck out) though.
https://alvinbaseball.org/teams/varsity/nolan-ryan-strikeout-record-broken
D's: 50P,49S,45D+S,43D,41S,40D,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 241,435,610,654 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings
When he pitched I rarely missed a game. Always felt he had a strong chance for the no hitter.
....
I've mentioned before that this feeling is something huge missing from modern MLB. Even if it wasn't going to be a no hitter, it was when a guy really had his stuff going. Some guys were always candidates for it. Other guys would just be on that day, and when that happened you knew they were going to stay in the game.
On this day, October 6, 1969, a wild-throwing 22-year-old Texan, Nolan Ryan, came out of the Mets bullpen in the 3rd to give the franchise its first World Series berth
Ryan was a unicorn. I believe he had the best arm ever attached to a shoulder. he was certainly a max effort pitcher, with the grunts and all, and even though, he was able to throw a ton of innings every season. His pitch counts were incredible as well.
Pitchers today certainly cannot match the combination of velo and endurance Ryan had.
I have read some articles about the 108 MPH pitch and I do believe he hit that number. he was still in the high 90s well into his 40s.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Terry Forster in that same game was timed at 94.9 MPH...so if we take that same 8 MPH extrapolation attached to Ryan that puts Forster at around 102/103 MPH per that same extrapolation.
That gun was wildly erratic, inconsistent, and unreliable . It didn't even work when they tested it in a parking lot prior to that promotional event for Ryan. It was a promotional event.
But, if you are to take that Ryan 100.9 speed at face value as well as the extrapolation to 108....then that means in that same game that Terry Forster had a fastball that was FASTER than Ryan's best fastball for more than half the game...and Forster only had ONE inning to nab his top speed by that unreliable radar gun compared to Ryan getting NINE chances.
So does it really make sense to say that Nolan Ryan could throw 108 MPH based on that contraption, yet in that same game Terry Forster threw a pitch that was harder than Nolan Ryan's best pitch for more than half of the innings that game??
Ryan was timed in the same stadiums as JR RIchard and in 1980 All Star game Richard hit 101. So I guess 109 for Richard. So all these guys thrwoing 109 MPH now? lol.
I guess Forster should be talked about more since it took until 2010 for Chapman to best Terry Forster's 'second place' all time record(per the 'rules' to establish Ryan's record).
This is a good intuitive guess but it’s incorrect.
Radar guns measured the speed of the pitch at the plate and then extrapolated from that the velocity at the point of release which is what is used to define the pitch speed.
It’s not that radar itself is too inaccurate for this measure. Rather that the technology to properly measure a pitch was not available because a release point was never static enough for radar measurements.
The frame rate on video footage is accurate enough for plus minus a few MPH if anyone wanted to figure it out.