Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 3, 2005

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steve Dalkowski is a retired left-handed pitcher in minor league baseball. He is sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history with a fastball that may have exceeded 100 mph (161 km/h). As no radar gun or other device was available to precisely measure the speed of his pitches, the actual top speed of his pitches remains unknown. Regardless of its actual speed, his fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning". He was also notorious for his unpredictable performance and inability to control his pitches. His alcoholism and violent behavior off the field caused him problems during his career and after his retirement. After he retired from baseball, he spent many years as an alcoholic, making a meager living as a migrant worker. He cleaned up in the 1990s, but his alcoholism has left him with dementia, and he has difficulty remembering his life after the mid-1960s. Screenwriter and film director Ron Shelton played in the minor leagues alongside Dalkowski, and his 1988 film Bull Durham contains a character who is based loosely on his life.

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