Article:Hardest Throwers in Major League History.

That is a question that is hard to answer for anyone. It wasn't until 1926, just after my 8th birthday, that I was allowed to bat in the games played at the Farm. My first real at bat was against of all people, Walter Johnson, and to say I wasn't a little afraid would put it only mildly. PaPa was behind the plate and told me to keep it loose and the guy umpiring was Bill Klem. All were friends of my father and grandfather for years before and after their careers. Walter reminded me alot of Babe. God, he was bigger than life out there on the mound and his first pitch, I just closed my eyes and swung the bat and almost fell on my butt. To my surprise nobody laughed most of all my father or grandfather. They just kept saying hang in there and keep your eye on the ball. Someone in the dugout called timeout and out came Rodgers Hornsby, as some of you who have read me before know that he was one the first batting instructors I ever had, from him to Babe to even later Ted. Will he comes running out, calmly as can be and pulls me over to the side and says  "Remember how he pitches, he loves to keep it inside and a little up and then goes away and down. Don't take you eyes off the play and keep your head in and down watching the release.  Now I understand but then I just remembered him keep telling me watch for the pitch on the outside and down.  To my luck and pride, Walter's next pitch was exactly where Rodgers said it would be away and down.  I kept my head down and on the ball and swung the bat and hit the ball but on a line drive straight at Tony Lazzari.  I think my parents and grandparents were more proud of me than I was.  But over the next 5 or 6 years I got to play and bat against so many pitchers just naming a few would be Johnson, Hoyt, Babe, Alexander, Grove, Gomez , a older Young, Hubbel, Herb Pennock(I loved batting against him  Babe use to tell me I owned him because I always seemed to be on his pitches but him never came to far inside) later on Dizzy Dean, even today I can't stop laughing about him because he never stopped talking on the mound or off for that matter, always something to say about everything and kept everyone laughing when he was at the Farm. Satchel Paige, who along with PaPa Bell and Josh Gibson I loved having on the Farm when they came. Talk about some stories. All of them from Babe on down use to talk about the barnstorming days and how much fun it was just playing the game. Bill Klem and Tommy Connelly use to come down all the time and their stories really got to be extremely funny and sometimes I was asked to leave the room or fireplace until they were finished. Getting back to the throwers thought it was easy to name  Johnson and Feller but Grover Cleveland had a extremely hard ball and when he happened to hit you it hurt and it hurt for a number of days after. Lefty and Lefty were very hard throwers and Marquard had been known to break off bats in players hands because he liked to pitch inside. I stopped going to the Farm when I went to the Naval Academy and the next time I returned after the war the players still were coming every off season but some of the names were changed and some. Leo and Casey Stengel, Paige, Ruffing, and Feller would show up but I was out of touch with the players then but still my dad would love to talk about some of the new hard throwers he would say were good but really didn't compare with the likes of Cy Young, Matthewson, Johnson, Grove and Hubbel. After the Korean war I didn't see any real hard throwers until Ryan Duran and Dick Radictz came onlong and then Drysdale and Koufax with Gibson and some new relievers like Stan Williams. After the 60's the specialists started taking over the 2 innings pitchers and then the closers. Nolan Ryan and Sandy threw as hard as any of the 20's and 30's pitchers, but I will go make a statement here maybe showing my age, but Walter Johnson threw as hard as Ryan or Koufax and the Dodgers today have a new pitcher Braxton that throws over, well over a 100mph, and if you watch his ball very closely you will notice that it likes to moves inside and up to a right hander and not to many batters will stay in on that kind of a pitch. I was watching the other night and I could hear the ball pop and watch the catcher grab his hand everytime. Hard throwers have come and gone for years but the ones that are the most successful are the ones who can control the pitch and get it in for strikes. Give me a pitching staff of Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Grove and Bob Gibson with a couple of middle relievers like Don Drysdale, Warren Saphn and Bob Feller and I will get you 100plus wins and a large number of world series championships.