Picking up information from this article, here and there, it shows that Walter Johnson, for instance would have clocked around 100 MPH the way fastballs are measured, today. Actually, he was clocked at 98.X MPH, but that was some number of feet after the baseball's release by one measurement (military) and by another (police motorcycle) it was about the average speed of his entire 60' 6" pitch.

Bob Feller had a similar velocity. Others compared as well.

Fascinating article (with some fun English) from the Scoutee app people: "The Historic Quest for Speed in Baseball." It also has some very cool embedded video.

...and then there's Aroldis Champman.

The Big Train really brought his arm down from the slot, didn't he? Knew he was a bit of a sidewinder as had seen old video of him through the year. This longer clip on the great article posted really reinforced my mind's image of him. Looked effortless, and he seemed to have very long arms for his height.

There were probably several hard throwers back in the day. Biggest difference is that those guys weren't max effort on most pitches. Feller and Duren were as fast as just about anyone today, excluding Chapman. Ryan's Express is my choice for the best arm ever, considering the number of pitches placed on that arm of his...

thanks for posting this. I never believed the nonsense that some postulated concerning speed for some old time arms. Anybody who saw Johnsons physical makeup and had a basic understanding of physics would know he was as fast as the game has ever seen.

For what its worth, taken from SABR.org

He was by no means large or overpowering, standing 5'11 3/4" and weighing in at 180 pounds, but concealed in his lanky frame was one of the most overpowering fastballs of the Deadball Era. "I have seen a lot of speedy pitchers in my time," Red Sox catcher Tubby Spencer quipped in the spring of 1909, "but Joe Wood can make sparks fly better than anyone else I ever saw throw a ball." Three years later, Walter Johnson could only agree. "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood?" he asked a waiting reporter. "Listen, mister, no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood."

this is a most enjoyable thread...wj reminded me of randy johnson.

No Steve Dalkowski references?

No mention of the immortal Sid Fynch?

Posted by DoctorKz on 12/29/2016 4:47:00 PM (view original):
There were probably several hard throwers back in the day. Biggest difference is that those guys weren't max effort on most pitches. Feller and Duren were as fast as just about anyone today, excluding Chapman. Ryan's Express is my choice for the best arm ever, considering the number of pitches placed on that arm of his...

I think the bigger differences are that today pitchers throw more pitchers to each batter on average and pitchers throw more hard breaking balls, which are probably harder on the arm than th old 4-seam fastball anyway, than they did in the past.