Let me make this clear, I'm not here to diminish Verlander's milestone accomplishment. And no, I'm not like Joe Morgan who can detect the difference between 102 and 99mph with the naked eye (thanks Matt). But I have to say there was one detail from Tuesday's no-hitter that really stood out to me. I'm in disbelief that Justin Verlander was really throwing 102mph on Tuesday night. I'm not trying to say that Verlander is not a fireballer -- I know he is, just as is his teammate, Joel Zumaya. But 102mph is fast -- really fast. Ungodly fast. Isn't it entirely possible that the gun readings at Comerica were (are?) dialed up to give higher readings for marketing purposes? Isn't it a lot cooler for a team to boast that they have a pitcher who throws 101 and 102mph rather than 98 and 99mph? Don't triple-digit radar gun readings get the crowd pumped up as much as a slugger cracking a 500 foot home run? Isn't it about putting on an entertaining show, and at the very least, creating an intimidating effect on hitters? I certainly think so -- that's why I'm having a hard time believing that Verlander was clocking 102 in the game. And if the comments are any indication, so are many of you. Danny and Shane said the same thing on PostmanR's no-hitter news Tuesday night:
102 and 99 mph on his last two pitches I dont think so. Everyone knows that radar guns are always set to read 5 to 8 mph higher. Sorry Tiger fans.I think Shane is exaggerating here, but it shows I'm not alone in my skepticism. You may be thinking to yourself that I'm nuts for talking about a menial difference of one, two, or three miles per hour. I disagree; baseball is a game of numbers. Our only way of measuring and comparing players, eras, and accomplishments is through these numbers. So if radar guns are purposely tweaked to give higher readings, it screws with our sense of legitimacy, and leaves us no accurate way of properly stacking up the great fireballers in history.
...
It's true, stadium and TV radar guns are usually set higher. A guy who hits 100 mph usually really between 92 and 95. Verlander really throws between 91 and 95 at the max, anything higher than that is a fast guy. I was actually at a game where the scoreboard said Rich Harden was hitting 101 and I know he never tops past 95. Congrats to Justin Verlander.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-13-2007 @ 7:45PM
mhoward said...
Verlander's fast is that fast. Im the minor leagues he constantly hit 100(although without control) and he has reach 100 in several different major league parks not just Detriot. He also he tirple digit's in college. So get over it. He can bring it.
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6-13-2007 @ 9:06PM
Ukulele Bartt said...
Nolan Ryan was clocked at 100.9 using Rockwell lasers, but Rockwell only measured pitches that were in the strike zone. He may have thrown pitches an inch outside that were faster. And the lasers were aimed just in front of home plate, not at the point of release, so Ryan's pitches probably lost a hair off their speed by the time they reached the laser zone.
Ryan was only measured during 2 starts; he likely would have gone far higher than 100.9 during his no-hitters or 19K games. That's why I doubt anyone has ever thrown harder than Ryan. But it's fun to wonder, isn't it?
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6-13-2007 @ 10:26PM
Stinge said...
Come on, Larry. You've got to give credit where credit is due. Most Major Leaguers can hit a 90 to 95 MPH fastball. Especially a first place team. But yet nobody could touch Verlander's stuff last night. Face it, the boy had it goin' on!! You press guys ALWAYS try to cast a shadow on every little ray of sunshine that goes on in the sports world. I'd like to see you step in the box against a 102 MPH pitch!! By the way, do you think JR Richard REALLY had a 100 MPH curve ball? Do you think somebody REALLY broke the 4-minute mile mark? Do you think them dragsters REALLY go 300 MPH? Do you think we REALLY send astronauts into space? Maybe it was just "cooler" for the home crowd. Do us all a favor. Stick to reporting scores and stats and such, and stop thinking so much.
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6-13-2007 @ 10:34PM
Larry Brown said...
I love people like Stinge. We should believe everything we're told because it's true. No point in questioning anything, no matter how outrageous it may be. That's quite the simple-minded approach there buddy. You're just the type of person owners love.
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6-13-2007 @ 11:48PM
Sally Post said...
If you don't think that Verlander could throw 102 mph ball, then he did one heck of a job shutting out a good team like the Brewers. They hit at the ball and just couldn't hit it moving as fast as it was. I guess it really didn't matter how fast it was going, he got a no hitter, and there was 000 across the board and this will go down in History. So don't be so skeptical, doesn't matter anyway.
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6-14-2007 @ 2:03AM
lj said...
I get a real kick out of you guys who spend your time commenting on such mundane things as whether Verlander really hit 102 MPH on the radar gun. Who gives a flying hoot! The guy pitched a No-hitter!!! A NO-Hiter!!! However fast he was throwing, he pitched a no-hitter!!!! Get it guys? Not everyone does that every day. So whether he hit 102 or threw hard curve or sliders, he pitched a No-hitter! That's the story, not what he DIDN'T do. And that's what some guys are always seemingly trying to do--make what a guy DIDN'T DO, the story...except of course BARRY BONDS. Virtually everyone who has ever pithed a NO-NO hAs been given credit for hitting 100 some time or another on the gun (when tHey hAd them)...Dazzy Vance, Paul Dean, Johnny Van Der Meer, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Lew Burette, Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown,Jim Maloney, Roy Oswalt, Randy Johnson, A.J. Burnett, ad infinitum... And any one of them is capable of hitting 100 at least once in a game, etc. So what??? They did something extraordinary that the majority of the thousands of other guys in the Bigs never did and won't DO! He pitched a frigin' No-hITTER...That's the story. Now if he did it with all knuckleballs, maybe we got something. Meanwhile, go petition the bringing back of the Sopranos or something, worthwhile. Geeez.
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6-14-2007 @ 2:03AM
lj said...
I get a real kick out of you guys who spend your time commenting on such mundane things as whether Verlander really hit 102 MPH on the radar gun. Who gives a flying hoot! The guy pitched a No-hitter!!! A NO-Hiter!!! However fast he was throwing, he pitched a no-hitter!!!! Get it guys? Not everyone does that every day. So whether he hit 102 or threw hard curve or sliders, he pitched a No-hitter! That's the story, not what he DIDN'T do. And that's what some guys are always seemingly trying to do--make what a guy DIDN'T DO, the story...except of course BARRY BONDS. Virtually everyone who has ever pithed a NO-NO hAs been given credit for hitting 100 some time or another on the gun (when tHey hAd them)...Dazzy Vance, Paul Dean, Johnny Van Der Meer, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Lew Burette, Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown,Jim Maloney, Roy Oswalt, Randy Johnson, A.J. Burnett, ad infinitum... And any one of them is capable of hitting 100 at least once in a game, etc. So what??? They did something extraordinary that the majority of the thousands of other guys in the Bigs never did and won't DO! He pitched a frigin' No-hITTER...That's the story. Now if he did it with all knuckleballs, maybe we got something. Meanwhile, go petition the bringing back of the Sopranos or something, worthwhile. Geeez.
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6-14-2007 @ 10:39AM
lavoydavid said...
Verlander's fasball is nice yes, but Zumaya is the REAL deal. BTW..Verlander only hit 102 once in the game albeit the ninth with 2 outs...ever hear of adrenaline??
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6-14-2007 @ 1:12PM
kim said...
somebody else said something about that, he was a fan of another team , all i can say is WHO CARES, a no hitter is a ni hitter no matter what the speed of the ball! i`m a detroit fan, and i dont give a rats behind how fast he threw, just that he threw great kicked butt! and took names later, no one will diminish this in the detroit tigers fans eyes, we are very loyal!!!!!!!!!!
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6-14-2007 @ 1:16PM
kim said...
just went back and read some of the comments, u tell them lj and sally and all the rest out there. that this article was even wrote is stupid
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6-14-2007 @ 3:40PM
Stinge said...
Look Larry, I think you're on the gin and "juice".
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6-14-2007 @ 3:46PM
Stinge said...
Look Larry, I think you're on the gin and "juice".
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6-14-2007 @ 4:02PM
Stinge said...
I love people like Larry, haters, and skeptics,because somebody is ALWAYS better than them, or they can't do something that someone else can.My father told me something a long time ago. He said,those who can do it, do it. Those who can't do it, write about it in the paper. Or in your case, this blog.
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6-14-2007 @ 4:25PM
Craig said...
First of all, I'm a Tigers fan. As such, I'm entitled to believe that Verlander throws 102 regardless of any countering factual evidence present. So...Verlander throws 102 and that's just the way it is.
Second, I just wanted to state how much I enjoy commenters who criticize an author for taking time to nitpick some mundane point related to the sports world. Do you people realize how much time you've wasted nitpicking the author's nitpicking? Let's face it, we all could be doing more important things right now... but we're not. So get over it.
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6-15-2007 @ 1:43AM
Jon said...
I think he could have been firing that fast. We have a pretty good lineup in Milwaukee hitting wise and he sat guys down making them look pretty bad at the time too.
Milwakee made up for it though! Detroit needs bullpen help. we can talk about their starters in Verlander, Bonderman and this new Miller kid, but unless they get bullpen help they won't cut it this year.
Hey, Brewers fans, you might get a kick out of this:
http://www.spreadshirt.com/shop.php?sid=116156
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6-15-2007 @ 8:23PM
fatima said...
he was drug tested the next day
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6-20-2007 @ 12:42AM
Ukulele Bartt said...
Big Deal. I threw a no-hitter in Little League, and I was clocked at 52 mph. They used a mule to time me; they tossed a bale of alfalfa out the window at 52 and the mule chased it down the first base line, and they extrapolated the measurements to calculate my speed. Then in high school I threw a six-hitter and was clocked at 77 by a guy with a sun dial and a pair of scissors. So Verlander's not the only guy who can bring it.
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6-24-2007 @ 7:22PM
Reidksmith said...
Agreed. I think it's a given that the guns are dialed up, although we don't know just how much. Heck, Zumaya himself has said as much. But what makes hitting a 100mph fastball difficult is not the speed, although thats part of it. Certainly 100mph is tougher than 90mph. But what's tough is the difference between the fastball and the off speed. Say Verlander's off speed clocks in at 80. Thats a 20 mph difference, regardless of whether it's 'really' 75 and 95. That 20mph difference is what will get you.
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