105 mph clocking....

Those High Heat readings continue to happen. Reds rookie Aroldis Chapman was clocked at 105 last night in San Diego. Pretty impressive. Just finished the Afterword for the trade paper edition of High Heat and the Cuban defector gets his due. Does he belong with Feller, Ryan, Dalkowski, etc.? Certainly. But I'm not ready to put him in the top rung yet.

More reviews

ARETE, the sports literature journal, weighs in about HH. Calls the book "intriguing and informative." And singles out the sections about biomechanics, "the miraculous Tommy John surgery" and "the extensive analysis of
the talents and problems of little-known Steve Dalkowski."

Thumbs-up from LA Daily News

Tom Hoffarth calls High Heat, "a fastball down the middle ... maybe one as fast as (Steve) Dalkowski's..."
http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/archives/2010/04/30-baseball-boo-3.html

Live from New Britain. CT

Part of the fun during my swing through New Britain, Conn., last week. Here I am with Ken Lipshez, the top baseball writer for The Herald.
Thanks to Ken, the students at Central Connecticut State, their teacher Mary Collins and several of Steve Dalkowski's friends and former teammates for making it a grand evening. It was a real joy to read about Steve before an audience that treasures him.

A Fireballer's Allure

With the signing of Aroldis Chapman, we're once again reminded that nothing is valued more in professional baseball than the ability to throw a baseball better than 100-plus miles per hour.
As a starter and reliever with Cuba's national team, Chapman, 22, has been clocked at 102 miles per hour. Today the Reds signed him to five-year, $30 million deal.
Of course, last year fireballer Stephen Strasburg was the game's biggest bonus baby. The season before it was left-hander David Price. Fireballers all. And all of them are in High Heat.
But pardon me if I find myself thinking about Steve Dalkowski at such times. He was a bonus baby, too. Even though his contract was in the tens of thousands rather than in the multi-millions. That's a vintage shot of Dalkowski to the left.
He would have been remembered as the best of the bunch -- if he had truly made it.