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How Baseball HOFer Dazzy Vance Was So Fast He Could Get Strikeouts By Pretending To Throw A Pitch
The pitcher’s fastball was so impressive it was noted that he once rang up a batter without the ball ever leaving his hand
The obvious objective for a successful pitcher is to get as many batters out as possible without allowing too many runs in between. The best way to do that is through the strikeout, so the ball never even gets put in play. On one occasion, Hall-of-Fame hurler Dazzy Vance was able to record a punchout because his fastball was so powerful that he was able to convince a batter and umpire that he had put a third strike down the middle when in fact he never threw the ball at all.
The right-handed Vance is one of the more unique players in baseball history. Although he pitched for 16 years (1915; 1918; 1922–1935) in the big leagues, he didn’t become a regular until he was 31. However, from that point on he was a brilliant ace.
Pitching for five teams, most notably the 12 seasons he spent with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was a combined 197–140 with a 3.24 ERA. Highlighted by his powerful fastball, he led the National League in strikeouts for seven consecutive years (1922–1928), and also claimed the lead in wins twice and ERA three times. His production ultimately led to his enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.
There are a number of pitchers whose fastablls were so explosive that they became the stuff of legends. Vance is included in that group, as batters were fearful of stepping in against his heater. This led to a very unusual and funny incident that once occurred when he was pitching in an exhibition game in Bozeman, Montana. George Bugbee described what happened in a July 30, 1951 issue of The Memphis Press-Scimitar:
“His fastball was a gray blur, coming at you with supersonic speed out of a tattered red sweatshirt sleeve — torn with malice aforethought to further torture the batter’s eye with it’s distracting flutter…
“Dazzy was barnstorming that day with the Dodgers. In the last two innings, he took only a catcher and two infielders out with him to the field. And the infielders were mere stage props, as they stood lolling…
