New Britain native Steve Dalkowski is known as the hardest thrower in baseball history. A new documentary on the life of the left-handed pitcher is set to premiere this weekend on Connecticut Public Television.
Executive producer Tom Chiappetta, who is a baseball historian and former Connecticut sportswriter and sports TV executive, has been working on the film for the last 30 years.
“My background as a reporter, still to this day, I know what a good story is and Steve’s story is as compelling as any story ever in sports, not just in baseball,” said Chiappetta.
Far from Home: The Steve Dalkowski Story features exclusive interviews and rare footage.
“There’s a lot of stuff that people already know about Steve but one of the things is that there’s not a piece of video of Steve throwing a baseball anywhere that anybody has been able to find,” said Chiappetta. “But I think we have something that will fall into that category for people to see.”
The film also dives into the frustrations and obstacles Dalkowski faced, including his struggle with alcoholism. Dalkowski, who passed away in April, never made it to the major leagues but he was a high school sports hero in New Britain and went on to earn praise from some of baseball’s best players and coaches. Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver said Dalkowski had “the most God-given ability of any one pitcher I ever had.”
The documentary is Chiappetta’s filmmaking debut. After it debuts on October 10 at 7 p.m., it will be available for on-demand viewing at https://cptv.org/far-from-home-the-steve-dalkowski-story/
