Dalkowski’s wildness, along with a parallel reputation for wildness off the field, kept his career from moving forward. The Orioles developed many fine young pitchers in his era, but Dalkowski’s only appearance at Memorial Stadium was in an exhibition game against the Reds in ’59. He struck out the side.

Walter Youse: “He pitched that one exhibition game [in ’59] and struck out three Reds on nine pitches. My understanding was that [Reds manager] Birdie Tebbetts told everyone that they had to stand back at the far end of the batter’s box and just take every pitch, strike or ball. Anyone that swung, he was going to fine ’em. He didn’t want ’em in there against Steve.”

Steve Barber: “I was on the same staff with Steve and Bo Belinsky in ’59, in the Alabama-Florida League. I was fast, but he made me look slow. He just didn’t have a clue where it was going. And he was a different type person. Had real bad habits. He never had his underwear clean or anything. He had his sweatshirts and stuff in the locker by mine, and they smelled so bad I told him, ‘If you don’t wash those things by tomorrow, I’m going to cut them up.’

“He and Bo roomed together. Bo wasn’t really as bad as everyone thought. He was very conscientious about getting eight hours of sleep a night. He just didn’t get the eight when they wanted him to. But I remember one night, Bo and I were together, and we went into this place, and Steve’s there, and he says, ‘Hey, guys, come over and look at this beautiful sight’—twenty-four scotch and waters lined up in front of him. And he was pitching the next day. Then he stopped on the way home and bought a gallon of wine and killed that, too. The next night they just carried him off the mound in the fourth inning.”

Herm Starrette: “I played with him in Stockton, Appleton, and Elmira every year, and I always liked him and tried to keep him out of trouble. But there weren’t enough eyes around to keep an eye on him. Everyone loved him. If he was in a bar, he’d buy everyone a drink. People took care of him, made sure he got back to the hotel. When payday came, he’d come up and give you the money he owed you, because he always owed you, and then before the day was over he’d borrow it back.

“When I roomed with him, I roomed with a suitcase. He was just a young guy who hadn’t matured, and he came in when he got tired of being out. He was a good kid. I don’t think he had a heck of a lot of home life. He couldn’t help that, but the kid told me himself he’d go back home in the fall and he and his father would go out and drink a lot. He had so much ability he thought he could do all that [drinking] and still perform.

“One night in Elmira he got pretty lit after a game, and he was driving around in Ray Youngdahl’s Cadillac—brand new, a real beauty with fins and everything. Then the cops stopped him right near the stadium. He’d been drinking, and they were going to take him in, and then Steve threw the thing in reverse and just slammed it into the cop’s car. He really rammed that cop car. It was smoking. Tore up the Cadillac. I don’t know if he did it on purpose or not. But they took him down to jail and called Earl [Weaver], who was managing, and they said, ‘We got Steve down here,’ and Earl said, ‘Goddamnit, let him stay there tonight.’”

Boog Powell: “We played together in Arizona one fall, in the instructional league out there. He would drink to the point of just about passing out. One night we had been out, and I brought him home. I was carrying him, and there was Earl coming in. There were two entrances into the apartments, and I’ve got Dalko over my shoulder, and I said, ‘I can’t let Earl see me.’ So I throw Dalko in the bushes and get down and hide and watch Earl go up the steps to his place. And I go to get Dalko out of the bushes, and I’d thrown him in a rosebush and just tore his ass up. I mean, he was bleeding like a stuck pig. He’s cut all over the place.

“Now it’s getting to be two-fifteen, two-twenty in the morning, so I take him up to his place, and he’s still passed out. I get him in there, and I clean him up as best I can. Now we got to be at the ballpark the next day at, like, nine o’clock. So after all that it was probably after three o’clock in the morning, and then I had to go over there the next day and wake him up. He got right up. He wasn’t feeling real good. He said, ‘Oh man, what did I get into last night? Was there a wildcat or something?’ A wildcat! So I told him what I’d done and everything else and he said, ‘Oh man, I gotta pitch today. Maybe I’ll beg off.’ But he went and got in the whirlpool, got a little rub, and threw the best game I ever saw him pitch, even though he felt bad. That’s how much talent the guy had.”

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