Baseball questions from my dad, Part V

Whenever I watch a ballgame with my dad, he asks me a lot of questions. Not so much about that particular game, but more macro stuff ... What percentage of left-handed hitters throw right-handed? and How many ballplayers are from the Domincan Republic/Venezuela/Japan? ... that kind of thing. On the face of it, his questions seem simple, but often require a lot of research to answer.

Last week I was telling him about Billy Hamilton, the fastest man in baseball. I told him that Hamilton stole 155 bases last year between Single-A and Double-A, and 75 at Triple-A this season before being called up to Cincinnati. But what my NFL-obsessed dad really wanted to know was ...

How fast does Billy Hamilton run the 40-yard dash?

This one was easy to find. When Hamilton played for the Bakersfield Blaze of the High-A California League last season, he was interviewed by the hometown paper:

Hamilton could always run, but he said he’s only been timed once. He ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash in high school, a time that would make many NFL wide receivers happy.

Thing is, Hamilton clocked that as a freshman.

“That’s the only time I’ve been timed,” he said. “I’m faster than that now.”

And from a FOX Sports article last winter:

“If I ran a (40-yard-dash) time, it wouldn’t be as fast as how fast I run when I’m stealing a base,” said the Taylorsville, Miss., native, who spurned a football scholarship to Mississippi State to sign with the Cincinnati Reds in 2009. “I’m more of a game-situation guy.”

Here’s a video of Hamilton going home to first in 3.64 seconds:

Next time on Baseball questions from my dad ... How many pitchers throw 100 mph?