Walter Johnson
Walter Perry Johnson (
November 6 1887 -
December 10 1946) was an
American right-handed
pitcher in
Major League Baseball. Born in
Humboldt, Kansas, he was a farm boy who grew up to become one of the major leagues' greatest stars. He was the second of six children and his family moved to
Orange County, California in
1901, where he attended Fullerton High School. After pitching in the
Idaho State League, Johnson signed a contract with the
Washington Nationals (later named the Senators) in July
1907.
Johnson won renown as the premier power pitcher of his era. Although a lack of precision instruments prevented accurate measurement of his fastball, Johnson is believed to have thrown as high as 99 miles per hour from a sidearm angle. This power is exceptional even today, but it was virtually unique in Johnson's day.
The overpowering fastball was the primary reason for Johnson's exceptional statistics, especially his fabled strikeout totals. Johnson's record total of 3,508 strikeouts stood for more than 55 years until both
Nolan Ryan and
Steve Carlton surpassed it in early
1983. Johnson is now 9th on the all-time strikeout list, but his total must be understood in its proper context. Among his pre-
WW2 contemporaries, only two men were within a thousand strikeouts of Johnson: runner-up
Cy Young with 2,803, more than 800 behind, and
Tim Keefe at 2,562. (
Bob Feller, whose war-shortened career began in 1936, ended up with 2,581.)
Nicknamed
Big Train, as a right-handed pitcher for the
Washington Nationals/Senators, he won 417 games,
the second most by any pitcher in history (after
Cy Young, who won 511). He and Young are the only pitchers to have won 400 games or more.
In a 21-year career, Johnson had twelve 20-win seasons, including ten in a row. Twice he topped thirty wins (33 in
1912 and 36 in
1913). Johnson's record includes 110 shutouts, the most in baseball history. Johnson had a 38-26 record in games decided by a 1-0 score; both his win total and his losses in these games are major league records. On September 4, 5, and 7,
1908, he shut out the
New York Yankees in three consecutive games.
He thrice won the
triple crown for pitchers (1913,
1918,
1924). Johnson twice won the
American League Most Valuable Player Award (1913, 1924), a feat accomplished by only three pitchers (
Carl Hubbell and
Hal Newhouser are the others). Johnson's 3,508 all-time strikeout record stood for 56 years, until
Steve Carlton,
Nolan Ryan, and
Gaylord Perry (in that order) broke it in
1983. His
earned run average of 1.14 in 1913 was one of the lowest of all time, and indeed held the post-1901 record, though only for a year, as
Dutch Leonard would break the record the next year.
That 1.14 ERA in 1913 should have been lower if not for one of manager
Clark Griffith's traditions. For the last game of the season, Griffith often treated the fans to a farce game. The farce game in 1913 saw the 43 year old Griffith playing a ball off his head while playing right field. He also misplayed a liner that resulted in an inside-the-park homer, and he also was one of eight pitchers to appear in the game. Griffith played Walter Johnson in Center Field until bringing him in to pitch in the 8th inning. In that appearance, Johnson lobbed pitches to two hitters that resulted in hits before he was sent back to playing Center Field. The subsequent pitcher (actually a
catcher making his only Major League pitching appearance) then allowed the two runners to score. Some record books still indicate that Johnson had a 1.09 ERA for 1913. The official scorekeeper ignored the game, but later, Johnson was charged with those two runs, raising his ERA.
Although he usually pitched for losing teams during his career, Johnson led the
Washington Nationals/Senators to two World Series, a victory in 1924 (including the final, 12-inning game) and a loss in
1925. Johnson was a better-than-average hitter for a pitcher, compiling a career
batting average of .235, including a record .433 average in 1925. He also made 13 appearances in the
outfield during his career.
In
1928, he began his career as a
manager in the
minor leagues, taking up residence at 32 Maple Terrace,
Millburn, New Jersey, and managing the
Newark team of the
International League. He continued on to the major leagues, managing the
Washington Nationals/Senators (
1929-
1932), and finally the
Cleveland Indians (
1933-
1935).
One of the first five electees to the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
1936, Walter Johnson retired in
Germantown, Maryland and was elected
Montgomery County commissioner in 1938. He lost a very close election to the
U.S. Congress in 1940 and died of a
brain tumor in
Washington, D.C. on
December 10 1946. He is interred in the
Rockville Union Cemetery in
Rockville, Maryland.
A
high school in
Bethesda, Maryland has been named for him. (See
Walter Johnson High School.) The monument to him that once stood outside
Griffith Stadium has been moved to the school's campus.
He was also called
Sir Walter and the
White Knight because of his gentlemanly gamemanship, and "Old Barney" later in his career. In
1995, the rock musician
Jonathan Richman recorded a song entitled "Walter Johnson" that celebrated Johnson's kindness.
In
1999, he ranked number 4 on
The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, the highest-ranked pitcher. Later that year, he was elected to the
Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Johnson's gentle nature was legendary, and to this day he is held up as an example of good sportsmanship while his name has become synonymous with friendly competition. This attribute worked to Johnson's disadvantage in the case of fellow Hall of Famer
Ty Cobb. Virtually all batters were concerned about being hit by Johnson's fastball, and many would not "dig in" at the plate because of that concern. Cobb realized that the good-hearted Johnson was privately nervous about the possibility of seriously injuring a batsman. Almost alone among his peers, Cobb would actually stand closer to the plate than usual when facing Johnson.
Johnson's rookie season was Cobb's third, and Johnson retired one year before Cobb. Cobb faced Johnson at bat more times in their overlapping careers than any other hitter-pitcher combination in major league history.
|
2000 stamp issued by the USPS to commemorate Walter Johnson. |
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