Walter Johnson

(click to enlarge)
Walter Johnson. (credit: UPI)

(born Nov. 6, 1887, Humboldt, Kan., U.S. — died Dec. 10, 1946, Washington, D.C.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Johnson had perhaps the greatest fastball in the history of the game. A right-handed thrower with a sidearm delivery who batted right as well, Johnson pitched for the Washington Senators of the American League from 1907 through 1927. He holds the all-time record for most shutouts (110), ranks second to Cy Young in wins (416), and established the record for his time for most strikeouts (3,508; broken in 1983). After his playing career, he became a manager with the Senators and later with the Cleveland Indians.

For more information on Walter Perry Johnson, visit Britannica.com.

Most experts consider Walter "Big Train" Johnson (1887-1946) to be the greatest pitcher in baseball history. Both feared and respected, Johnson combined a dominating fastball with a generous spirit. Unlike most pitchers of his era, he refused to knockdown opposing batters with inside pitches and was a model of gentlemanly refinement both on and off the field.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Johnson won 416 games in his 21 seasons from 1907 to 1927 and compiled a remarkable 2.17 earned run average. He spent his entire career with the lowly Washington Senators, eventually leading the perennial losers into the World Series in 1924 and 1925. Johnson won 20 or more games in 12 seasons and set the all-time career mark for shutouts with 110. After his playing days ended, he managed the Senators from 1929 to 1932 and the Cleveland Indians from 1933 to 1935. He was among the first five players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

From Semipro to Star

Johnson's parents, immigrants from Sweden, were farmers who first settled in Ohio, then traveled by covered wagon to Kansas. Walter Perry Johnson was born on November 6, 1887 in Humboldt, Kansas. In 1901, the family moved to Orange County, California, hoping to earn a better living working in the oil fields. There, Walter attended Fullerton High School and starred on the baseball team. After graduating, he played baseball briefly in Tacoma, Washington, then moved to Weiser, Idaho, and got a job with the Weiser Telephone Company. For $75 a month, he dug holes for telephone poles and pitched for the company's semipro team.

Johnson flung the ball with a sidearm delivery that was so deceptive that his fastball seemed to come out of his hip pocket and rocket past the batter. Luckily for hitters, he also had pinpoint control. Word of Johnson's remarkable pitching feats filtered east, through the reports of a traveling cigar salesman who praised the kid's fastball in reports sent to major league teams. One reporter wrote: "He throws so fast you can't see 'em, and he knows where he is throwing, because if he didn't, there would be dead bodies all over Idaho." The Senators sent an injured catcher, Cliff Blankenship, to scout him. Blankenship signed Johnson to a contract and he joined Washington in August 1907, never having played minor league ball. The Pittsburgh Pirates had wanted to sign him, but refused to guarantee his $9 train fare back home if he didn't make the team. Johnson signed for $350 a month, a $100 bonus and the train fare - and that proved to be the best investment the Senators ever made.

Johnson was 19 when he began pitching for the Senators. In his big-league debut against Detroit, on August 2, he lost, 3-2. But Ty Cobb was so impressed that he told Tigers manager Frank Navin: "Get this kid even if he costs you twenty-five thousand dollars. That's the best arm I've ever seen. He's so fast it scared me." Navin refused. Cobb later said: "All he did for the next twenty years was beat Detroit."

During Johnson's first three seasons, he lost 48 games and won only 32. But his talent and stamina were obvious from the start. In 1908, he shut out the New York Highlanders (later known as the Yankees) three times in four days, allowing only 12 hits. He won two more games against the Philadelphia Athletics in the next four days, giving him five victories in eight days. Legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice soon labeled Johnson "The Big Train," because his fastball had the power and speed of a locomotive. His teammates called him "Barney," after racecar driver Barney Oldfield. That was because Johnson was as reckless and uncontrolled behind the wheel as he was totally in control on the mound.

In 1910 Johnson was the Senators' opening day starter. Before the game he caught a ceremonial "first pitch" from President William Howard Taft, starting a tradition of presidential "first pitches" at Washington openers. Johnson won the game with a one-hit shutout. He would go on to win nine openers in front of four different presidents, seven of them shutouts, and started 14 opening games in all. His last, in 1926, was a 15-inning shutout.

In 1910, Johnson sported a 1.35 earned run average, led the league with a remarkable 38 complete games in 42 starts, struck out a league-high 313, and won 25 games. In 1912, he had another fantastic season for the Senators, winning 32 games, losing only 12, and leading the league in earned run average with 1.39 and in strikeouts with 303.

In 1913, at the age of 26, Johnson turned in probably the most dominating season by any major league pitcher in history. "The Big Train" won 36 games, lost 7, had a miniscule 1.09 earned run average, and struck out 243 batters in 346 innings. Johnson completed 11 shutouts and threw 56 consecutive scoreless innings during one stretch. No pitcher ever again won 36 games in a season. For his efforts, Johnson won a new Chalmers automobile as the American League's Most Valuable Player.

From 1910 to 1916, Johnson had seven consecutive seasons of 25 wins or better. His earned run average never rose above 2.30 in any of his first 11 seasons in the major leagues. Johnson led the league in strikeouts in 12 of his 21 seasons, including eight years in a row from 1912 through 1919. Five times he led the American League in earned run average, six times in wins, and six times in complete games. In 1916 he did not allow a home run in 371 innings pitched, a record that will never be broken, because pitchers no longer pitch more than 300 innings in a season. On May 11, 1918, he pitched an 18-inning, 1-0 victory over Chicago.

The Gentlemanly Dominator

Most great pitchers of Johnson's era relied on the spitball. But Johnson felt the spitter, which at that time was perfectly legal, was unfair. Johnson's right arm acted like a pendulum, whipping his fastball past stunned batters. Cobb said his fastball "looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed."

Tigers outfielder Sam Crawford said Johnson was such a fluid, effortless pitcher that he was like a pitching machine. "He had such an easy motion that it looked like he was just playing catch," Crawford told author Lawrence Ritter. "That's what threw you off. He threw nice and easy - and then, swooch, it was by you." There were no radar guns in the days when Johnson pitched, so there is no way of comparing his speed to latter-day fireballers such as Nolan Ryan, but many baseball experts believe Johnson threw harder than anyone in history.

Johnson wasn't just frighteningly fast; he was uncannily accurate. He had such pinpoint control that he averaged less than two walks a game for his career. Johnson also was an excellent athlete and a complete player. He fielded his position almost flawlessly, compiling the best fielding percentage and most assists of any pitcher in major league history. And as a hitter, he could also be formidable. In 1925 he batted .433, the highest average ever by a pitcher.

In a time when baseball was a rowdy sport, Johnson was admired by friend and foe alike for his unflagging sportsmanship. He was just as graceful off the field as on the mound - a refined gentleman who stood out among his boozing, wild-living teammates and opponents. Johnson never drank, smoked, or used profanity.

Won for the Underdogs

Johnson completely dominated batters through the 1919 season, which marked the end of the so-called "dead-ball era." But the Senators rarely were a winning team. The victories Johnson might have amassed with a better team would have brought him much closer to Cy Young's record of 511 wins. In the 279 games Johnson lost during his career, his team was shut out in 65 of them. In 27 games, Johnson lost by a score of 1-0. He also won 38 games by the same 1-0 score. Johnson holds the record both for 1-0 victories and 1-0 losses.

Throughout Johnson's career, many better teams made overtures to obtain him. The most serious offer came after the 1914 season, when Chicago of the upstart Federal League offered him $25,000 per season for three years. Johnson was earning a $12,000 annual salary at the time. Washington matched the offer, and Johnson stayed loyal to the woebegone Senators for the rest of his playing days.

In the last eight years of Johnson's career, as Babe Ruth broke home run records and baseball changed to a power-hitting game, Johnson had only two 20-win seasons. His strikeout totals declined markedly as pitchers became less dominant and he entered the waning years of his career. But his determination to win never flagged. On July 1, 1920, Johnson pitched a 12-inning no-hitter, beating Boston 1-0.

In 1924, Johnson again was named the league's Most Valuable Player, leading Washington to a rare appearance in the World Series. During the series, Johnson started two games and lost twice to the New York Giants, but his team stayed alive and forced a seventh and deciding game. With the seventh game tied in the eighth inning, the Senators brought in Johnson as a reliever. Though he was working on only one day's rest, Johnson pitched four scoreless innings and the Senators won in 12 innings. Even his opponents were impressed. "The good Lord just couldn't bear to see a fine fellow like Walter Johnson lose again," said Jack Bentley, the losing pitcher for the Giants.

In 1925, Johnson had 20 wins against only seven defeats and the Senators returned to the World Series. Johnson won his first two starts against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing a total of one run. However, he lost the final game, 9-7, when his teammates' errors led to four unearned runs, and the Pirates beat the Senators to win the world championship.

In 1927, Johnson was struck by a line drive during spring training and broke his leg. He tried to pitch wearing a leg brace, but without much success, and he retired after the season. His career 2.17 earned run average ranks seventh among all major league pitchers. He ranks second on the all-time list in victories, third in innings pitched (5,923) and fifth in complete games, with 531. Johnson's 3,508 strike-outs set a new record which stood for 50 years; by the end of the century his career strikeout total ranked seventh.

After his playing days ended, Johnson remained in baseball. In 1929, he became a manager with the Senators. Washington won more than 90 games in three of Johnson's four seasons at the helm but never finished in first place. Johnson then managed the Cleveland Indians from 1933 through 1935. He returned to Washington as a radio broadcaster in 1939.

In 1936, Johnson was one of five players, known as "the Five Immortals," who were the first inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The others were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson.

In his later years, Johnson dabbled in farming and politics. After his Hall of Fame induction, he retired to his farm in Germantown, Maryland. In 1938, he was elected Montgomery County commissioner. In 1940, he ran for the United States Congress as a Republican, narrowly losing. In April 1946, he was felled by a brain tumor. He died on December 10, 1946, in Washington.

Books

Davis, Mac, Hall of Fame Baseball, Collins/World, 1975.

Sullivan, George, Pitchers: Twenty-Seven of Baseball's Greatest, Atheneum, 1994.

Thomas, Henry, Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

The Baseball Encyclopedia, Macmillan, 1997.

Online

"Walter Johnson," http://members.aol.com/stealth792/johnson/johnson.html.

"Walter Johnson," Total Baseball,http://www.totalbaseball.com/player/j/johnw102/johnw102.html.

For other uses, see Walter Johnson (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Walter Johnson
Pitcher
Born: November 6, 1887(1887-11-06) Humboldt, Kansas
Died: December 10, 1946 (aged 59) Washington, D.C.
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 2, 1907 for the Washington Senators
Last MLB appearance
September 30, 1927 for the Washington Senators
Career statistics
Win-Loss record	417-279
Earned run average	2.17
Strikeouts	3,508
Shutouts	110
Teams
As Player Washington Senators (1907-1927) As Manager Washington Senators (1929-1932) Cleveland Indians (1933-1935)
Career highlights and awards
2× AL MVP (1913, 1924) World Series champion (1924) All-time major league leader in shutouts (110) Major League Baseball All-Century Team
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1936
Vote	83.63

Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887–December 10, 1946), nicknamed "The Big Train," was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball between 1907 and 1927. One of the most celebrated players in baseball history, Johnson established several pitching records, some of which remained unbroken for nearly a century.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Baseball career 3 Additional facts and details 4 Statistics 5 See also 6 References 7 Other Sources 8 Related reading 9 External links

Early life

Walter Johnson was the second of six children born to Frank and Minnie (Perry) Johnson on a rural farm four miles west of Humboldt, Kansas.^[1] Although sometimes said to be of Swedish ancestry and referred to by sportwriters as the "The Big Swede", Johnson's ancestors came from the British Isles^[2].

Soon after he reached his fourteenth birthday, his family moved to California's Orange County in 1902. The Johnsons settled in the town of Olinda, a small oil boomtown located just east of Brea. ^[3] In his youth, the young Walter Johnson split his time between playing baseball, working in the nearby oil fields, and going horseback riding.^[3] Johnson later attended Fullerton High School where he struck out 27 batters during a 15-inning game against Santa Ana High School.^[3] He later moved to Idaho where he doubled as a telephone company employee and a pitcher for a local Weiser, Idaho-based baseball team in the Idaho State League. Johnson was spotted by a talent scout and eventually signed a contract with the Washington Senators on July 1907 at the age of nineteen.

Baseball career

Johnson won renown as the premier power pitcher of his era. Ty Cobb recalled his first encounter with the rookie fastballer:

"On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw in the ball field. He was a rookie, and we licked our lips as we warmed up for the first game of a doubleheader in Washington. Evidently, manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of the Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us... He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty, with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves, and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance... One of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing, and we hollered at Cantillon: 'Get the pitchfork ready, Joe-- your hayseed's on his way back to the barn.'

...The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him... every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park."^[4]

Although a lack of precision instruments prevented accurate measurement of his fastball, in 1917, a Bridgeport (Conn.) arms laboratory recorded Johnson's fastball at 134 feet per second, which is equal to 91.36 miles per hour (147.03 km/h). This speed is not unheard of today, but it was virtually unique in Johnson's day, with the possible exception of Smoky Joe Wood. Unusually, Johnson pitched with a sidearm motion, whereas power pitchers are normally associated with a straight-overhand delivery.

The overpowering fastball was the primary reason for Johnson's exceptional statistics, especially his fabled strikeout totals. Johnson's record total of 3,508^[5] strikeouts stood for more than 55 years until Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, and Gaylord Perry (in that order) all surpassed it in 1983. Johnson is now 9th on the all-time strikeout list, but his total must be understood in its proper context. Among his pre-World War II contemporaries, only two men were within a thousand strikeouts of Johnson: runner-up Cy Young with 2,803 (706 strikeouts behind) and Tim Keefe at 2,562. Bob Feller, whose war-shortened career began in 1936, later ended up with 2,581.

Walter Johnson on a 1909-1911 American Tobacco Company baseball card (White Borders (T206)).

As a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals/Senators, Walter Johnson 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.

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 (then known as the New York Highlanders) in three consecutive games.

Three times, Johnson won the triple crown for pitchers (1913, 1918 and 1924). Johnson twice won the American League Most Valuable Player Award (1913, 1924), a feat accomplished since by only two other pitchers, Carl Hubbell in 1933 and 1936 and Hal Newhouser in 1944 and 1945.

His earned run average of 1.14 in 1913 was the fourth lowest ever at the time he recorded it; it remains the sixth-lowest today, despite having been surpassed by Bob Gibson in 1968 (1.12) for lowest ERA ever by a 300+ inning pitcher. It could 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. Johnson actually played center field that game until he was brought in to pitch. He allowed two hits before he was taken out of the game. The next pitcher - who was actually a career catcher - allowed both runners to score. The official scorekeeper ignored the game, but later, Johnson was charged with those two runs, raising his ERA from 1.09 to 1.14.

In 1913, also, Johnson won 36 games. The entire team won 90, so Walter finished with 40% of the team's total wins for the season.

Although he usually pitched for losing teams during his career, Johnson finally led the Washington Nationals/Senators to the World Series in 1924, his 18th year in the American League. Johnson lost the first and fifth game of the 1924 World Series, but became the hero by pitching four scoreless innings of relief in the seventh and deciding game, winning in the 12th inning. Washington returned to the World Series the following season, but Johnson's experience was close to the inverse: two early wins, followed by a Game Seven loss.

President Calvin Coolidge (left) and Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson (right) shake hands.

Although his Hall of Fame plaque reads that he pitched 'for many years with a losing team,' during his career the Senators finished in the first division 11 times, and the second division 10 times. In Johnson's first five seasons, Washington finished last twice and next-to-last three times. But they came close to winning the pennant in 1912 as well as the following year, which were Johnson's two 30-win seasons. Then, for the next decade, they typically finished in the middle of the pack before their back-to-back pennants.

Johnson was a good 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. He hit over .200 in 13 of his 21 seasons as a hitter, hit three home runs in 1914, and hit 12 doubles and a triple in 130 at bats in 1917. Johnson finished his career with 23 home runs, the ninth-highest total for a pitcher in Major League history.

Johnson had a reputation as a kindly person, and made many friends in baseball. As reported in The Glory of Their Times, Sam Crawford was one of Johnson's good friends, and sometimes in non-critical situations, Johnson would ease up so Crawford would hit well against him. This would vex Crawford's teammate, Ty Cobb, who could not understand how Crawford could hit the great Johnson so well. Johnson was also friendly with Babe Ruth, despite Ruth's having hit some of his longest home runs off him at Griffith Stadium.

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). Johnson also served as a radio announcer for the Senators during the 1939 season.

One of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, Walter Johnson retired to Germantown, Maryland. A life-long Republican and friend of President Calvin Coolidge, Johnson was elected as a Montgomery County commissioner in 1938. In 1940 he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in Maryland's 6th district, but came up short against the incumbent Democrat, William D. Byron, by a total of 60,037 (53%) to 52,258 (47%).^[6]

At 7:00 PM, Tuesday, December 10, 1946^[7] Johnson died of a brain tumor in Washington, D.C., five weeks after his 59th birthday, and was interred at Rockville Union Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland^[8].

Additional facts and details

• Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland has been named for him. The monument to him that once stood outside Griffith Stadium has been moved to the school's campus. The school's yearbook is called "The Windup" and the newspaper is called "The Pitch."

• The baseball field in Memorial Park, in Weiser, Idaho, is called Walter Johnson Field.

• Johnson was the first American League pitcher to strike out four batters in one inning.

• A team in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League in Bethesda is named the "Big Train" in honor of him.

He was also called "Sir Walter", "the White Knight", and "The Gentle Johnson" because of his gentlemanly gamesmanship, and "Barney" after auto racer Barney Oldfield (he got out of a traffic ticket when a teammate in the car told the policeman Johnson was Barney Oldfield)^[8]. In 1985, the rock musician Jonathan Richman recorded a song entitled "Walter Johnson" that celebrated Johnson's kindness.

In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Johnson number 4 on its list of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players, the highest-ranked pitcher.^[9] 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.^[10]

Johnson's rookie season was Cobb's third, and Johnson retired one year before Cobb. He faced Johnson at bat more times in their overlapping careers than any other hitter-pitcher combination in major league history.

Johnson was mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash:

Lineup for Yesterday
J is for Johnson The Big Train in his prime Was so fast he could throw Three strikes at a time.
— Ogden Nash, Sport magazine (January 1949)[11]

Statistics

Career Statistics:

Pitching

W	L	WP	GP	GS	CG	Sh	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	SO	HBP	BFP	ERA	WHIP
417	279	.599	802	666	531	110	34	5,914.1	4,913	97	1,363	3,508	203	23,749	2.17	1.061

Hitting

G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
933	2,324	547	94	41	24	241	255	13	110	251 *	.235	.274	.342	0.616

* Strikeouts not counted for batters until 1913 in the AL, 1910 in the NL.

See also

• 300 win club
• 3000 strikeout club
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
• Triple Crown
• List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions
• MLB All-Time Hit Batsmen List
• Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all time
• MLB all-time leaders in home runs by pitchers
• Major League Baseball titles leaders

References

1. ^ ESPN.com: The Big Train kept on chuggin'
2. ^ Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 1. On Google Books
3. ^ ^{a b c} Dufresne, Chris (2008-06-02). "The year the Big Train stopped in Brea, and brought the Babe". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-sp-breababe2-2008jun02,0,3088387.story?page=2. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
4. ^ Stump, Al (1994). Cobb: A Biography. 
5. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/leaders.jsp?c_id=mlb&baseballScope=mlb&statType=2&sortByStat=SO&timeFrame=3&timeSubFrame2=0
6. ^ http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1940election.pdf
7. ^ Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 346. On Google Books
8. ^ ^{a b} Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 348. On Google Books
9. ^ [1]Baseball's 100 Greatest Players by The Sporting News
10. ^ Judge, Mark Gauvreau (2004). Damn Senators: My Grandfather and the Story of Washington's Only World Series Championship. San Francisco: Encounter Books. pp. 170. ISBN 1-59403-045-6. 
11. ^ "Baseball Almanac". http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_line.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-23. 

Other Sources

• Thomas, Henry W. (1995). Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train (Washington, D.C.: Phenom Press) ISBN 0-9645439-0-7
• Povich, Henry W. and Shirley Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train Thomas (Bison Books. April 1998)
• Kavanagh, Jack Walter Johnson: A Life (Diamond Communications. March 25, 1995))
• Robison, Robert S. Walter Johnson King of the Pitchers (New York: Julian Messner, 1961)

Related reading

• Burns, Ken Baseball: An Illustrated History (New York: Alfred A. Knope. 1994)) ISBN 0-679-40459-7

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame – Member biography
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Washington's 'Big Train' first to 3,000 strike
• Find-A-Grave
• virginia.edu - Walter Johnson play-by-play for the Washington Senators game on September 21, 1939
• Walter Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Baseball Almanac

Accomplishments

Preceded by Frank Smith Ed Walsh Stan Coveleski Urban Shocker American League Strikeout Champion 1910 1912-1919 1921 1923-1924 Succeeded by Ed Walsh Stan Coveleski Urban Shocker Lefty Grove Preceded by Vean Gregg Eddie Cicotte Stan Coveleski American League ERA Champion 1912-1913 1918-1919 1924 Succeeded by Dutch Leonard Bob Shawkey Stan Coveleski Preceded by Joe Wood Eddie Cicotte George Uhle American League Wins Champion 1913-1916 1918 1924 Succeeded by Eddie Cicotte Eddie Cicotte Ted Lyons & Eddie Rommel Preceded by Rube Waddell American League Pitching Triple Crown 1913, 1918 & 1924 Succeeded by Lefty Grove Preceded by Tris Speaker Babe Ruth American League Most Valuable Player 1913 1924 Succeeded by Eddie Collins Roger Peckinpaugh Preceded by Ray Caldwell No-hitter pitcher July 1, 1920 Succeeded by Charlie Robertson Preceded by Bucky Harris Washington Nationals/Senators Manager 1929-1932 Succeeded by Joe Cronin Preceded by Roger Peckinpaugh Cleveland Indians Manager 1933-1935 Succeeded by Steve O'Neill

v • d • e Major League Baseball All-Century Team Pitchers Nolan Ryan · Sandy Koufax · Cy Young · Roger Clemens · Bob Gibson · Walter Johnson · Warren Spahn · Christy Mathewson · Lefty Grove Infielders Johnny Bench · Yogi Berra · Lou Gehrig · Mark McGwire · Jackie Robinson · Rogers Hornsby · Mike Schmidt · Brooks Robinson · Cal Ripken, Jr. · Ernie Banks · Honus Wagner Outfielders Babe Ruth · Hank Aaron · Ted Williams · Willie Mays · Joe DiMaggio · Mickey Mantle · Ty Cobb · Ken Griffey, Jr. · Pete Rose · Stan Musial

v • d • e Major League Baseball | MLB All-Time Team Lou Gehrig • Rogers Hornsby • Honus Wagner • Mike Schmidt (Infielders) • Johnny Bench (Catcher) • Paul Molitor (Designated hitter) Ted Williams • Willie Mays • Babe Ruth (Outfielders) • Walter Johnson • Sandy Koufax • Dennis Eckersley (Pitchers) • Casey Stengel (Manager)

v • d • e American League Chalmers Award 1911: Ty Cobb | 1912: Tris Speaker | 1913: Walter Johnson | 1914: Eddie Collins

v • d • e 300 win club Cy Young · Walter Johnson · Christy Mathewson · Grover Cleveland Alexander · Warren Spahn · Pud Galvin · Kid Nichols · Greg Maddux · Roger Clemens · Tim Keefe · Steve Carlton · John Clarkson · Eddie Plank · Nolan Ryan · Don Sutton · Phil Niekro · Gaylord Perry · Tom Seaver · Charles Radbourn · Mickey Welch · Tom Glavine · Randy Johnson · Lefty Grove · Early Wynn Italics denotes active pitcher

v • d • e 3000 strikeout club Nolan Ryan · Randy Johnson · Roger Clemens · Steve Carlton · Bert Blyleven · Tom Seaver · Don Sutton · Gaylord Perry · Walter Johnson · Greg Maddux · Phil Niekro · Ferguson Jenkins · Pedro Martínez · Bob Gibson · Curt Schilling · John Smoltz Italics denotes active pitcher

v • d • e Washington Senators 1924 World Series Champions Ossie Bluege | Goose Goslin | Bucky Harris | Walter Johnson | Joe Judge | Nemo Leibold | Firpo Marberry | Joe Martina | Earl McNeely | Ralph Miller | George Mogridge | Curly Ogden | Roger Peckinpaugh | Sam Rice | Muddy Ruel | Allen Russell | Mule Shirley | By Speece | Bennie Tate | Tommy Taylor | Tom Zachary Manager Bucky Harris Regular season

v • d • e Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1936 BBWAA Vote Ty Cobb (98.23%) • Walter Johnson (83.63%) • Christy Mathewson (90.71%) • Babe Ruth (95.13%) • Honus Wagner (95.13%) Veterans Committee none

v • d • e Pitchers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Alexander • Bender • M. Brown • R. Brown • Bunning • Carlton • Chesbro • Clarkson • Cooper • Coveleski • Cummings • Day • Dean • Dihigo • Drysdale • Eckersley • Faber • Feller • Fingers • Ford • Bill Foster Rube Foster • Galvin • Gibson • Gomez • Gossage • Grimes • Grove • Haines • Hoyt • Hubbell • Hunter • Jenkins • Johnson • Joss • Keefe • Koufax • Lemon • Lyons • Marichal • Marquard • Mathewson • McGinnity • Mendez • Newhouser • Nichols • Niekro • Paige • Palmer • Pennock • Perry • Plank • Radbourn • Rixey • Roberts • Rogan • Ruffing • Rusie • Ryan • Seaver • Smith • Spahn • Sutter • Sutton • Vance • Waddell • Walsh • Welch • Wilhelm • Williams • Willis • Wynn • Young

v • d • e Minnesota Twins managers Washington Senators (1901–1960) Manning • Loftus • Kittridge • Donovan • Stahl • Cantillon • McAleer • Griffith • McBride • Milan • Bush • Harris • Johnson • Cronin • Harris • Bluege • Kuhel • Harris • Dressen • Lavagetto Minnesota Twins (1961–present) Lavagetto • Mele • Ermer • Martin • Rigney • Quilici • Mauch • Goryl • Gardner • Miller • Kelly • Gardenhire

v • d • e Cleveland Indians managers Cleveland Blues (1901) McAleer Cleveland Bronchos (1902–1904) Armour Cleveland Naps (1905–1914) Lajoie • McGuire • Stovall • Davis • Birmingham Cleveland Indians (1915–present) Birmingham • Fohl • Speaker • McCallister • Peckinpaugh • Johnson • O'Neill • Vitt • Boudreau • Lopez • Farrell • Bragan • Gordon • Dykes • McGaha • Tebbetts • Strickland • Adcock • Dark • Lipon • Aspromonte • Robinson • Torborg • Garcia • Ferraro • Corrales • Edwards • Hart • McNamara • Hargrove • Manuel • Skinner • Wedge • Acta

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)