Title: "Big Train" Johnson
Milto - July 2, 2010 05:12 AM (GMT)
Milto - July 2, 2010 05:18 AM (GMT)
Guess the pic is a little small
BEST OF LEADERS & SUCCESS
Walter ‘Big Train’ Johnson Zipped Past Batsmen
Aim And Fire: His focus on technique helped make him one of baseball’s greatest pitchers and put him in the Hall of Fame
BY MICHAEL RICHMAN
FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
It was 1904, and Walter Johnson was waiting for his chance.
He spent hours nearly every day playing catcher in pickup games with friends in Olinda, Calif.
Johnson had a powerful right arm and repeatedly caught runners trying to steal. But he wanted more.
He had practiced on his own and knew he could deploy that power on the mound. When batters pounded three of his team’s pitchers in the first few innings of a game, Johnson (1887-1946) knew his time had arrived.His pitches were so hard, catchers had trouble grasping them. “From the first time he threw a baseball, using a natural sidearm motion, Johnson displayed the speed . . . that later marked his professional career,” Jack Kavanagh wrote in “Walter Johnson.” “As soon as his team got a competent catcher behind the plate, the legend of Walter Johnson began to take shape.”
By the time Johnson reached the major leagues in 1907, his pitching style was a personal trademark. Legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice called it the “finest motion in the game” for its simplicity and grace.
Nicknamed “The Big Train,” his fastest pitch was clocked at 83 mph, believed to be the hardest ball thrown in the early 20th century.
In His Own League
He topped in speed such star contemporaries as Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and “Smoky” Joe Wood.
Johnson kept working his pitches to become one of the greatest pitchers ever. He posted 3,508 strikeouts in 21 seasons, a major league record that stood for 56 years. He also won 416 games, second on the all-time list behind Cy Young (511).
Johnson holds the all-time record for shutouts (110), once pitching 56 straight scoreless innings. He also compiled a 2.17 career earned-run average, one of the lowest marks ever. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the inaugural class in 1936.
Johnson’s feats are more remarkable in that his Washington Senators were perennial American League doormats. They won only one World Series during his career, in 1924. Johnson, then 36, was key to pulling it out. With the Series even at three games apiece and Game 7 tied 3-3 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, he came on in relief. He craved challenges, and this was one he was confident he’d meet.
After retiring the first batter, he yielded a triple and issued an intentional walk. The game was on the line, but he didn’t let the thought of near-defeat consume him. He struck out the next batter and got another one to ground out.
Johnson delivered more clutch pitching in the next three innings, and the Senators won 4-3. All along, he relied on his key strength — the potent fastball. “In the 1924 World Series, Bill Dinneen, the umpire, confessed to me that Walter was so fast that he was doing some lively guessing on where the ball crossed or didn’t cross the plate,” Washington catcher Muddy Ruel once said. “That’s a big admission for an umpire. I was having enough trouble with Walter’s speed myself.”
Up From Kansas
Born in Humboldt, Kan., Johnson moved with his family to California when he was in his early teens.
Intrigued with baseball, he combed newspapers to learn about two pitchers with whom he’d forever be compared: Young and Mathewson.
Eventually he joined a semipro team in Weiser, Idaho, and dominated play, often striking out batters in double-digit numbers.
Washington catcher Cliff Blankenship went to scout him and caught a few of Johnson’s throws.
“He could put more smoke on that old baseball than I had ever dreamed possible,” Blankenship once said. “I had caught many bigleague pitchers, but never one with a ball as heavy as the one heaved by Johnson. And with all his speed, he had control. He seemed to cut any corner of the plate at will.”
Johnson applied those skills in the major leagues, averaging 23 wins in his first 13 seasons. He recorded a phenomenal 36 victories and a 1.09 ERA in 1913, his best season.
This story originally ran Feb. 28, 2002, on Leaders & Success.
BEST OF LEADERS & SUCCESS
Walter ‘Big Train’ Johnson Zipped Past Batsmen
Aim And Fire: His focus on technique helped make him one of baseball’s greatest pitchers and put him in the Hall of Fame
BY MICHAEL RICHMAN
FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
It was 1904, and Walter Johnson was waiting for his chance.
He spent hours nearly every day playing catcher in pickup games with friends in Olinda, Calif.
Johnson had a powerful right arm and repeatedly caught runners trying to steal. But he wanted more.
He had practiced on his own and knew he could deploy that power on the mound. When batters pounded three of his team’s pitchers in the first few innings of a game, Johnson (1887-1946) knew his time had arrived.His pitches were so hard, catchers had trouble grasping them. “From the first time he threw a baseball, using a natural sidearm motion, Johnson displayed the speed . . . that later marked his professional career,” Jack Kavanagh wrote in “Walter Johnson.” “As soon as his team got a competent catcher behind the plate, the legend of Walter Johnson began to take shape.”
By the time Johnson reached the major leagues in 1907, his pitching style was a personal trademark. Legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice called it the “finest motion in the game” for its simplicity and grace.
Nicknamed “The Big Train,” his fastest pitch was clocked at 83 mph, believed to be the hardest ball thrown in the early 20th century.
In His Own League
He topped in speed such star contemporaries as Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and “Smoky” Joe Wood.
Johnson kept working his pitches to become one of the greatest pitchers ever. He posted 3,508 strikeouts in 21 seasons, a major league record that stood for 56 years. He also won 416 games, second on the all-time list behind Cy Young (511).
Johnson holds the all-time record for shutouts (110), once pitching 56 straight scoreless innings. He also compiled a 2.17 career earned-run average, one of the lowest marks ever. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the inaugural class in 1936.
Johnson’s feats are more remarkable in that his Washington Senators were perennial American League doormats. They won only one World Series during his career, in 1924. Johnson, then 36, was key to pulling it out. With the Series even at three games apiece and Game 7 tied 3-3 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, he came on in relief. He craved challenges, and this was one he was confident he’d meet.
After retiring the first batter, he yielded a triple and issued an intentional walk. The game was on the line, but he didn’t let the thought of near-defeat consume him. He struck out the next batter and got another one to ground out.
Johnson delivered more clutch pitching in the next three innings, and the Senators won 4-3. All along, he relied on his key strength — the potent fastball. “In the 1924 World Series, Bill Dinneen, the umpire, confessed to me that Walter was so fast that he was doing some lively guessing on where the ball crossed or didn’t cross the plate,” Washington catcher Muddy Ruel once said. “That’s a big admission for an umpire. I was having enough trouble with Walter’s speed myself.”
Up From Kansas
Born in Humboldt, Kan., Johnson moved with his family to California when he was in his early teens.
Intrigued with baseball, he combed newspapers to learn about two pitchers with whom he’d forever be compared: Young and Mathewson.
Eventually he joined a semipro team in Weiser, Idaho, and dominated play, often striking out batters in double-digit numbers.
Washington catcher Cliff Blankenship went to scout him and caught a few of Johnson’s throws.
“He could put more smoke on that old baseball than I had ever dreamed possible,” Blankenship once said. “I had caught many bigleague pitchers, but never one with a ball as heavy as the one heaved by Johnson. And with all his speed, he had control. He seemed to cut any corner of the plate at will.”
Johnson applied those skills in the major leagues, averaging 23 wins in his first 13 seasons. He recorded a phenomenal 36 victories and a 1.09 ERA in 1913, his best season.
This story originally ran Feb. 28, 2002, on Leaders & Success.
Career200 - July 2, 2010 12:20 PM (GMT)
I love reading accounts of the circus atmosphere that used to surround those old Walter Johnson/Smoky Joe Wood matchups. Both were such gentlemen that they each claimed that the other could throw harder than him. There were newspaper articles printed that used to build those games up like heavyweight fights.