Walter Johnson
Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right • Throws: Right
6-1, 200lb (185cm, 90kg)
Born: November 6, 1887 in Humboldt, KS
Died: December 10, 1946 in Washington, DC
Buried: Rockville Cemetery, Rockville, MD
High School: Fullerton Union HS (Fullerton, CA)
Debut: August 2, 1907 ( 2,950th in MLB history)
vs. DET 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 SO, 1 BB, 0 ER, L
Last Game: September 30, 1927
vs. NYY 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1936. (Voted by BBWAA on 189/226 ballots)
Induction ceremony in Cooperstown held in 1939.
View Walter Johnson’s Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).
Full Name: Walter Perry Johnson
Nicknames: Barney or The Big Train
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
Nine Players Who Debuted in 1907
Tris Speaker
Ed Konetchy
Clyde Milan
Larry Doyle
Dode Paskert
Fred Merkle
Heinie Zimmerman
Walter Johnson
Bill McKechnie
The Walter Johnson Teammate Team
C: Muddy Ruel
1B: Joe Judge
2B: Bucky Harris
3B: Eddie Foster
SS: Roger Peckinpaugh
LF: Goose Goslin
CF: Sam Rice
RF: Clyde Milan
SP: Stan Coveleski
SP: Jesse Tannehill
SP: General Crowder
SP: Tom Zachary
RP: Firpo Marberry
M: Bucky Harris
Notable Events and Chronology for Walter Johnson Career
“He’s got a gun concealed about his person. They can’t tell me he throws them balls with his arm.” – Famed writer Ring Lardner wrote of Johnson
Biography
Considered by many to be the greatest right-hander in baseball history, Johnson was the hardest thrower of his time. He was a phenomenally successful pitcher on often terrible Washington Senators’ teams. As a veteran, he anchored the only Senators’ World Series winning club, in 1924. He and Christy Mathewson were the first pitchers inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was known as the “Big Train” and in later years, upon seeing Bob Feller throw his hard one, Johnson admitted that he had thrown harder in his day.
Johnson is the greatest player to ever play for the Washington Senators, debuting on August 2, 1907, against the Detroit Tigers and Ty Cobb. For 21 seasons he toiled in the Capital, winning 417 games. His career winning percentage of .599 is amazing when you consider the Senators were .462 over that span when he didn’t get the decision. Also, Johnson received scant run support throughout his career: he lost 27 games by the score of 1-0, and he suffered 65 shutout losses. In 1916, for example, Johnson had a brilliant 1.89 ERA, but still lost 20 games!
Johnson won at least 30 games twice, at least 25 games seven times (in succesion from 1910-1916), a minimum of 20 games twelve times, and at least 15 games sixteen times. He won the pitching Triple Crown (wins, ERA, and strikeouts) in 1913, 1918, and 1924, earning MVP honors twice. He paced American League pitchers in strikeouts twelve times and led the majors seven times (only Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan can match that feat). He retired owning the career record in whiffs.
After establishing himself as the best pitcher in the American League from 1910 to 1919, Johnson helped the Senators move up the standings in the 1920s. By 1924, the Senators had supplanted the Yankees at the top of the Junior Circuit. In that fall’s World Series, Johnson was a hero in Game Seven as Washington won their only World Title. Johnson pitched four innings of shutout relief on one day’s rest, leading the Nats to a 4-3 win in 12 innings. In 1925, the Senators returned to the World Series, quite a feat during the Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig days of the AL.
Walter Johnson of the Chicago Federals
One of the most overlooked chapters in Walter Johnson’s career is his brief jaunt to the outlaw Federal League in 1915. The Federal League emerged in 1913 with significant financial backing, as a rival to the American and National Leagues. In 1913, the Federal League played in several smaller market cities with few former major leaguers, but in 1914, Joe Tinker led the way for ML players to pursue bigger paychecks in the upstart league. Tinker managed and played for the Chicago Chi-Feds, who finished second in the FL in ’14 and outdrew the White Sox.
On December 3, 1914, Walter Johnson signed a two-year contract with the Chi-Feds, for the 1915 and 1916 seasons. Chi-Feds owner Charles Weeghman, one of the principals in the Federal League, refused to disclose the amount he would pay Johnson, but it was speculated to be in the neighborhood of $40,000 for two seasons, making “Barney” one of the highest paid players in the game.
When the story broke it fueled hysteria that the Federal League would raid the majors for all of their talent, backed by the deep pockets of millionaires like Weeghman, James Gilmore, Phil Ball and Harry Sinclair, who boasted to major league owners: “I’ll meet you people on the waterfront and we’ll toss dollar for dollar into the Hudson River. Then we’ll see who runs out of money first!”
Johnson was far from innocent in the entire process, having played the possibility of signing with the Feds against Senators’ owner Clark Griffith. At the close of the 1914 season, Griffith reportedly offered his star pitcher $15,000 for one year, $36,000 for three years or $50,000 for five. In October, Johnson responded that the St. Louis Terriers (owned by glass jar magnate Ball), had agreed to pay him $60,000 for three years, with a $10,000 signing bonus. When Griffith heard of the offer, he was disgusted: “I don’t wish to buy the whole state of Kansas, just Johnson”
After a few weeks waiting on Griffith, which gave Ball time to refute his offer, Johnson was approached by Tinker and Weeghman of the Chi-Feds, eventually inking a deal in his Coffeyville, Kansas home on the 2nd of December. The move sent shockwaves through the baseball world. In a side deal, Weeghman agreed to allow Ball to pursue other top pitchers unchallenged, in return for his help inking Johnson.
Griffith vowed to “sue Johnson to the end of the earth.” Claiming he had the rights to the pitcher for both the 1915 and 1916 seasons, and that the Federal League contract was illegal. As the controversy swirled, other Washington players, including Johnson’s best friend, center fielder Clyde Milan, were rumored to be heading to the Feds.
By the time Christmas rolled around, Washington fans were far from merry, certain that their star pitcher was lost. Then, in a frantic turn of events, Johnson had a change of heart and begged out of the Federal League contract, infuriating Weeghman and Chicago fans, and delighting Griffith, who quickly secured his best hurler’s signature on a contract for the 1915 season.
Johnson had tested the waters and thought better of it. Reportedly he felt if he jumped to the Feds, he would let his teammates and fans down, but it’s also likely that he feared a legal battle which he was ill-suited to finance. The Federal league was never able to persuade a star of Johnson’s stature to jump to their league, and as attendance slumped and the World War increasingly affected the U.S., the circuit suffered. In 1916 they were swallowed up by MLB, with Weeghman and Ball allowed to purchase the Cubs and Browns respectively.
It wasn’t until 1983, 62 years after Johnson had gained the crown as strikeout king, that his record was passed. Both Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton eclipsed his mark that season. Johnson had held the strikeout record nearly a decade longer than Ruth had held the home run mark. Johnson was truly the “Babe Ruth of the Mound.”
Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts
Played For
Washington Senators (1907-1927)
Managed
Washington Senators (1929-1932)
Cleveland Indians (1933-1935)
Johnson is one of the most successful ex-pitchers to manage. He guided his teams to a .550 record (529-432) in parts of seven seasons. The closest he came to first was a second-place finish in 1930, eight games out.
Similar: None. Johnson was an evolutionary freak – well ahead of his time in arm strength and speed. While later generations would produce Bob Feller, Sam McDowell, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson, the “Big Train” preceded them with his high 90s fastball.
Linked: Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton both broke Johnson’s all-time strikeout record and took turns at the top of the list in the early 1980s.
Best Season, 1913
It ranks as one of the greatest seasons by a pitcher…ever. Johnson won the triple crown – 36 wins, 243 K’s, and 1.14 ERA. His ERA, adjusted to the league, is the fifth best in history. Opponents batted .187 and had a .217 OBP (sixth lowest all-time). He tossed 11 shutouts, completed 29 games, and threw 346 innings – all league bests. Perhaps most amazing is the fact that the rest of the Senators were 54-57. In 1913, Walter Johnson carried Washington to a second place finish on his back.
Awards and Honors
1913 AL MVP
1913 AL Triple Crown
1918 AL Triple Crown
1924 AL MVP
1924 AL Triple Crown
No-Hit Fame
7/1/1920: For WAS (A) vs. BOS (A), 1-0 at BOS. 9 innings pitched.
Post-Season Appearances
1924 World Series
1925 World Series
Description
According to his grandson, Johnson “had a short ‘windmill’ windup in which he rotated his arm in a circle while standing straight up on the mound, then swept the arm behind his back as far as it would go before whipping it forward in a smooth sidearm-underarm arc.” — from Walter Johnson: Baseball’s Big Train by Henry W. Thomas
Factoid
Walter Johnson is the only pitcher to win 20 games and bat .400 in the same season. In 1925, he went 20-7 and hit .433 (42-for-97) with two homers and 20 RBI.
Full Bio
Famed writer Ring Lardner wrote of Johnson, “He’s got a gun concealed about his person. They can’t tell me he throws them balls with his arm.” He was known as the “Big Train” and in later years, upon seeing Bob Feller throw his hard one, Johnson admitted that he had thrown harder in his day.
Johnson is the greatest player to ever play for the Washington Senators, debuting on August 2, 1907, against the Detroit Tigers and Ty Cobb. For 21 seasons he toiled in the Capital, winning 417 games. His career winning percentage of .599 is amazing when you consider the Senators were .462 over that span when he didn’t get the decision. Also, Johnson received scant run support throughout his career: he lost 27 games by the score of 1-0, and he suffered 65 shutout losses. In 1916, for example, Johnson had a brilliant 1.89 ERA, but still lost 20 games!
Johnson won at least 30 games twice, at least 25 games seven times (in succesion from 1910-1916), a minimum of 20 games twelve times, and at least 15 games sixteen times. He won the pitching Triple Crown (wins, ERA, and strikeouts) in 1913, 1918, and 1924, earning MVP honors twice. He paced American League pitchers in strikeouts twelve times and led the majors seven times (only Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan can match that feat). He retired owning the career record in whiffs.
After establishing himself as the best pitcher in the American League from 1910 to 1919, Johnson helped the Senators move up the standings in the 1920s. By 1924, the Senators had supplanted the Yankees at the top of the Junior Circuit. In that fall’s World Series, Johnson was a hero in Game Seven as Washington won their only World Title. Johnson pitched four innings of shutout relief on one day’s rest, leading the Nats to a 4-3 win in 12 innings. In 1925, the Senators returned to the World Series, quite a feat during the Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig days of the AL.
It wasn’t until 1983, 62 years after Johnson had gained the crown as strikeout king, that his record was passed. Both Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton eclipsed his mark that season. Johnson had held the strikeout record nearly a decade longer than Ruth had held the home run mark. Johnson was truly the “Babe Ruth of the Mound.”
Where He Played: Starting pitcher (666 games). But, like most ace pitchers of his era, Johnson was used in relief between starts. He made nearly 150 relief appearances in his career.
Minor League Experience
1928: Newark (International Association)
Johnson was the manager of Newark, and appeared in one game, facing one batter, whom he walked.
Big League Debut: August 2, 1907
Johnson faced Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford in that first game. Cobb dragged a bunt hit against the rookie hurler for the first hit against Johnson in the big leaugues. Prior to the game, the Tigers, who where aware of Johnson’s amazing record in the minor leagues, tried to rattle the right-hander by calling him “hayseed” and making barnyard noises.
Milestones
In a wild game at Griffith Stadium, on May 14, 1920, Johnson captured his 300th win, beating Detroit, 9-8… On September 5, 1921, Walter Johnson eclipsed Cy Young’s career strikeout mark, bringing his total to 2,287 in a game against the Yankees… On July 22, 1923, Johnson recorded his 3,000th strikeout, in a win over the Cleveland Indians… Johnson notched his 400th victory on May 2, 1926, defeating the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3, at Washington’s Griffith Stadium.
Milestones
May 14, 1920: 300th Win…
July 22, 1923: 3000th strikeout… Stan Coveleski
May 2, 1926: 400th Win…
Notes
Johnson retired with the highest strikeout total in history, a mark he held for 56 years… A Bethesda, Maryland, high school is named Walter Johnson High School in honor of the Washington Senators’ legend. For some reason the school sports teams go by “Wildcats” instead of “Big Trains.”
Walter Johnson of the Chicago Federals
One of the most overlooked chapters in Walter Johnson’s career is his brief jaunt to the outlaw Federal League in 1915. The Federal League emerged in 1913 with significant financial backing, as a rival to the American and National Leagues. In 1913, the Federal League played in several smaller market cities with few former major leaguers, but in 1914, Joe Tinker led the way for ML players to pursue bigger paychecks in the upstart league. Tinker managed and played for the Chicago Chi-Feds, who finished second in the FL in ’14 and outdrew the White Sox.
On December 3, 1914, Walter Johnson signed a two-year contract with the Chi-Feds, for the 1915 and 1916 seasons. Chi-Feds owner Charles Weeghman, one of the principals in the Federal League, refused to disclose the amount he would pay Johnson, but it was speculated to be in the neighborhood of $40,000 for two seasons, making “Barney” one of the highest paid players in the game.
When the story broke it fueled hysteria that the Federal League would raid the majors for all of their talent, backed by the deep pockets of millionaires like Weeghman, James Gilmore, Phil Ball and Harry Sinclair, who boasted to major league owners: “I’ll meet you people on the waterfront and we’ll toss dollar for dollar into the Hudson River. Then we’ll see who runs out of money first!”
Johnson was far from innocent in the entire process, having played the possibility of signing with the Feds against Senators’ owner Clark Griffith. At the close of the 1914 season, Griffith reportedly offered his star pitcher $15,000 for one year, $36,000 for three years or $50,000 for five. In October, Johnson responded that the St. Louis Terriers (owned by glass jar magnate Ball), had agreed to pay him $60,000 for three years, with a $10,000 signing bonus. When Griffith heard of the offer, he was disgusted: “I don’t wish to buy the whole state of Kansas, just Johnson”
After a few weeks waiting on Griffith, which gave Ball time to refute his offer, Johnson was approached by Tinker and Weeghman of the Chi-Feds, eventually inking a deal in his Coffeyville, Kansas home on the 2nd of December. The move sent shockwaves through the baseball world. In a side deal, Weeghman agreed to allow Ball to pursue other top pitchers unchallenged, in return for his help inking Johnson.
Griffith vowed to “sue Johnson to the end of the earth.” Claiming he had the rights to the pitcher for both the 1915 and 1916 seasons, and that the Federal League contract was illegal. As the controversy swirled, other Washington players, including Johnson’s best friend, center fielder Clyde Milan, were rumored to be heading to the Feds.
By the time Christmas rolled around, Washington fans were far from merry, certain that their star pitcher was lost. Then, in a frantic turn of events, Johnson had a change of heart and begged out of the Federal League contract, infuriating Weeghman and Chicago fans, and delighting Griffith, who quickly secured his best hurler’s signature on a contract for the 1915 season.
Johnson had tested the waters and thought better of it. Reportedly he felt if he jumped to the Feds, he would let his teammates and fans down, but it’s also likely that he feared a legal battle which he was ill-suited to finance. The Federal league was never able to persuade a star of Johnson’s stature to jump to their league, and as attendance slumped and the World War increasingly affected the U.S., the circuit suffered. In 1916 they were swallowed up by MLB, with Weeghman and Ball allowed to purchase the Cubs and Browns respectively.
Factoid
Walter Johnson threw 38 1-0 shutouts in his career, and lost by that score 24 times.
Factoid
On February 22, 1936, Walter Johnson tossed a silver dollar across the Rappahannock in Virginia. More than fifty years later, the coin sold for more than $25,000.
Matchup Data
Ty Cobb performed well against Johnson and faced the right-handed hurler in Johnson’s frst major league game.
Replaced
Essentially, he replaced right-hander Cy Falkenberg and lefty Case Patten in the Washington rotation, which was a jumbled mess before Johnson arrived.
Replaced By
In 1927, Johnson’s final year, Irving “Bump” Hadley was in his rookie season and moved into the rotation as Johnson was eased out. Hadley forged a nice career: winning 161 games in 16 years.
Best Strength as a Player
Johnson probably threw as hard as 97-99 MPH. In his day, that type of fastball was 7-12 miles an hour faster than most other “power pitchers” were throwing. In addition, Johnson threw heat more often than other pitchers. Previously, the tactic used by pitchers was to save their best speed pitches for the “pinch” – those times when runners were on base or late in a close game – and to ease up a bit the rest of the time. By most accounts, Johnson threw hard often, almost every inning, and in any situation.
Largest Weakness as a Player
None
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