 Johnson, Walter
Washington A.L.
 Career: 416 wins (#2 All-Time);2.17
ERA (#7 All-Time)
1913: Won 36 games;1.09
ERA;11 Shutouts(set AL season shutout record)
Lifetime: 3509 Strikeouts
1936: Charter member of
Hall of Fame
WALTER JOHNSON
Johnson, Walter Perry "Barney" or "The Big Train"
b: 11/6/1887, Humboldt, Kan. d: 12/10/46, Washington, D.C.
BR/TR, 6'1", 200 lbs. Deb: 8/2/07
==============================================================================
YEAR TM/L W L PCT G GS CG SH SV IP H HR BB
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1907 Was-A 5 9 .357 14 12 11 2 0 110^1 100 1 20
1908 Was-A 14 14 .500 36 30 23 6 1 256^1 194 0 53
1909 Was-A 13 25 .342 40 36 27 4 1 296^1 247 1 84
1910 Was-A 25 17 .595 45 42 38 8 1 370 262 1 76
1911 Was-A 25 13 .658 40 37 36 6 1 322^1 292 8 70
1912 Was-A 33 12 .733 50 37 34 7 2 369 259 2 76
1913 Was-A 36 7 .837 48 36 29 11 2 346 232 9 38
1914 Was-A 28 18 .609 51 40 33 9 1 371^2 287 3 74
1915 Was-A 27 13 .675 47 39 35 7 4 336^2 258 1 56
1916 Was-A 25 20 .556 48 38 36 3 1 369^2 290 0 82
1917 Was-A 23 16 .590 47 34 30 8 3 326 248 3 68
1918 Was-A 23 13 .639 39 29 29 8 3 326 241 2 70
1919 Was-A 20 14 .588 39 29 27 7 2 290^1 235 0 51
1920 Was-A 8 10 .444 21 15 12 4 3 143^2 135 5 27
1921 Was-A 17 14 .548 35 32 25 1 1 264 265 7 92
1922 Was-A 15 16 .484 41 31 23 4 4 280 283 8 99
1923 Was-A 17 12 .586 42 34 18 3 4 261^1 263 9 73
1924 *Was-A 23 7 .767 38 38 20 6 0 277^2 233 10 77
1925 *Was-A 20 7 .741 30 29 16 3 0 229 217 7 78
1926 Was-A 15 16 .484 33 33 22 2 0 260^2 259 13 73
1927 Was-A 5 6 .455 18 15 7 1 0 107^2 113 7 26
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 21 417 279 .599 802 666 531 110 34 5914^2 4913 97 1363
The "Big Train" was considered by many experts to have been baseball's most dominating pitcher. In 1936,
Johnson was selected as one of the first pitchers (along with Christy Mathewson) to be
inducted into the Hall of Fame. Pitching 21 consecutive seasons in the American League and for the same club, Walter
pitched in 802 games winning 416. In 1913, he established a consecutive scoreless inning record of 56 innings (since
broken). In 1912, he won 16 consecutive games (tied the same year with Boston's Smokey Joe Wood).
Leading the league in ERA and victories 6 times, respectively, was an amazing feat for Johnson considering Washington's
habitual 2nd division status. Johnson's career strikeout record was held for over 45 years. He led the AL in strikeouts
12 times and the majors, 8 times. As an indication of Johnson's emerging dominance, he shutout the NY Higlanders
(Yankees) on 3 consecutive playing days in 1908 allowing a total in all 3 games of 12 hits by NY. His final shutout
in this series occurred in the first game of a double-header. The Washington manager was ready to use Johnson in
the second game except that Johnson did not dress up in his uniform and could not be found. Many dominating pitchers
of this era relied on the spitball or some other doctored pitch, but not Walter. Along with his blazing fastball,
he developed a sharp breaking curve ball. Johnson won the admiration of many in his era. With a quiet, stoic attitude,
Walter Johnson was looked as a role model of clean living and good sportsmanship.
|
Player Index