Tag: Walter Johnson

AUG 7: Amazing Walter Johnson

AUGUST 7, 1907 | WASHINGTON, D.C. – Only Cy Young was more dominant on the mound than Walter Johnson, and they named an award after him.

Walter Johnson’s road to immortality began on this date in 1907. Johnson was just 19-years old, and fresh off the family farm in Humboldt, Kansas when he pitched the Washington Senators to a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Naps (today’s Indians) – the first of 416 career wins . Only Cy Young has more career wins (511) than Walter Johnson.

Johnson’s accomplishments are stunning. From 1910 to 1919 he won 25, 25, 33, 36, 28, 27, 25, 23, 23 games.

  • He started 666 games in his 21-year career, completing 531.
  • He pitched 110 shutouts (11 in 1913 alone).
  • He pitched over 300 innings 9 times.

Johnson could hit, too! He had a .433 batting average in 1925 – 42 hits in 97 at bats. He hit .283 in 1924, .270 in 1921, and had a career average of .235 with 24 home runs and 255 runs batted in.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Walter Johnson: Baseball’s Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, 1995

A STORY FROM MARCH 29 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – The one & only Cy Young

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES YOU TO GILMORE, OHIO MARCH 29, 1867. Denton Young was born on an Ohio farm on this date in 1867. Better known as Cy Young, he won more games, 511, than any other pitcher in baseball history. The pitcher in second place, Walter Johnson, had 94 fewer wins than the first and only true Cy Young.

Young’s nickname was coined by a catcher who, after warming him up, compared his fastball to a cyclone. He played for four teams during a 22 year career lasting from 1890 to 1911. His 511-wins and 316-losses are not the only stats that are eye-popping:

 • 15 seasons of at least 20 wins
 • 5 seasons of at least 30 wins
 • 19 double digit winning seasons
 • A 2.63 lifetime Earned Run Average

And of course, today the best pitcher in each league is recognized with the “Cy Young” Award.  Here are the fifteen winningest pitchers of all time:

Cy Young – 511
Walter Johnson – 417
Pete Alexander – 373
Christy Mathewson – 373
Pud Galvin – 365
Warren Spahn – 363
Kid Nichols – 361
Greg Maddux – 355
Roger Clemens – 354
Tim Keefe – 342
Steve Carlton – 329
John Clarkson – 328
Eddie Plank – 326
Nolan Ryan – 326
Don Sutton – 324

There have been dozens of Cy Young award winners. Denton Young is the first and only true Cy Young.

Contributing sources:
More on Cy Young
300 win Club
Most wins career

MAY 12TH-NIGHT TRAIN REACHES 400

1926 | WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Walter Johnson won his 400th game on this date in 1926. Only one other pitcher has reached that plateau,  Cy Young, winner of an astonishing 511 games. You know Cy. They named an award after him.

Walter Johnson came from Humboldt, Kansas. He broke into the majors with the Washington Senators (today’s Minnesota Twins) in 1907 at age 19.

They called him “Night Train,” and he pitched for the next 21 years, finishing with records like 36-7, 33-12, 23-7, 25-13, 20-7, for a team that lost more than it won (The Senators finished under .500 eleven of the twenty-one seasons Johnson pitched for them).

Walter Johnson was said to have the fastest fastball in major league history, of course there were no radar guns in the teens and twenties, so we can’t really be sure.

Here are some figures from the “I didn’t know that” category that we are sure about;

• Johnson pitched 110 shutouts
• He won 38 games 1-0
• Remarkably, 26 of his losses were 1-0

Walter Johnson could hit too. Johnson finished the 1925 season with a .433 batting average, still a major league record for pitchers. His lifetime batting average was .235, not bad for a pitcher.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
300 win club
Walter Johnson, Hall of Fame