Player #54P: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 2. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.
Now for Deveaux's summary of Walter's last pitching season: Very early in 1927, Walter Johnson signed what was to be, he said, his last contract to pitch for the Washington Senators. It called for his same $20,000 salary for the one year. Bucky Harris's plan was to work Walter and Stan Coveleski in spots, and then only when the two graybeards would feel like pitching. When Johnson was hit in the leg by a line drive off the bat of his roommate Joe Judge, during spring training of 1927 at Tampa, coach Al Schacht, the clown, reportedly stood over Johnson and gave him the ten-count. The comedian didn't know he was counting down the days left in the Big Train's career. Johnson's leg was broken (officially a fracture of the fibula, about 3 1/2 inches above the ankle). The Big Train would be sidelined for six weeks, and this injury would precipitate the end of his scintillating career in 1927. . . .
. . . Walter Johnson's final pitching appearance in the big leagues occurred on September 22, 1927, the same day that Gene Tunney took the long count and came back to defend his crown against ex-champion Jack Dempsey in Chicago. Former Nats teammate Frank "Blackie" O'Rourke, the Canadian, was the last big leaguer to get a hit off Walter, and he also was the last man to have been struck out by him. On September 30, Barney played in his final game. He pinch hit for Tom Zachary, his 110th official pinch-hit appearance, in the very same game in which Zachary surrendered Babe Ruth's 60th home run. In Walter Johnson's final appearance in a major-league game, he hit a fly ball to Babe Ruth . . . who else! . . .
. . . There is some sort of irony in the fact that the game's greatest active pitcher made his last appearance as a pinch-hitter (he hit .235 lifetime with 24 home runs), and that the ball was caught by the greatest hitter the game had ever known. (The Washington Senators by Ton Deveaux.)
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