Thanks to Val and Brian for the W504 additions. Funy how poor proof reading was in the 1920's, at least when it came to baseball cards.
Player #54M: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 1. "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.
Deveaux takes on Walter's 1924 season: Fast approaching age 37, Walter Johnson made it known to Griffith following his contract signing in January that 1924 would be his last year. The Big Train intended to buy the Vernon (Los Angeles) franchise of the Pacific Coast League. At spring training, though, Walter had discovered that his arm was totally pain-free for the first time since 1920. There had been a knot above his elbow which had gotten smaller in size each year since then. Now, it was gone. When the Nats faced the New York Giants in a preseason game, the National League champions' shortstop, Travis Jackson, commented that if Walter Johnson had been faster, he was glad he'd been in kindergarten at the time.
On opening day, doubt that the Big Train was all the way back evaporated. With President Calvin Coolidge presiding and providing Johnson with another autographed presidential baseball, Barney shut out the A's 4-0 before the home crowd. The Big Swede would have his best campaign of the past five years, and toward the end, on August 25, he would no-hit the St. Louis Browns in a game shortened to seven innings because of rain. This would be Barney's league-leading sixth and last shutout of the season, the 107th of his career. Would the Big Train really retire? (Hint: the record shows he had six more shutouts in him.) Certainly, Johnson's excellent 23-7 performance in 1924 militated against that. As well as in shutouts, Barney was also tops in the A. L. in wins (23), games (38), strikeouts (158) and ERA (2.72).
While Walter was solid all year, the club had floundered at first. Those who had dubbed Griffith's hiring of Harris "Griffith's Folly" definitely had the upper hand by mid-May, as the Nats were cowering in the depths of the second division. On May 23, Walter Johnson pitched one of the great games of his career, facing 28 batters and striking out 14 in blanking Chicago 4-0 on one measly hit and one measly walk. He tied a league record by striking out six in a row. By this stage of the new season, the Big Train already had four shutouts.
Within a couple of weeks the Nats were back at the .500 level, prompting Babe Ruth to quip that he'd never seen a team turn things around so quickly. In late June, the club was red hot and built a four-game lead by month's end. By now, one of the nation's foremost sports scribes, Grantland Rice, was writing about how most Americans, if they could vote for such a thing, would want to see the Senators win the pennant. If only, many felt, Walter Johnson could finally make an appearance in one World Series before calling it quits. . . .
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