Player #54H: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "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 reports on Johnson's 1918 season Part 1: Walter Johnson shaved over a run a game off his earned run average, and with a minuscule 1.27 reclaimed the ERA title he had not won since 1913. At 23-13, he was tops in wins in the big leagues for 1918 and led the majors in strikeouts with 162, his lowest number among the eight league-leading totals he'd had to date. Incredibly, he finished every single game he was in: 29 starts and ten relief appearances. Always a good hitter, he was getting even better, batting .267 in 150 official at-bats and playing four games in the outfield, which he'd also done three years earlier.
On May 7, 1918, Babe Ruth homered off Walter Johnson at League Park, the first of his ten career dingers off the great one, although Barney prevailed in this game, 7-2. The day before, Ruth had appeared in the lineup for the first time at a position other than pitcher or pinch hitter, in a game at New York. He had hit a home run in that game, and Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert had wanted to buy Ruth's contract from the Red Sox right then and there.
On May 9, Walter picked up a win by pitching the tenth inning, and Ruth, the starter that day who'd gone all the way for Boston, was the loser. It was the last official matchup between the two, as Ruth was soon going to be an everyday player exclusively. He hit his last homer of the year against the Senators on September 27, although the Nats swept a doubleheader from the Yankees that day. Almost exactly nine years hence, the Babe would make even bigger headlines versus the Washington Senators. . . . (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)
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