Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Walter Johnson. He pitched for twenty-one seasons, all with the former Washington Senators, where he established himself as arguably the greatest Starting Pitcher in the history of this game. Johnson was both a face of the franchise and a generational during his playing career. Even though the last game he pitched was close to 100 years ago, he still ranks at the top of the list in several pitching categories. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1907-1927):

417-279 W-L 2.17 ERA 5,914.1 IP 3,509 K 1.061 WHIP 

  • 3x Pitching Triple Crown (1913, 1918 & 1924)
  • 2x AL MVP (1913 & 1924)
  • 1924 World Series Champion

Known for his dominant Fastball and later developed Curveball, Johnson was as dominant as any other pitcher in baseball history. Twelve times, Johnson won 20 Games, led the league in Wins, and led the league in Strikeouts. Arguably the most critical stat for pitchers in ERA, Johnson maintained an ERA under 2.00 eleven times. The highest WHIP he ever recorded was 1.364 in a down year; with that said, he led the league in WHIP six times – five of those times, his WHIP was well under 1.000. Not only did Johnson log in 200 Innings Pitched in a season in his sleep, from 1910-18, he logged in over 300 Innings Pitched every year. His 110 career Shutouts are still the most by any pitcher in baseball history. In his career, Johnson made 666 career starts, and he finished the entire game in 531 of those starts, which ranks 4th all-time. His greatest season came in 1913, which has gotta be in the top-3 if not the top-5 of the greatest individual single-season pitching performances in baseball history- Johnson led in Wins 36, ERA 1.14, IP 346, WHIP 0.780, Strikeouts 243, Shutouts 11, and Complete Games 29. 

As a Fielder, Johnson was undoubtedly good defensively. His lifetime .969 Fielding Percentage was .023 points above the league average for Pitchers during his career. His 1,351 Assists rank 5th all-time, and his 276 career Putouts rank 27th among Pitchers. As a hitter, he was solid long before the DH was in tack. Pitchers had to Hit, and Johnson went (547 for 2,324) with a .235 BA along with 24 HR, 255 RBI, and a .274 OBP.

Only Cy Young himself won more games than Walter Johnson has in all of baseball history. Johnson is the only pitcher in all of baseball history with 400 career Wins, along with 3,500 Strikeouts. Given how many Innings he was required to pitch and how long he remained dominant, there is no question about who the greatest starting pitcher of all time is. Based on the Pitching Statistics I look at when judging a Pitcher, Walter Johnson has 52 Black-Bold Face Type Stats on the back of his baseball card, which is unreal. In 1936, Walter Johnson was inducted as one of the first five members into the Baseball Hall of Fame; the other four guys were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Christy Mathewson; those five guys are IMMORTALS. In 1999, he was ranked #4 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Ballplayers in baseball history, the highest among any pitcher. 

References:

  1. Walter Johnson via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Johnson#Pitching
  2. Walter John Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnswa01.shtml