dispatches from the new world of work

The Big Train
Pulled Out Of The Station ...

One hundred years ago today, on 2 August 1907, Walter Johnson took the mound for the first of his 802 lifetime appearances for the Washington Senators baseball team. He lost that day, but went on to win 411 games with a fastball that may never have been equaled.

I grew up 30 miles from Washington, and saw my first major league game at Griffith Stadium in D.C., probably about 1949. Though some of my learned fellow baseball pals of that era were Christy Matthewson [NY Giants hall of fame pitcher] defenders, I was adamant that The Big Train, as he was called, was the best pitcher ever. In fact, I still am adamant.

So Happy 100, ghost of The Big Train.

(Why does this belong in this Blog? Because it's a gorgeous, hot summer day—and if you are not musing on Walter Johnson today, then in my book you've got a problem. And, since this is, in a sense, my "book" ...)

Tom Peters posted this on 08/02/07.

Comments

Tom,
You have taught us to be in Search of Excellence. All feasts of excellence deserve to be disected, analysed, and utilized in our own pursuit of excellence. Every great athlete has something to teach us about preparation, focus, execution, no wasted motion, consistency, mental toughness, emotional intelligence and how they handle their greatness. In a few short weeks I'm on my way to the US Open to gleam new insights from the likes of Roger Federer, Venus Williams, and many other greats.
Paul B. Thornton

Posted by Paul B. Thornton at August 2, 2007 8:25 PM

The Big Train! My fave of all the old-timers! I read something once that crunched the numbers to compare how Mathewson would have done on Johnson's (typically bad-to-awful) Senators teams, and how Johnson would have done on Mathewson's (typically good-to-excellent) Giants teams. According to this comparison, Mathewson would still have won 300+ games - he was certainly one of the greats - but Johnson would have gone above 500 wins, maybe above 520, which would have put him ahead of even Cy Young.

Here's a paragraph from Lawrence Ritter's "The Glory of Their Times," quoting the old-time Tigers leftfielder Davy Jones:

"Being the lead-off man, by the way, resulted in my holding the unique distinction of being the first man to ever face Walter Johnson in a major-league game. He broke in late in 1907, in a game against us, and since I led off, naturally I was the first man to face him. And that was the beginning of Walter's long and amazing career. The very beginning. Boy, could that guy ever fire that ball! He had those long arms, absolutely the longest arms I ever saw. They were like whips, that's what they were. He'd just whip that ball in there."

Posted by Tim Walker at August 2, 2007 9:01 PM

"and if you are not musing on Walter Johnson today, then in my book you've got a problem."

Apparently, I have a problem.

I suspect that my problem is that I'm English :-)

Am I allowed to counter by saying that I've been musing on cricket today? Specifically the Kent vs. Sussex 20:20 match?

Problem solved.

Mark in Sussex, not even trying to act impartial :-)

PS - Please don't stop talking about US-specific things - don't let our only exposure to US culture be Alias and Dilbert!

Posted by Mark Harrison at August 3, 2007 3:53 AM

Mark, touche! (That's French, right?)

Posted by tom peters at August 3, 2007 4:35 AM

Mark - cricket??? - now come on ... you really can't expect our US friends to understand our wonderful English game of cricket!!! ... they even call 'football' 'soccer' ... if they can't understand what REAL football is there just is no hope for cricket .... Maybe David Beckham will carry our torch.

Hope you are enjoying strawberries and cream tea as well as that pint of fabulous English beer Mark :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 3, 2007 5:52 AM

And let's not even start on Rugby vs Gridiron.......

Like Mark I have no idea about Walter Johnson but I do agree with the sentiment - I can feel an early departure from the office and a nice beer in the garden comming on

Enjoy!

Posted by PaulH at August 3, 2007 9:19 AM

Do not forget to listen what Jonathan Richman has to say about Walter Johnson

Posted by Gonzalo at August 4, 2007 10:42 AM

Walter Johnson - stellar character, and holds THE baseball record that will never be broken, 110 career shutouts.

Posted by Greg Stanford at August 13, 2007 2:58 PM