Walter Johnson, Part One: The Train to Washington

Walter Johnson, Part One: The Train to Washington Short description: The greatest pitcher on the worst team, from a Kansas farm to the night he thought his chance was gone. October 8, 1924. Walter Johnson has just lost his second World Series game in five days. He boards a train home with his youngest son on his shoulder, trying not to cry. After eighteen seasons, it looks like he'll never win a World Series game. This episode tells who was on that train: a Kansas farm boy who learned to pitch in the California oil fields, and the "Weiser Wonder" who demanded a return ticket before he'd sign. Then the pitcher who carried a hopeless Washington franchise for most of two decades without ever arguing a call. Built from The Sporting News, the wire services, a newspaper column written under his wife's name, and SABR's history of Griffith Stadium. Where Johnson's own memories don't match the record, this episode says so. In This Episode The Weiser depot, the cigar-store offer, and "you want to see things" Why Johnson's memory of his debut can't be entirely right Three shutouts in four days, and 38 one-to-nothing wins Hazel Johnson's column after the Game One loss His mother, in the stands for the first time By The Numbers 1913: 36–7, 1.14 ERA, 11 shutouts Ten straight 20-win seasons, 1910–1919 1924: 23–7, league MVP Game One, 1924: 12 innings, 12 strikeouts, lost 4–3 Sources: The Sporting News (1924, 1946); United News wire (Oct. 11, 1924); Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct. 5, 1924); SABR BioProject, "Walter Johnson" by Charles Carey; A Palace in the Nation's Capital: Griffith Stadium (SABR, 2021). Baseball Hall of Fame Lives is an independent production and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Keywords: Walter Johnson, Big Train, Washington Senators, Griffith Stadium, 1924 World Series, Clark Griffith, Weiser Idaho, Hall of Fame 1936, deadball era, baseball history