Walter Johnson's World Series
A Belated Chance for Baseball's Greatest Pitcher
As the 1924 American League campaign drew to an end, Walter Johnson could look back on perhaps the most brilliant pitching career in baseball history. His eleventh season with 20 or more victories had brought him close to the 400-level topped only by Cy Young, and he held records for strikeouts and consecutive scoreless innings. But most significant, after pitching most of his eighteen years for losing teams, the "Big Train," as he was affectionately known, was going to the World Series with the Washington Senators' first pennant winner.
The Senators' consistent lack of success since the formation of their league in 1901 had given rise to the embarrassing gibe: "Washington-first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League." But a new owner, Clark Griffith, a long-time player and manager, had taken over in 1920 and invested in hitting, fielding, and pitching talent to supplement Johnson. Perhaps his most prescient move was to designate his 27-year-old second baseman, Bucky Harris, as player-manager.
The main obstacle to the Senators was the New York Yankees, winners of three consecutive AL titles (their first three) and conquerors of the defending world champion New York Giants in the 1923 World series. Although Babe Ruth had one of his best seasons, the Yanks' bid for a fourth pennant fell two games short as the Senators drove relentlessly to their first flag. Outfielders Sam Rice and Goose Goslin and first baseman Joe Judge supplied the punch with batting averages well above .300 and George Mogridge and Tom Zachary added 16 and 15 victories, respectively, to Johnson's league-leading 23.
It was a no-brainer for Harris to start the Big Train in the series opener against the Giants, but the outcome was a frustrating 12-inning loss. Even more painful was Johnson's battering in the fifth game, after the Senators had rallied to tie the Series at two games apiece. He now had two losses in his first chance in the Fall Classic, and it seemed doubtful if the 37-year old superstar would get another opportunity to win one.
But baseball is nothing if not a game of ironies. Harris's men bounced back again to win the sixth game and, after trailing in the decisive seventh game, tied it in the eighth inning with the help of an error. Into the game came the briefly pitied old master to throw four innings of scoreless relief, long enough for the baseball fates to conjure up a winning combination for the Senators. It took a Giant catcher stumbling on his discarded mask to drop a pop foul, and a ground ball bouncing off a pebble for the game-winning hit, but the Washington team prevailed in 12 innings for its first--and only--world championship. And Walter Johnson, a charter Hall of Famer and considered by many the greatest pitcher of all time, finally had a World Series win.
As a post-script irony, the Senators repeated their AL victory in 1925 and, helped by two Johnson wins, took a seemingly insurmountable three games-to-one lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. But it was the Pirates who rallied this time to tie the Series and the Big Train who went to the well once too often, taking a bitter seventh game defeat.
Source:
Statistics from Baseball-Reference.com
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