Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson (November 6, 1887-December 10, 1946), was a professional baseball pitcher
Born Walter Perry Johnson in Humboldt, Kansas, he was a farm boy who grew up to become one of Major League Baseball's greatest stars.
Nicknamed Big Train, as a pitcher for the Washington Senators, he won 417 games, the second most by any pitcher in history. In a twenty-one year career he had two seasons in which he had more than thirty wins. His record includes 110 shutouts, the most in baseball history, and struck out 3,508 batters (the most until Nolan Ryan broke his record in 1983). He thrice won the triple crown for pitchers (1913, 1918, 1914) and twice won the American League Most Valuable Player Award (1913, 1924).
He led the Senators to two World Series, a victory in 1924 and a loss in 1925.
He later managed the Senators (1929-32) and then the Cleveland Indians (1933-35), inspiring his teams to an overall .551 winning percentage.
One of the first inductees into the United States Baseball Hall of Fame (in 1936), Walter Johnson died of a brain tumor in Washington, D.C. on December 10, 1946. He is interred in the Rockville Union Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland.
A high school in Bethesda, Maryland has been named for him. (See Walter Johnson High School.)
He was also called Sir Walter and the White Knight because of his gentlemanly gamemanship.
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Referenced By
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