Walter Johnson

Walter Perry "The Big Train" Johnson — also called Barney — (1887–1946) defined the Washington Senators rotation across two decades. Born November 6, 1887 in Humboldt, Kansas, he debuted in 1907 and pitched twenty-one seasons for Washington, finishing in 1927 before managing the club from 1929 through 1935. He went 25–13 with a 1.90 ERA in 1911 at age 23, then opened back-to-back peak years: 33–12 with a 1.39 ERA, 7 shutouts, 303 strikeouts and a 16-game winning streak in 1912 — the most dominant pitching season of the dead-ball era — followed by 36–7, 1.14 ERA, 11 shutouts, and 243 strikeouts in 1913. Both 1912 and 1913 brought him the Chalmers Award as AL MVP. In 1914 he went 28–18, 1.72 ERA, with 9 shutouts as Eddie Collins took the MVP. A 6–1”, 200-pound right-hander, Johnson appears in the 1911 T204 Ramly tobacco set among our 1909-era card holdings. He died December 10, 1946 in Washington, D.C. and is buried at Rockville Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland (plot N39.05.100 W77.07.521). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 1936 inaugural class.