The Washington times., 1916-08-03
WHAT JOHNSON HAS DONE

Walter ohnson's pitching record over
the route of nine years IL remarkable.
The famous speedbau artist may Start
off on his tenth season In the box at
Chicago today. On August z. 1907. the
weiser Wizard took his first fling In
facing Ty Cobb. Sam Crawford and
company for the Detroit Tigers. He
| lost. All.
Since then no hns steadily climbed
the pinnacle OF fame until ne Is looked
upon a. tho greatest pitcher in the
game. e
Walter johnson II the greatest pitch
er in the world because he II so dubbed
by tho men actively engaged on the
baseball field. His associates Of the
diamond say that he Is most feared. 10
tho best in the business. and that II
| there were others better than Johnson
| their records must prove It beyond a
shadow OF q doubt.
Johnson's greatness lies in his ability
to pitch better than any other man
pitched before. His curve combined
with his terrific fast ball is what en-
ables him to fool the opposition. Aside
from this. he can call . reserve force
Into play because he Ii physically a
arms-his reach IL something like sew
enty-six inches-he can hurl the ball
over the plate with the speed Of . rife
bullet.
It has been estimated that John.,n
delivers the ball from his hand TO the
catcher's mitt in something like half a
second. This shows that the rate OF
the ball Is l22 feet per second nifty feet
per second faster than the fastest train
travels.
Added to this the impact Of the ball
delivered from Johnson's hand Is calcu-
lated at 100 pounds. or about half the
force Of impact OF q as automatic pis-
toll. This In why the batters do not
care to take chances In hugging the
plate. This is why he bewilders the
most quick-witted- batters in the cir
cult.
Today Walter johnson began his
tenth year in a Washington uniform,
No other pitcher in baseball earned a
record like that OF the famous smoke
bah hurler. To date he has pitched in
81 games. or enough innings to COM
pin s routs His Srsnd totsi for
nine years is 217 wins and 1873 losses.
which Is an average q 800 This mark
Is considered wonderful In view Of the
week hitting behind him and the fact
ing was either In seventh or eighth
place.
During Johnson's major league ca
reer he has allowed the opposing teams
2.254 hits. a surprisingly large number
as a total. but spread over nine years
Of work on the firing line this is an
average of $50 hits per year. which is
an average OF a fraction more than six
hits per game.
In the 374 games Walter has hurled.
s1s runs have been scored of him.
which I" -" average Of ais runs per
game. of pitching ball for nine
years all! being able to keep the op-
two runs per contest! That comes
near being a worlds record for effec-
tiveness. This means that on the gen
eral average Johnson has asked his
team or a. get but svs him
Imagine what he could have done In
the past nine years with tribe OF
slugsers like those in Detroit behind
son has passed $50 batters. a tribe
more than one and a half batters per
game on the average. This is another
tribute to the general excellence of
s ssw Steadily hs psssd in t eon
troll each year. His totals have been
larger. but 1t must be remembered
that he has averaged nifty games per
year for the past four year.
sons pet hobby. although In the past
three seasons he has been content to
take 1t easy. -Four years ago when