The Washington herald., 1917-07-21
Smoke Ball Kin" Will Be
Lucky if He Wins Twenty
Games This Year.

to the well once too often can be
sprung on the innocent bystanders
these days after a thorough investi-
cation of Walter Johnson's twirling
record for A. ID. 1917. The big fellow
has pitched the worst ball of his
career this season and has an excel
lent chance to equal his record of
1903, when he won thirteen and lost
twenty-five games. However, there is
little danger Of his turning In a
card like that. but he will have to
step some II he comes through with
twenty victories this season. This
is very sad work for a person of
Walters reputation and It looks as
If the well-known and efficient pitcher
were making too many trips to the
plate.
johnson has not been available
more than once a week thus far and
IL he continues this stunt through
out the season. he cannot be wal
loped oftener than once every three
weeks to keep beyond the deadline
which divides the classy performers
and the tramps. In other words, he
cannot lose more than four games
between nov and the first of Octo-
Der and have a twenty-game year.
Isn't 1t strange how the mighty
stub their toes and stumble into the
steerage class? Not that johnson is
headed that way or even thinking of
travelling in that direction; but the
great twirler no longer Is the won
der Of the age either with the fans
or the ball players. The batters now
step UP and soak the ball, whereas
couple of years ago they were shy
and kept one foot at the plate and
the other in the water bucket. In
those Gays, IL was quite a feat to
get even a foul off his smoke ball,
Judging from his ability, a season
with only twenty victories for him
is disgrace. Even a season of
twenty-five victories would be a scan
dal and less than thirty triumphs is
disappointment. So 1t can be seen
that the Smoke Ball king is I'D
against 1t and 1t is certain that he
viii have to regard the season of
1917 as his one bad campaign.
Worse than that. Walter will be
forced to suffer during the long win
ter months. He must expect the ex-
perts to discover this fall that he
is going back and devote the entire
cold spell to telling anxious readers
that the end is near.
AS a matter Of cold fact, johnson
has been nicked more often than any
other twirler on the circuit. A total
OF l5O safe swipes have been regis
tered against his twisters. and Dauss,
OF Detroit. comes next with l40,
Ihere Is no comparison between the
two' but the figures speak for them
selves. In addition to that, Walter
holds the record for games lost this
season. He has suffered eleven de-
feats and won eight games. Bob
Groom is the other heavy loser in the
league, having lost a total of ten.
But Walter has the strike-out record,
with 1o2 to his credit, with Babe Ruth
running a close second.
The Washington club has been no-
toriously feeble on the Tally Trail.
and it is well known that his play-
mates make it difficult for johnson
70 win. Frequently they have ne
elected to score at all while he was
on the slab, and that made IL i'm
possible to cop the combat In the
meantime, the other side amassed a
healthy total, and on several occa-
sions 1t required from seven to nine
runs to win. Twice Washington has
needed seven runs to win when the
star was pitching. Twice they needed
half dozen runs to get the money
and five times this year the Grifrs
needed hve tallies to put over a
victory.
In other words, in more than one
half of the games it has been neces-
sary for his clubs offense to per-
form at nearly double its normal
speed In order to bag the verdict,
Three Of Johnson's eight victories
were won on these stormy occasions,
Two of them involved Detroit, and
another time at st. Louis Washing
ton won to 6 after Walter had been
knocked out of the box. Last Sun
day he was credited with a victory
over the White Sox when he went
into the box in the ninth inning
ana held the team runless after his
predecessor had been removed. On
Tuesday he lost an eleven-inning bat.
tie to Chicago, which makes his total
eleven for the year.
We are loath to believe that John.
son Is through as a pitcher or that
he has started on the down grade
His hard luck this year is due to q
change in his pitching style. There
was time when Walter needed
| nothing but his fast ball to subdut
the foe, but of late the speed has
deserted him. Now It Is necessary
to use a few curves and work the
batter, and as soon as johnson gets
the system he will be just as effec.