Evening star., 1927-04-03
Barney, Idol of Fans and Essentially Family Man,
Is Kept Busy Autographing Base Balls and
4 Attending to His Huge ''Fan Mail"


future NEST egg" through iudicious
Investment: those who nurse crouch
and those who don't; the happy, the
disconso1ate and many others. To
them all he is the same quiet-spoken,
thoughtful, kindly man willing always
to aid wherever possible.
He has some strange questions to
answer at times. because of his long
experience in the big show. One of
these came a year or two ago from
young fellow. Just graduated from
the bushes
For day or two we noticed that the
youngSter was closely watshing us,
with big. speculative eyes. Naturally
we began TO wonder what the lad had
on his mind. Finally, apparently sum
moning his courage. he contided TO
Walter what was troubling him.
do they allow a fellow to chew
tobacco in,the big league" he asked,
wistfully.
Despite himself. Johnson had to
laugh. but he quickly put the young
ster at his ease.
why, certainly said Barney"
You can chew all you wish
What an expression of relief came
over the rockies face as, eagerly, he
drew forth from his pocket plug of
tobacco, large and black! With evi-
dent relish he bit off a generous por-
tion, then turned to the practice ses,
sion with fresh enthusiasm.
Walter Family Man.
incidentally. tobacco chewing in the
big league Is not as common as some
believe. There are very few on our
club who use tobacco in this manner.
Card playing as means of. diver
sion and recreation is popular with
major league players. although few
wager ANYTHING on the results OF the
games. Barney is especially fond of
Casino, and he is recognized by his
teammates as a champion at the game.
He plays for sheer love of the pastime,
generally when the club is on the
road.
His first and greatest love Is, of
course, his family Walter has five
fine children. three boys and two girls,
and 1t requires a mighty strong pull
to draw him from the family fireside
in the evening when in Washington.
They can't travel with him during the
season, but he makes up for the alb
sence when he returns, r0nnping with
the youngsters at every opportunity,
while Mrs. Johnson looks on with
pride and enjoyment.
Every diamond follower ought to be
familiar with Walter Johnson's spot.
less reputation on the field of play
He never has been removed from a
game by an umpire. never has been
disciplined and never has enga ged
in any fistic encounter on the field.
He was my idol and my ideal before
| began my professional career. and
in my close association with him dur
ing the past four years / have found
him every bit as fine as I had imag.
ined him to be.
Walter never bothered with the spit
ball, sail ball or other special forms
of pitching. He never has needed to.
His speed and an occasional curve are
sufficient. He has experimental with
the various types of balls, Just as
any boxman is apt to DO, but never
tried to master them. He never
throws balls which have become
"scuffed by contact with the con-
crete stands. wire screen or other
objects. He always throws them out
of the game. With his tremendous
of smoke" he is doing more
to curve the ball than scuffing would
ever do. If Barney" ever threw
scuffed ball it would be practically
to catch much less to hit.
When 1t Hurts to Get Hit.
He doesn't Intentionally throw the
bean ball" although batters have
been hit by his fast ball. Roger
Peckinpaugh, when with New York
and Cleveland. had his cap busted or
his uniform grazed on a number of
occasions by Johnson's speed pitch.
Walter hit Sam ifale of the Athletics
under the arm one day last Summer
and he dropped him In his tracks
! got in the way OF one of those
lightning shots the first Spring | went
South with the Senators and. believe
me, | remember the occasion to this
day.
] had been fairly successful In my
attempts to hit the Speed King, while
with the Yankees Rnd the Red Sox,
so, as ! walked 10 the plate. in Spring
practice. to face Barney" | felt
bit cocky.
Don't save any of your speed, Wal
ter" / called, with laugh. Give me
all you've got and I'll get a base hit"
He did. Zing. / saw it coming and
tried to dodge as~I realized that II
was speeding straight for me. 1t was
no use. That ball spun me around
like top and felt IS though 1t were
burrowing it's way into my body. OF
course. IT was an accident. Walter
was as much upset about the incident
~ ], and ! assure you | didn't feel
any too happy over it,
Walter Johnson always is fair in
his dealings with umpires. II he feels
that the arbiter has missed one on
him he makes sure that the next one
is in there, with even more smoke"
on 1t. He always is ready to give
credit to an opposing player IL he
feels that the rival deserves praise.
We We're playing game in Boston
last year. Whitley" Wiltse. chunky
lefthander, was i'm the box for the Red
Sox and our boys were not very sue
cessful in batting against his south
paw slants.
'Aw. he hasn't got a thing but his
glove and a prayer out there" growled
more than one Senator player as he
came back to the bench. Il don't
know how he gets away with 1t. WeIl
land on him yetv'
Walter smiled, but made no answer.
Finally when one of his teammates
appealed 10 him for an opinion OF the
opposing pitcher, he spoke.
Barney Didn't Agree.
wait till you hit this fellow. Then
you can tell Ipe he hasn't got thing,
Any pitcher in the big league who car
hold a team to three or four hits must
have something on that ball
YOU know IL is common habit of
ball players 10 complain that the
pitcher who holds them down hasn't
anything on the ball. while the twlrier
they hit hard has lot Of stuff.
have never seen big Barney"
ratified. either because of the efforts
OF opposing coaches or the breaks of
the game. Always cool and collected.
he In ever the master of himself and
generally of the game In which he is
working.
Quiet-spoken and modest to an ex-
treme. Walter never boasts of his &C.
complishments and one has TO draw
from him through questioning any in.
formation relative TO his pitching
feats He is a decided blond. with