Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-13

Who Is the greatest pitcher you
ever hit against? I've been asked this
questions innumerable times.
AS 81 seasons have come and gone
since that day in September, 1906.
when / got my first closeup OF Ed
Walsh l have encountered all the
good ones in our league who have
hurled during that time, and also
some of the best in the National.
Now, there Is a distinction between
the greatest and best pitcher a. player
ever has faced and the one against
whom he has been least successful.
So it is in my case.
I firmly believe and always have
said that Walter Johnson was the
greatest pitcher I ever looked over,
and / shall devote this entire article
to him, reserying the story of my i'm
pressions of other great hurlers for
tomorrow's installment of this series.
OF those whom / shall mention in
the next chapter there have been a
number whom / have found more diff
ficult to hit and whom 1 feared more
than l ever did the mighty Walter.
Not that I've found the big Train"
easy; far from it. Though frequently
have been able to make but one hit
in q game, and sometimes with o."
as we say, he is not the kind of
pitcher I minded facing.
Johnson's control always has been
good and knew I never would have
to look for anything but that fast
ball. But. boys, oh boys. what speed!
You just swung, that was all. Either
| you did or you didn't, and more
often you didn't"
Walters style of pitching is the
poetry of motion. His effortiess wind
up, the sway Of the body, that beau
| tiful side-arm delivery-an make a
| picture to be remembered. And that
! speed-you can't realize what it is
until you have been up at the plate
with a bat in your hands. / have
heard Connie Mack, Bill Gleason and
other old.timers talk about Rusie, but
never heard them claim that he had
more Of the swift" than Walter
| Johnson.
Waddell a Speed Rival.
In speed alone I believe Waddell
came nearer to johnson than any one
I have seen, but Johnsons ball is
harder to follow because of the side
arm delivery: Rube's came overland
Joe Wood and Lefty" Grove are
close up for third place.
Johnson broke in with Washington
in August, 1907, just a month or so
before l got a steady job at second
base. am not going to dabble In
statistics much in these stories. but
/ could not help going over Bar
ney's" record, just to refresh my
memory.
For years and years his support
was not much, yet / find that he has
led the league in games won six sea-
sons. In 1912 he won 16 consecutive
victories; in 1913 he took Ia in row
and then in 1924, his eighteenth year,
but with a really fine team behind
| him, Walter moved EN- down 10
| times straight.
Now, in his twentieth season,
noted the other day that he had
hurled his 112th shutout victory.
Immediately / wondered how many
of those had been in. get thrill
now as | recall one that is not counted
in that list, but should be, which
would bring the record to 113.
It was in Philadelphia and Bob
/ Groom was pitching for Washington.
/ When we went in for our half of the
| ninth Bob had us SO, but we got
busy and tied it up.
Barney" came on In the tenth
and began to buzz them by. The
clouds had been very heavy all after
noon and they did not tighten as the
sun went down. The darker it be-
came the faster he threw. The game
was called at the end of the nineteenth
round and we never came close to
scoring. We didn't have a good look
at the ball during the last Ave in
nings. We would see that easy swing
and then, chug, in the catcher's mitt,
and we We're out / believe he was