The Washington times., 1936-01-01
Aex;Rube
johnson
Choices
Bv KIRK MILLER
Times Sports Editor


johnson to designate tn
pitchers for Basebsll's Hall o
Fame to be established q
Cooperstown, N. Y, where tn
sport first saw light Of da!
nearly a century ago.
Now there are some great
ball players to whom such
question would have been en-
barrassing, but not Walter.
Answer Was Ready
The least selfish individual
ever to wear the garments o
his trade, for once in his lif'
didn't blush.
You might have thought he hat
anticipated the discussion, TO
he was out with the answer a!
quick aS-that!
''You couldn't leave Grover
Cleveland Alexander and 'Rube'
Waddell out Of those pitching
berths any more than you
could crowd Babe Ruth from
the Outfield," Johnson drawled.
"Over q span Of time they
could do more tricks with that
ball than Willie Hoppe with .
billiard cue. Why, that Wad'
dell was . wizard. For . curve
and a fast ball no man ever ap-
preached him. certainly since l
can recall, and I can 90 back to
the early days Of the century.
THAT WAIST HIGH PITCH
Rube's' deliveries were the
most mystifying Of his or any
other era. They crossed the
plate Just about waist high and
with the speed Of q meteor.
"And courage, man alive, you
never saw such courage In your
life. No matter how he was
feeling-and we all know 'Rube'
didn't always feel his best-he
took his turn.
81 shall never forget o game
/ pitched against him in st.
Louis when 'Rube' showed up
with q bum ankle. He could
hardly walk out to the pitchers
mound, he was 30 lame. but 1t
was his day to pitch and he
would have nobody say he
ducked his regular turn.
Washington got . run off
him in the first inning, and old
Mike KahOe, who was our
catcher then, started to kid
WaddeIl, advising him to give
mn and 70 to the showers.
"This admOnitiOn ired Rube'
and he was more insistent than
ever to stick it out; which he
did. for II innings. to beat US
2 to /, striking out II Of our bat
tiers the while.
'sThe fellows whole record
was filled with equally brilliant
pitching feats. You can't leave
him out Of the Hall Of Fame
and you can't overlook old
Pete Alexander either.
"Old Pete was to the Ma
tiOnal League q good deal Of
what Rube' was to the Ameri-
can League. / understand
neither Of them were models OF
mon off the field, but IS pitch
era, / doubt If they had peers
down through the long history
Of the game"
Singularly enough, and to prove
that If baseball Is to have a hal
Of fame, it should be based or
playing, not individual morals Of
personal habits, the most mora
man baseball has ever known
THINKS that "Hal' Chase alone
rates the nomination for the first
base job.
Nobody could approach pool
old Hal" opined Johnson. looking
out over the sea Of faces which
were the LOO Times-Herald news
boys making merry at their eighth
annual banquet Monday night
"He played as IL he were the en-
tire infield.'
johnson Finds Happiness
Now just a word about baSeball'G
forgotten man.
Walter johnson is happy anc
contented on his 500-acre farm Out
at Germantown, Md. There ISM
the slightest suggestion Of resent
ment or bitterness in his attitude
toward the sport that lifted him
from an obscure Kansas farm tt
become the toast Of every baseball
minded man, woman and child II
America.
Face wind-blown through ex
poSure to the hard winter which
has set in hereabouts, Walter
johnson looked the picture o.
health. He had good words tt
say for Alva Bradley, Clark Grit
fifth, Paul Block and every mar
who ever hired or fired him il
nearly 80 years with baseball
Too, Glenn Wyatt and Willie
Kamm, trouble with whom pre-
cipitated Walters undoing on tn,
Cleveland Indians, were both all
right fellows, just bit headStroni
and impetuous at times, sale
Walter.
Really, the big fellow leave
you with the impression he ha
found peace at last, out Their
near to Mother Earth, his famil!
around him, his crops gathered
his cattle giving lots of milk ant
cream for the nearby Washing
ton, Baltimore and Pittsburgh
Hnarkets-and best of all, n
harum-scarum baseball players tt
haunt his draarns