Evening star., 1946-12-11

"Shucks, think the river Is q lo
narrower now than when Washing.
ton was around"
Johnson had retired from baseball
to farm he had purchased neal
Germantown, Md, but not from
public life. He became radio broad.
caster, airing the Mats games. anc
In 1888 turned to politics and wa,
elected Montgomery County com,
missioner. His campaign was marked
by the expenditure of only so cents
which, he explained. was spent fol
printed cards
In 1910 he won the Republican
nomination for congressional rep
resentatiye Of the 9Th Maryland dis
trict, but was defeated in an area
dominated by staunch Democratic
voters.
Such . celebrity did johnson be-
come that at one stage Of his career,
prior to World War I, 1t was not
unusual for visitors here to glimpse
him in action at the ball park be-
fore arranging to meet the Pres
ident or take In any Of the land
marks customarily FIRST on the list
Of sightseers In the Capital.
Speed Evolved Tall Tales.
Typical Of the legendary stories OF
his pitching speed is that attributed
to Ty Cobb, q contemporary great,
who, asked his most embarrassing
experience in base ball, replied:
washington on any dark after
noon with Walter johnson pitching" !"
The old saying that You can't
hit what you can't see" probably
gave rise to the yarn that on one
particularly dark afternoon john
sons receiver fooled everybody in
the ball park by simply thudding a
fist into his glove when Walter
merely went through the motions
Of delivering the ball.
And AL Schacht, the comedian
and former teammate. likes to re-
late how Umpire Billy Evans once
called a game ION account of dark
ness" when the sun wasn't even
down after q couple of Johnson's
high, hard ones had zoomed through
q rookie catcher and plunked the
arbiter in tender spots.
Although most people probably
thought Of johnson merely as big
fellow with an overpowering right
arm and. misled by his innate mod
esty, q strangely contrasting meek
ness, he was one Of baseball5 great
est in fighting heart. This was ex-
amplified by an incident on the oc-
casion Of an exhibition being played
against the Braves at the Tampa
training grounds when Walter was
overheard to say sharply to player
presenting an alibi: 'The idea Is to
WIN THE GAME"
Fair to fault and invariably kind
in his personal affairs. innumerable
instances have been cited where he
made generous sacrifices Of time
and effort to do favors for friends
and his inborn gentleness was well
illustrated by the remark he made
about the one occasion he was In
veigled into deer hunting. When
saw the eyes Of the dying animal
I had shot," he said. II knew never
would 60 deer hunting again"
Handicapped BY Weak Clubs.
Although his lifetime total Of 4l4
games won as against .276 lost for .
percentage Of 900 Is most impress
sive there Is no telling to what
heights he would have attained had
he not performed with q chronically
also-ran aggregation that finished
in the second division In Is OF the
81 years he toiled as contrasted with
other headline fingers who were
backed by hard hitting, consistently
winning outfits. Always . hard
luck" pitcher, he participated In
60 1sto-0 games, winning ~ Of them
and losing 20, sometimes when he
was allowing only four hits.
Johnson's high-water mark In
victories was in 1918 when he
notched 36 against 7 defeats for
4 percentage Of 1877, and In 1924
when he was So years old and some
Of the snap had departed from his
durable right arm he still was good
enough to register 23-7 mark and
be voted the most valuable player
in the American League, and top
ping that OF, incidentally with q
20-7 record the following year.
It also was in 1924 that he-and
the Nationals-got their first World
Series chance. after 18 seasons with
. confirmed trailer, and he hurled
them to their first world champion
ship In the seventh and deciding
game, the drama Of which was
by the fact that he al
ready had suffered two reverses.
It took New York's Giants II In
nings to down him In the opener,
played before 35,76o frenzied fans
who watched President Coolidge toss
out the first ball at Grifnth Stadium
In winning, to 8, John McGraws