“Walter Johnson”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Often thought of as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Johnson established several pitching records, some of which remain unbroken nine decades after retiring from baseball. He remains by far the all-time career leader in shutouts with 110,^[2] second in wins with 417, and fourth in complete games with 531. He held the career record in strikeouts for nearly 56 years, with 3,508, from the end of his career in 1927 until the 1983 season, when three players (Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan and Gaylord Perry) finally passed the mark. Johnson was the only player in the 3,000 strikeout club (achieved 22 July 1923) for 51 years (less 5 days) when Bob Gibson recorded his 3,000th strikeout on 17 July 1974. Johnson led the league in strikeouts a Major League record 12 times—one more than current strikeout leader Nolan Ryan—including a record eight consecutive seasons.^[3] He is the only pitcher in major league history to record over 400 wins and strikeout over 3,500 batters.

In {{baseball year|1936}}, Johnson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members. His gentle nature was legendary, and to this day he is held up as an example of good sportsmanship, while his name has become synonymous with friendly competition.

Early life

Walter Johnson was the second of six children (Effie, Leslie, Earl, Blanche)^[4] born to Frank Edwin Johnson (1861–1921) and Minnie Olive Perry (1867–1967) on a rural farm four miles west of Humboldt, Kansas.^[5] Although he was sometimes said to be of Swedish ancestry and referred to by sportswriters as "The Big Swede", Johnson's ancestors came from the British Isles.^[6]

Soon after he reached his fourteenth birthday, his family moved to California's Orange County in 1902. The Johnsons settled in the town of Olinda, a small oil boomtown located just east of Brea.^[7] In his youth, Johnson split his time among playing baseball, working in the nearby oil fields, and going horseback riding.^[7] Johnson later attended Fullerton Union High School where he struck out 27 batters during a 15-inning game against Santa Ana High School.^[7] He later moved to Idaho, where he doubled as a telephone company employee and a pitcher for a Weiser-based team in the Idaho State League. Johnson was spotted by a talent scout and signed a contract with the Washington Senators in July 1907 at the age of nineteen.

Playing career

Johnson was renowned as the premier power pitcher of his era. Ty Cobb recalled his first encounter with the rookie fastballer:

... The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him. ... every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park.^[8]}}

In 1917, a Bridgeport, Connecticut munitions laboratory recorded Johnson's fastball at 134 feet per second, which is equal to {{convert|91|mph|km/h|0}}, a velocity that may have been unmatched in his day, with the possible exception of Smoky Joe Wood. Johnson, moreover, pitched with a sidearm motion, whereas power pitchers are usually known for pitching with a straight-overhand delivery. Johnson's motion was especially difficult for right-handed batters to follow, as the ball seemed to be coming from third base. His pitching mechanics were superb, generating powerful rotation of his shoulders with excellent balance.^[9] In addition to his fastball, Johnson featured an occasional curveball that he developed around 1913 or 1914.^[10] He batted and threw right-handed.

The overpowering fastball was the primary reason for Johnson's exceptional statistics, especially his fabled strikeout totals. Johnson's record total of 3,508^[11] strikeouts stood for more than 55 years until Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, and Gaylord Perry all surpassed it in that order during the 1983 season. Johnson, as of 2017, ranks ninth on the all-time strikeout list, but his total must be understood in its proper context of an era of much fewer strikeouts. Among his pre-World War II contemporaries, only two men finished within one thousand strikeouts of Johnson: runner-up Cy Young with 2,803 (705 strikeouts behind) and Tim Keefe at 2,562 (946 behind). Bob Feller, whose war-shortened career began in 1936, later ended up with 2,581.

As a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals/Senators, Walter Johnson won 417 games, the second most by any pitcher in history (after Cy Young, who won 511). He and Young are the only pitchers to have won 400 games.^[12]

In a 21-year career, Johnson had twelve 20-win seasons, including ten in a row. Twice, he topped thirty wins (33 in 1912 and 36 in 1913).^[13] Johnson's record includes 110 shutouts, the most in baseball history. Johnson had a 38–26 record in games decided by a 1–0 score;^[14] both his win total and his losses in these games are major league records. Johnson also lost 65 games because his teams failed to score a run.^[14] On September 4, 5 and 7, 1908, he shut out the New York Highlanders in three consecutive games.

Three times, Johnson won the triple crown for pitchers (1913, 1918 and 1924). Johnson twice won the American League Most Valuable Player Award (1913, 1924),^[2] a feat accomplished since by only two other pitchers, Carl Hubbell in 1933 and 1936 and Hal Newhouser in 1944 and 1945.

His earned run average of 1.14 in 1913 was the fourth lowest ever at the time he recorded it; it remains the sixth-lowest today, despite having been surpassed by Bob Gibson in 1968 (1.12) for lowest ERA ever by a 300+ inning pitcher. It could have been lower if not for one of manager Clark Griffith's traditions. For the last game of the season, Griffith often treated the fans to a farce game. Johnson actually played center field that game until he was brought in to pitch. He allowed two hits before he was taken out of the game. The next pitcher – who was actually a career catcher – allowed both runners to score. The official scorekeeper ignored the game, but later, Johnson was charged with those two runs, raising his ERA from 1.09 to 1.14. For the decade from 1910–1919, Johnson averaged 26 wins per season and had an overall ERA of 1.59.

Johnson won 36 games in 1913, 40% of the team's total wins for the season. In April and May, he pitched 55.2 consecutive scoreless innings, still the American League record and the third-longest streak in history. In May 1918, Johnson pitched 40 consecutive scoreless innings; he is the only pitcher with two such 40+ inning streaks.^[15]

Although he often pitched for losing teams during his career, Johnson finally led the Washington Nationals/Senators to the World Series in 1924, his 18th year in the American League. Johnson lost the first and fifth game of the 1924 World Series, but became the hero by pitching four scoreless innings of relief in the seventh and deciding game, winning in the 12th inning. Washington returned to the World Series the following season, but Johnson's experience was close to the inverse: two early wins, followed by a Game Seven loss. On October 15, 1927, Johnson's request for an unconditional release from the club was granted.^[16]

Although his Hall of Fame plaque reads that he pitched 'for many years with a losing team,' during his career the Senators finished in the first division 11 times, and the second division 10 times. In Johnson's first five seasons, Washington finished last twice and next-to-last three times. But they finished second in the American League in both 1912 and 1913, which were Johnson's two 30-win seasons. Then, for the next decade, they typically finished in the middle of the pack before their back-to-back pennants.

Johnson was a good hitter for a pitcher, compiling a career batting average of .235, including a record .433 average in 1925. He also made 13 appearances in the outfield during his career. He hit over .200 in 13 of his 21 seasons as a hitter, hit three home runs in 1914, and hit 12 doubles and a triple in 130 at bats in 1917. Johnson finished his career with 23 home runs, the ninth-highest total for a pitcher in Major League history.

Johnson had a reputation as a kindly person, and made many friends in baseball. As reported in The Glory of Their Times, Sam Crawford was one of Johnson's good friends, and sometimes in non-critical situations, Johnson would ease up so Crawford would hit well against him. This would vex Crawford's teammate Ty Cobb, who could not understand how Crawford could hit the great Johnson so well. Johnson was also friendly with Babe Ruth, despite Ruth's having hit some of his longest home runs off him at Griffith Stadium.

In 1928, he began his career as a manager in the minor leagues, taking up residence at 32 Maple Terrace, Millburn, New Jersey, and managing the Newark Bears of the International League. He continued on to the major leagues, managing the Washington Nationals/Senators (1929–1932), and finally the Cleveland Indians (1933–1935). His managing record was 529–432, with his best team managed being in 1930, when the team finished 94–60, 8 games out of first place. In seven seasons, he had five winning seasons, with the only two losing seasons being at the beginning of his tenure with Washington and Cleveland, though his teams did not come close to winning the pennant, finishing 12 games behind in his last season. Johnson also served as a radio announcer on station WJSV for the Senators during the 1939 season.^[17]

Baseball Hall of Fame

Johnson was one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. Johnson, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner were known as the "Five Immortals" because they were the first players chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame.^[18]

Politics

Walter Johnson retired to Germantown, Maryland. A lifelong Republican and friend of President Calvin Coolidge, Johnson was elected as a Montgomery County commissioner in 1938. His father-in-law was Rep. Edwin Roberts, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1940 Johnson ran for a congressional seat in Maryland's 6th district, but came up short against the incumbent Democrat, William D. Byron, by a total of 60,037 (53%) to 52,258 (47%).^[19]

Personal life

Walter married Hazel Lee Roberts about 1914 and they had five children.^[21] His wife died in August 1930 from complications resulting from heat stroke after a long train ride from Kansas.^[22]

At 11:40 pm, Tuesday, December 10, 1946^[23] Johnson died of a brain tumor in Washington, D.C., five weeks after his 59th birthday, and was interred at Rockville Union Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland.^[24]^[25]

Legacy

A small high school baseball league in Kansas is named the Walter Johnson League. The League schools are Sedan High School, Oxford High School, Udall High School, West Elk High School, Flinthills High School, and Cedar Vale/Dexter High School.

He was also called "Sir Walter", "the White Knight", and "The Gentle Johnson" because of his gentlemanly sportsmanship, and "Barney" after auto racer Barney Oldfield (he got out of a traffic ticket when a teammate in the car told the policeman Johnson was Barney Oldfield).^[29]

In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Johnson number 4 on its list of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players, the highest-ranked pitcher.^[30] Later that year, he was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

In 1985 Jonathan Richman recorded the song "Walter Johnson", which dwelt on Johnson's personality and behaviour as an exemplar of what can be good in sport.^[31]

In 2015, he along with Nap Lajoie, Christy Mathewson and Cy Young were named the "Greatest Pioneers Group." They were voted for by baseball fans online as part of the Franchise Four competition and were "selected as the most impactful players". The results were announced at the 2015 MLB All-Star Game.^[32]

Johnson's gentle nature was legendary, and to this day he is held up as an example of good sportsmanship, while his name has become synonymous with friendly competition. This attribute worked to Johnson's disadvantage in the case of fellow Hall of Famer Ty Cobb. Virtually all batters were concerned about being hit by Johnson's fastball, and many would not "dig in" at the plate because of that concern. Cobb realized that the good-hearted Johnson was privately nervous about the possibility of seriously injuring a batter. Almost alone among his peers, Cobb would actually stand closer to the plate than usual when facing Johnson.^[33]

Statistics

Note that official MLB stats show 3,508 career strikeouts, with 70 in his first (1907) season. Stats at the websites of Baseball Hall of Fame, ESPN, Baseball Reference and Baseball Cube (see "External Links", below) all show 3,509 career strikeouts, with 71 in his first season. This has resulted in minor differences seen in references to Johnson's record when reading media and Wikipedia articles of other 3000 strikeout club pitchers.

See also

Notes

1. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/305482/Walter-Johnson|title=Walter Johnson|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|accessdate=July 27, 2012}}
2. ^¹{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec10.html|title= Today in History|publisher=The Library of Congress|accessdate=July 20, 2012}}
3. ^{{cite web|last=Baseball-Reference.com|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/SO_p_leagues.shtml|year=2010|title=Yearly League Leaders & Records for Strikeouts|accessdate=August 25, 2010}}
4. ^{{Cite web|url=https://ghostsofdc.org/2013/10/09/walter-johnson-12-years-old-1900-u-s-census/|title=Walter Johnson at 12 Years Old in 1900 U.S. Census|last=Tom|date=2013-10-09|website=Ghosts of DC|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-02}}
5. ^{{cite web|url=http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016600.html|title=ESPN.com: The Big Train kept on chuggin'|website=espn.go.com}}
6. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=0ca-EYo-gY0C&pg=PA1 Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train], by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 1. On Google Books
7. ^¹²{{cite news | last = Dufresne | first = Chris | title = The year the Big Train stopped in Brea, and brought the Babe |work=Los Angeles Times | date = June 2, 2008 | url = http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-sp-breababe2-2008jun02,0,3088387.story?page=2 | accessdate = June 2, 2008 }}
8. ^{{cite book|first=Al|last=Stump|title=Cobb: A Biography|year=1994}}
9. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=22656|title=Raising Aces: Classic Deliveries: Fade to Black and White|last=Doug Thorburn|date=January 24, 2014|publisher=Baseball Prospectus|accessdate=January 29, 2014}}
10. ^{{cite book|last1=James|first1=Bill|last2=Neyer|first2=Rob|title=The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FfRLE6I5EEC|accessdate=29 January 2014|date=2008-06-16|publisher=Touchstone|isbn=9781439103777|page=270}}
11. ^{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/leaders.jsp?c_id=mlb&baseballScope=mlb&statType=2&sortByStat=SO&timeFrame=3&timeSubFrame2=0|title=Sortable Player Stats|website=Major League Baseball}}
12. ^{{cite web|title=Career Leaders & Records for Wins|publisher=Baseball-Reference|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/W_career.shtml|accessdate=January 12, 2011}}
13. ^{{cite web|title=Walter Johnson|publisher=Baseball-Reference|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnswa01.shtml|accessdate=January 12, 2011}}
14. ^¹Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.34, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, {{ISBN|978-1-55365-507-7}}
15. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_ip.shtml|title=Innings Pitched Records by Baseball Almanac|website=www.baseball-almanac.com}}
16. ^{{cite tweet|user=TNPMuseum|author=Nat'l Pastime Museum|number=787362908586053637|date=15 October 2016|title=OTD 1927 #DC Senators grant pitching great Walter Johnson his release. Reluctantly. #MLB #Goodbyes}}
17. ^For an example of a major league game broadcast by Johnson, listen to [https://archive.org/details/CompleteBroadcastDay Complete Broadcast Day (September 21, 1939)], selecting numbers 11 and 12 on the list of one-hour segments. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
18. ^{{cite web| url= http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/01/03/by-the-numbers-the-first-inductees/|title= By The Numbers: The First Inductees|publisher= CBS New York|accessdate=July 20, 2012}}
19. ^http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1940election.pdf
20. ^Joe Martin to Robert J. Donovan, My First Fifty Years in Politics, p. 24 (New York City: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960), 261 pp. Library of Congress No. 60-150012
21. ^{{Cite web|url=https://ghostsofdc.org/2012/06/08/walter-johnson-marriage-1914/|title=Mr. and Mrs. Walter Johnson Tie the Knot on Monroe St. NW|last=Tom|date=2012-06-08|website=Ghosts of DC|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-02}}
22. ^{{cite web|url=http://ghostsofdc.org/2013/07/02/this-is-so-sad-walter-johnson-buries-his-wife-hazel/|title=Hazel Lee Roberts Buried By Husband Walter Johnson - Ghosts of DC|website=ghostsofdc.org}}
23. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=0ca-EYo-gY0C&pg=RA2-PA348 Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train], by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 346. On Google Books
24. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=0ca-EYo-gY0C&pg=RA2-PA348 Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train], by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 348. On Google Books
25. ^{{Find a Grave|2453}}
26. ^{{cite web|url=http://bigtrain.org/history/walterjohnson|title=The Official Site of Bethesda Big Train Summer Collegiate Baseball: Walter Johnson|website=bigtrain.org}}
27. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats19.shtml|title=4 Strikeouts In 1 Inning|website=www.baseball-almanac.com}}
28. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/3_pitch_inning.shtml|title=Three Pitch Innings|website=www.baseball-almanac.com}}
29. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=0ca-EYo-gY0C&pg=PA94 Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train], by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 348. On Google Books
30. ^Baseball's 100 Greatest Players by The Sporting News
31. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/washington-senators-walter-johnson-jonathan-richman-connection-bloop-hits-032715|title=Bloop Hits: Jonathan Richman Rides the Big Train - FOX Sports|date=March 27, 2015|publisher=}}
32. ^{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2015/franchise_four.jsp?c_id=pio|title=2015 Franchise Four: MLB Pioneers|website=Major League Baseball}}
33. ^{{cite book |first=Mark Gauvreau|last=Judge|authorlink=Mark Judge (writer) |title=Damn Senators: My Grandfather and the Story of Washington's Only World Series Championship|publisher=Encounter Books |location=San Francisco |year=2004 |page= 170|isbn=1-59403-045-6 |oclc= }}