Walter Perry Johnson – A look back at Baseball’s Hall of Famers.
Walter Johnson is part of the “First Five” inaugural members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. As I did with Bob Feller, I did some research to see in their day, how it was determined how fast he threw. Similar to Feller, I did find mention of throwing against a motorcycle but something else caught my interest.
In the era when baseball was king and the time of more colorful and creative language, quotes of Walter Johnson fastball are worth noting.
Ty Cobb in 1907 facing him when Johnson was just a rookie, Cobb said of Johnson, “He was a rookie and we licked our lips as we warmed up… He was a tall, shambling galoot…arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance.”
After Cobb had an at-bat against Johnson he said, “I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger.”
The scout who discovered Johnson said, “He throws so fast you can’t see ‘em. He knows where he is throwing because if he didn’t there would be dead bodies strewn all over Idaho.”
Today’s radar gun was not available in Johnson’s time. But in 1914, it is said he was measured against a speeding motorcycle and estimated at 97 mph, just as Feller was. I’ve read some articles that suggest he only threw in the high 80s or low 90s.
In 1912 in Bridgeport, Connecticut a speed test was conducted at the Remington Arms Co. The army had built a special chronograph to measure speeding projectiles. This required pitchers to throw through a tunnel of wires. Time was started as the ball entered and ended at a steel plate. Johnson was said to be clocked at 83 mph. This would be what a batter would see when the ball reached the plate.
I watched a video of Johnson pitching on the mound which I’ve included at the end. He was definitely a sidearm thrower with his arm about parallel to the ground. This gave him the late downward break at the plate. You can’t argue with other hall of famers saying Johnson was one of the fastest pitchers they have ever seen but it makes me wonder how much faster he could have been.
He didn’t have much of a leg kick with hardly any hip rotation. And basically, no follow through toward the plate. But his motion was very smooth. Ty Cobb did mention that Johnson was not prone to throwing inside and I remember that about him in a book about fastball pitchers. Cobb did hit .366 against him.
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