The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #20 Walter Johnson

Chugging in at #20 is “The Big Train” Walter Johnson. Johnson’s combination of peak and longevity is the gold standard for starting pitchers as he maintained his elite production for two decades, winning two MVPs and permanently stamping his name at the top of baseball’s historical leaderboards. Johnson’s 417 wins are the most since Major League Baseball formed in 1903 and trail only Cy Young since baseball’s inception.  Johnson is second all-time in WAR trailing only Babe Ruth. He’s #1 all-time in shutouts, leading the league a record seven times. He’s third all-time in innings, 5th in complete games, and 9th in strikeouts, leading the league a record 11 times. He’s also 7th all-time in adjusted ERA and 11th in WHIP. Johnson was ahead of his time especially due to his proclivity for the strikeout. He was the only pitcher to debut before 1959 to reach 3,000 career strikeouts and the only pitcher in the first 81 years of Major League Baseball to reach 3,500 career strikeouts. He led the league in strikeouts for a record eight consecutive seasons. Johnson was at his apex from 1910 to 1919 when he won 20 games for 10 consecutive seasons with an ERA+ of 183. During this run, Johnson set the record for most consecutive 25 win seasons (7) and tied the record for the most consecutive 27 win seasons (4). Johnson had 10 seasons in which he started at least 28 games and had an ERA under 2.00. No other pitcher has thrown more than six. Johnson threw at least 320 innings in nine consecutive seasons. Since Major League Baseball’s inception, no other pitcher has even thrown more than six in total. Johnson produced nine seasons in which he started at least 27 games with a WHIP less than 1.00. No other pitcher in Major League Baseball history did it more than six times. Johnson led the Washington Senators to a World Series appearance in 1925 and a World Series title in 1924. He entered the 9th inning of Game 7 of the ’24 series and pitched four scoreless innings on one day’s rest as the Senators prevailed in the longest Game 7 in World Series history.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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