Johnson was renowned as the premier
power pitcher of his era.
Ty Cobb recalled his first encounter with the rookie fastballer: In 1917, a
Bridgeport, Connecticut, munitions laboratory recorded Johnson's fastball at 134 feet per second, which is equal to , 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. In addition to his fastball, Johnson featured an occasional
curveball that he developed around 1913 or 1914. 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 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 2025, ranks tenth 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 1,000 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 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. In a 21-year career, Johnson had twelve 20-win seasons, including ten in a row. Twice, he topped 30 wins (33 in
1912 and 36 in
1913). 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; both his wins and losses in these games are major league records. Johnson also lost 65 games because his teams failed to score a run. In May 1918, Johnson pitched 40 consecutive scoreless innings; he is the only pitcher with two such 40+ inning streaks. Although he often pitched for losing teams during his career, Johnson finally led the
Washington Senators to the
World Series in 1924, his 18th year in the American League. Johnson lost the first and fifth games 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. (left) and Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson (right) shake hands. Johnson's
Hall of Fame plaque reads that he pitched "for many years with a losing team." While the Senators had only nine winning seasons during his career, they finished in the first division (i. e., fourth place or higher) 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. His 547 career hits are the most by a full-time pitcher. He also made 13 appearances in the
outfield during his career. He hit over .200 in 13 of his 21 seasons, hit three home runs in 1914, and hit 12
doubles and a
triple in 130 at-bats in 1917. 1919 marked the seventh year that he hit at least as many home runs as he allowed while pitching, all while pitching at least 296 innings those years. Johnson finished his career with 23 home runs as a pitcher (24 overall, including a
pinch-hit home run in 1925), which at the time was third best for primary pitchers in MLB history. He currently has the
tenth-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. == Managerial career ==