All-Time Indians: Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson is largely considered the greatest pitcher in baseball history, using an incredible fastball to strike out his way into the Hall of Fame. Over 21 years, all with the Washington Senators, Johnson completed a Major League record 110 shut outs and lead the league in wins six times, strike outs 12 times and ERA five times. In his career, he finished with a 2.17 ERA, 417 wins, 3,509 strike outs and two MVPs leading to becoming one of the first three players inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936.

Johnson left the Senators as a pitcher after posting a 5.10 ERA in 107.2 innings in 1927 and was unable to recover from a broken leg. After which he moved on to manage the Independent League Newark Bears in 1928. Just one season later, however, he was back in Washington, this time as the manager. Johnson would lead the Senators for four seasons, taking them from a fifth place team (there were eight American League teams at the time) in 1929 to a 94 win, second place team in 1930. After two more successful seasons (92 and 93 wins respectively), Johnson jumped from the Senators where he had spent 25 seasons, to the Indians, taking over for Bibb Falk, who managed just a single game after replacing Roger Peckinpaugh.

In 1919, Tris Speaker had taken over the job from Lee Fohl and proceeded to bring the team to their first World Series championship in his first full season in 1920. The Hall of Famer, Speaker, then stayed on until 1926 when rumors of game fixing caused him to leave the Indians. Peckinpaugh then took over for 1928 on and, though he finished above .500 each season from 1929 through 1932 including a .572 winning percent in his final full season. He began the 1933 season with Cleveland as well, but was removed after winning just 26 of his first 51 games. Falk, who had been an Indians outfielder through 1931, took over for a single game when the Indians were waiting for the Big Train to come to Cleveland.

GM Billy Evans and Johnson then got to work building the franchise by adding to an already steady team that included Joe Vosmik, Mel Harder and the Hall of Famer Earl Averill. During his three seasons with the team, the pair were responsible for starting a few great careers including Hal Trosky, Jeff Heath and the closest comparison to Johnson on the mound that the Indians ever had, Bob Feller.

In his first season, Johnson had a less than impressive finish, but given the turbulence in changing managers three times, that can be understood. He won just 48  of his 99 games managed, mostly thanks to a poor offense that included just one starter, Averill, with an average above .300 (and he finished just .301). Johnson wasn’t the only one affected, of course, as staff ace, Harder, finished 15-17 despite a 2.95. Given the situation, Johnson was given another chance in 1934 and the Indians saw a tremendous turn around.

After a 75-76 overall finish in 1933, the Indians saw a complete revolution in 1934. Trosky, in his first full season, knocked in 142 runs, one short of Averill’s team record set just a few years earlier in 1931. In whole, his .330 average, 35 home runs and 117 runs scored combined for one of the greatest offensive seasons in team history. Vosmik batted .341, Averill knocked in 113 RBI and scored 128 runs and five of the six most used hitters batted above .300. On the mound, Monte Pearson and Willis Hudlin each won more than 15 games despite poor ERAs and Harder had his best season to point with 20 wins and a 2.61 ERA. These improvements would push the team to a ten game increase over the previous season as Johnson would win 85 games and finish in third place in the American League, 16 games behind the Detroit Tigers, who lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The following season, Trosky, Averill and Vosmik continued with their hot hitting while Harder, Hudlin and Oral Hildebrand put together an even better rotation than the year before. Considered too much of a players manager, Johnson was unable to turn this talent into wins and he was let go after a sub-.500 record through 96 games in 1935. Taking over for Johnson was Steve O’Neill, an Indians catcher from 1911 through 1923. The team responded greatly to O’Neill at the helm, winning 61% of the games for the rest of the year to fly into a third place finish, again behind Detroit, this time by 12 games.

While managing just one season in its entirety, Johnson still won 179 games to just 168 losses, more wins than all but one manager (Joe Gordon) with less than 350 games under his belt. His 85 wins in 1934 were also an impressive mark, especially since with even greater talent, the Indians wouldn’t match that mark again until 1938. With a .513 career winning percent, Johnson was one of the Indians greatest short termed managers ever and should be recognized even more for his unbelievable pitching prowess. After his baseball career, Johnson went into politics at the local level and was ran for congress in 1940. He would die just six years later, however, in 1946 at the age of 59.