Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson, baseball’s Big Train, struck out 3,508 batters over his 21-year Major League career. He tossed a record 110 shutouts and won 417 games, second only to Cy Young. Sportswriter Grantland Rice called Walter Johnson "The Big Train" because of his size and because the express train was the fastest vehicle known at the time. He won 20 or more games for ten straight seasons. He was named the American League MVP in 1913 and 1924, when the Washington Senators won the World Series. Johnson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. In 1998, The Sporting News ranked the 100 best baseball players of the 20th century, selecting Walter Johnson as number four behind Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Ty Cobb. He lived in Bethesda on Old Georgetown Rd., not far from the high school that bears his name, before moving to a farm in Germantown. After his baseball career, he served as an elected member of the Board of Commissioners of Montgomery County. The Bethesda Big Train is named in his honor.

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