Walter Johnson

American pitcher known as 'The Big Train', who won 417 games (second all-time) and holds the MLB record for career shutouts with 110, spending his entire 21-year career with the Washington Senators.

Born in Humboldt, Kansas, on 6 November 1887, Walter Perry Johnson was signed by the Washington Senators in 1907 after a scout spotted him pitching semi-pro ball in Weiser, Idaho, at age 19. His blistering fastball, delivered with a sweeping sidearm motion, was described by rival Ty Cobb as 'just speed, raw speed, blinding speed, too much speed', and it made him the most feared pitcher of the dead-ball era. Johnson spent his entire 21-year career with a Senators franchise that was rarely competitive, yet still amassed 417 career wins, second only to Cy Young. He won 20 or more games for ten consecutive seasons and posted a career-best 1.14 ERA in 1913, a season in which he went 36-7 and produced the highest single-season WAR by a pitcher in the modern era. He led the American League in strikeouts 12 times and became the first pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, finishing with 3,508. Johnson finally reached the World Series in 1924 at age 36, helping the Senators win their only championship, and was named American League MVP that year as well as in 1913. His 110 career shutouts remain an MLB record that is unlikely ever to be broken, and his 38 career 1-0 victories are also an all-time record. Johnson retired in 1927 and went on to manage the Senators and Cleveland Indians. He was among the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, alongside Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson. He died in Washington, D.C., on 10 December 1946, aged 59.

Overpowering sidearm fastball with pinpoint control

Regarded as one of the greatest pitchers ever, and the standard against which dead-ball-era pitching is measured