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My How Baseball Has Changed!

Dead Ball Era Star “Big Ed” Walsh Wins Both Ends of a Doubleheader

“I think the ball disintegrated on the way to the plate and the catcher put it back together again.” –Hall-of-Famer Sam Crawford, speaking of Ed Walsh’s spitball.

One hundred and fifteen years ago yesterday, on September 26, 1905, a very unusual game was played at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds in Boston. It was a game between the White Sox and the Boston Americans (later, of course, known as the Red Sox).

In the first game of a doubleheader, Doc White took the mound for the Pale Hose and failed to retire a batter in the first inning. Sox manager Fielder Jones wasted no time. He yanked White and quickly summoned Ed Walsh, the scheduled starter for the nightcap, into the game without benefit of warming up. Ed proceeded to give up five unearned runs, but then blanked Boston the rest of the way for a 10-5 White Sox win.

Walsh was back on the mound for Game Two (called after eight innings) and pitched the White Sox to a 3-1 sweep of the doubleheader. All together, Walsh pitched 17 innings this day and collected two wins. 

Boy has the game changed or what? Can you imagine anything like this today? Obviously, pitch counts weren’t considered very important back then. 

This gives me a chance to say a few words about a truly great Hall-of-Fame pitcher who’s been largely overlooked over the passage of time. Let’s turn our baseball spotlight today on “Big Ed” Walsh.

Ed Walsh, a native of Plains, Pennsylvania, pitched in the majors for 14 years (1904-1917). The 6’1″, 193-pound right-hander played 13 seasons with the White Sox, and part of one season with the Braves (1917). Over his injury-shortened career, Big Ed posted a 195-126 record (.607). His 1.82 earned run average is the best in major league history. He also recorded 1736 strikeouts and an amazing 250 complete games. He went 2-0 in the 1906 World Series against the Cubs, giving up only one run in 15 innings along with 17 strikeouts.

From 1906 to 1912, Walsh was surely one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. During this six-year span, he posted a combined 168-112 record (.600), with a sparkling 1.99 ERA. He averaged an amazing 355 innings each year, with an average of 220 strikeouts and 36 complete games each year. I think it’d be hard to find another six-year span by any other pitcher to match Walsh’s incredible numbers.  

Early in his career, Ed Walsh was known for his overpowering fastball, but little else. In spring training 1904, he picked up the spitball from his White Sox teammate Elmer Stricklett, reputedly the first to master the pitch. With the spitter now in his repertoire, Walsh’s career took off.

ED WALSH CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

• His finest season was 1908 when he posted a league-leading 40–15 record, 269 strikeouts, 42 complete games, and a 1.42 ERA. His 464 innings pitched that year is a major league record. He’s the last pitcher to notch 40 wins in a season. 
• Big Ed was a two-time American League ERA champion (1907, 1910), and two-time American League strikeout champion (1908, 1911).
• He was an excellent fielder and set a major league record for assists with 227 in 1907.
• In Game Three of the 1906 World Series, Walsh struck out a then-record 12 batters. He also struck out at least one batter each inning, a feat that has been duplicated only once, by the great Bob Gibson.
• His career 1.82 is the lowest major league ERA in major league history but is unofficial since ERA was not an official statistic in the American League prior to 1913.
• He has the second-lowest career WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) in major league history (1.00). It’s the lowest ever for a major league pitcher with 10 or more seasons pitched.

No surprise, injuries to his over-worked arm set in after 1912. He pitched only 16 games in 1913 and just 13 games over the next three years. By 1916 Walsh’s arm was “dead” and he was released by White Sox owner, Charles Comiskey.

An attempted comeback with the Boston Braves in 1917 ended after only four games. He later did some pitching in the Eastern League, gave umpiring a try, and was a coach for the White Sox for a few years. He also managed the White Sox in 1924.

Walsh was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. In 1999, he was ranked #82 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2011, he was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. His son Ed Walsh, Jr. played for the White Sox from 1928-1932. Ed Walsh died on May 26, 1959, aged 78.

So let’s remember Hall-of-Famer Big Ed Walsh, certainly one of the most dominant pitchers of the Dead Ball Era, and one of the greatest all-time.

Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search

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