Walter Johnson – spinner of seven Opening Day shutouts.
April 13, 1926 marked the fourteenth and final Opening Day start for the Washington Senators Walter “Big Train:” Johnson. The 38-year-old right-hander (a future Hall of Famer and considered one of – if not the – top power pitchers of his era) was in his twentieth big league season, having already collected 397 of his eventual 417 wins. Johnson was coming off a 20-7, 3.07 1925 campaign for the Senators, who had led the AL with a 95-66 record, losing the World Series in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Johnson had gone 2-1, 2.08 in the Series, with three complete games.)
Opposing Johnson, before 25,000 fans at Washington D.C.’s Griffith Stadium, was Philadelphia Athletics’ right-hander Eddie Rommel. The 28-year-old Rommel, in his seventh MLB season, had led the AL in victories in 1925, going 21-10, with a 3.69 ERA for the Athletics, whose 88-64 record trailed only the Senators in the AL.
Note: In his first seven AL seasons, Rommel had led the AL in victories twice (1922 & 1925) and in losses twice (1921 & 1923). Johnson, as he took the mound on Opening Day in 1926, had led the AL in wins six times, ERA five times, strikeouts 12 times, shutouts seven times and complete games six times.
In addition to Johnson, the starting lineups included five future Hall of Famers: Centerfielder Al Simmons and catcher Mickey Cochrane for the Athletics; and centerfielder Sam Rice, second baseman Bucky Harris and leftfielder Goose Goslin for the Senators.
The stage was set for a great Opening Day match-up – and the fans were not disappointed. Johnson threw a complete Dame, 15-inning shutout (his record seventh Opening Day shutout), giving up six hits and three walks against nine strikeouts. Rommel proved nearly the Big Train’s equal that day, going fourteen scoreless frames, before giving up a lone run in the bottom of the fifteenth (Rommel gave up nine hits and six walks, while striking out just one in a gritty performance). Two pitchers going into the fifteenth inning on Opening Day? Doubt we’ll ever see that again. For BBRT’s thoughts on the decline of the complete game click here.
Little did fans know how special that 1926 opener was. Turned out Johnson’s masterpiece was his final Opening Day start. The Big Train finished the 1926 season 15-16, 3.63. The following year a leg injury kept him from starting the Opener and he retired after running up a 5-6, 5.10 record. Rommel went 11-11, 3.08 in 1926. He pitched another six seasons, never again topping 13 wins – although from 1927-32, he went 53-21 with 53 starts and 129 relief appearances.
How good was Johnson? His final record was 417-279, with a career ERA of 2.17, 531 complete games in 666 starts, and still MLB-record 110 shutouts. In arguably his best season (1913), Johnson notched an AL-leading 36 wins (versus seven losses – a league-leading .837 winning percentage) and a league-low 1.14 ERA, while also boasting AL-high complete games (28), shutouts (11), innings pitched (346) and strikeouts (243).
