Walter Johnson, 1914
Photographer: Charles Conlon
Photo Subject: The Big Train, Walter Johnson poses for a photo outside the visitor’s dugout. Since photographer Charles Conlon lived near New York City, I am assuming the picture originates from New York’s Polo Grounds.
Folklore: Ty Cobb recalled the first time he saw Walter Johnson:
“On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw in the ball field. He was a rookie, and we licked our lips as we warmed up for the first game of a doubleheader in Washington. Evidently, manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of the Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us. He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty, with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves, and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance. One of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing, and we hollered at Cantillon: ‘Get the pitchfork ready, Joe—your hayseed’s on his way back to the barn.’
“The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger.”
Painting Detail: Printed on 8 1/2” x 11” canvas and painted using Schmincke Mussini and Marshall’s oil paints.
Acknowledgement: The Ty Cobb monologue is from J. Conrad Guest’s book The Cobb Legacy, Backstop: A Baseball Love Story in Nine Innings.