This is kind of a special ICFBN. Sure, the free e-books and old-timey baseball annuals are nice, but did you know that video existed of Walter Johnson pitching? I didn’t. Probably should have figured it out considering when moving pictures came to be, but here you go.
Internet Christmas for baseball nerds, part XXXI
And, by law, I’m required to GIF one of those clips. Okay, two.
That’s a good view of his general delivery, but I think this one gives you a great idea of his deception:
I had no idea he threw sidearm, though I guess I could have read this book and got this quote from William B. Hanna in Baseball Magazine from 1923:
The great Washington pitcher is a side-arm thrower, long of arm, strong in control, and pitches with as little visible effort as anybody I’ve seen expect Jack Powell.
Look at how late the ball comes out of the hand. Assuming he threw over 90 m.p.h. (which he almost certainly did), he could probably still fit in a modern bullpen.
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