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Photo of the Day Sunday December 8 2013 The Big Train

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mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
Today's photo of the day features the legendary Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators. The Big Train was THE pitcher of his era and considered by many to be the best who ever tossed a baseball. Johnson still holds the record for most shutouts in a career at 110, had 417 wins and 531 complete games, a record that will never be touched.

Walter Johnson can best be summed up in a quote by Ty Cobb when he wrote:

"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. We couldn't touch him... every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park"

I hope you enjoy today's photo of the day.

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michaelstepper

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2010
8,211
519
southeast Alaska
Love the story and the pics.
Absolutely love the last one with Ruth. Something about two absolute legends relaxing, and taking photos


Sent from my iPhone
 

MaineMule

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
5,454
0
Maine of course......
Love the pics and the quote. What is the Babe eating in the last picture (and Johnson is holding the same)? Is it something from the Ruth's Home Run box?

Any pics of the Big Train on the mound?
 

mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
Love the pics and the quote. What is the Babe eating in the last picture (and Johnson is holding the same)? Is it something from the Ruth's Home Run box?

Any pics of the Big Train on the mound?

Both Babe and Johnson are eating a Ruth's Home Run candy bar in this photo. The box at the Babe's feet is his new candy bar that made it's debut in 1928. Here is a wrapper and an advertising poster for the candy bar.

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Here is a quote from the Robert Edwards Auction book from their 2007 auction in which the advertising poster was sold for $8225.00

"The George H. Ruth Candy Co. was founded in 1926 in direct retaliation against the Curtis Candy Company for their refusal to compensate Ruth for the use of his name on their "Baby Ruth" candy bars. Curtis always maintained that the "Baby Ruth" bar, which, coincidentally was issued in 1921 following Ruth's record home-run season, was named not for Ruth but for the daughter of former President Grover Cleveland. While certainly possible, that claim seems then and now as hard to believe in light of the fact that Ruth Cleveland died in 1904, twelve years before the Curtis Candy Company was even founded. The confectionery battle over the use of the name "Baby/Babe Ruth" continued for nearly five more years before a final verdict was handed down by The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in 1931. That ruling denied the George H. Ruth Candy Company the right to trademark its two candies, "Ruth's Home Run Bar" and "Babe Ruth's Own Candy," stating that there would be too much confusion among the public if candies named "Baby Ruth" and "Babe Ruth" were allowed to compete against each other. With that final indignity, the George H. Ruth Candy Company closed its doors forever."
 

mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe

mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
Walter Johnson's great grandson is a contributor to the Net54 baseball boards and has some incredible things to say about his great grandfather as well as some nice family heirlooms as well. When the Washington Nationals honroed Walter Johnson either last year or the year before, his grandson was the one who represented the family and his narrative was pretty cool to read.
 

clarkzac

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2010
9,825
1,079
Walter Johnson's great grandson is a contributor to the Net54 baseball boards and has some incredible things to say about his great grandfather as well as some nice family heirlooms as well. When the Washington Nationals honroed Walter Johnson either last year or the year before, his grandson was the one who represented the family and his narrative was pretty cool to read.

I wish the Twins would do more relating to Walter Johnson considering the Senators became the Twins
 

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