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| Walter Johnson, Washington D.C. |
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| He threw only fastballs, blazing fastballs. His unique, fluid motion -- a kind
of casual sidearm, almost submarine delivery, in which his right arm whipped
around and across his chest -- became simultaneously the most recognizable but
least imitated in all of baseball, although why legions of major leaguers don't
throw the way he did is one of the game's enduring mysteries. Johnson complained
only once of a sore arm, even though he pitched 5,924 innings, third on the
alltime list. His pendulum delivery was a natural motion, unlike an
overhander's. He had sinewy muscles and long arms. His motion looks peculiar
today because he never seemed to snap his wrist or elbow. He gained his
exceptional speed from the sweep of his broad back and shoulders and his right
arm, which was an inch and a half longer than his left. Johnson would turn away
from the batter as he began his motion and then pivot in a graceful burst of
energy, the ball shooting out from his body toward the
plate.
--From "Gone ... And Forgotten?", Sports Illustrated, October 26,
1987, by William
Taaffe |
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