Walter Johnson is arguably the greatest RHP baseball has ever known. In addition to winning 417 games with generally inferior Washington Senators teams, he twirled a record 110 shutouts.

After 17 years with the Senators, Johnson finally got a chance to pitch in the World Series in 1924. He lost the opener to Art Nehf of the New York Giants in 12 innings, 4-3. Four days later, John McGraw's club beat him again 6-3, with three of the runs unearned. Pitching four scoreless innings in relief in Game Seven, Walter was the winning pitcher when the Senators plated a run in the bottom of the 12th.

When Washington amazingly won the AL pennant again in 1925, the "Big Train" pitched a five-hitter in the opener to defeat Pittsburgh 4-1. Then he outdid himself with a 4-0 victory in Game Four to give the Senators a 3-1 lead in games. No team had come back from such a deficit in the 21 Fall Classics to that point. Since Johnson had aggravated an old leg injury whlie running the bases in Game 4, he hoped he wouldn't have to take the mound again. However, the Pirates won Games 5 and 6. That set the stage for Game Seven at Forbes Field.

The 37-year-old rightie got a break when rain postponed the finale to give him a third day of rest. The field was still soaked the next day, but the game was not postponed again. In addition to battling the wet field and continuous rain, the players had to compete in a fog that enveloped Forbes Field. Washington LF Goose Goslin later said, "The fog was so thick I could just about make out what was going on in the IF from out there." Many at the time and down through the decades criticized the umpires and Commissioner Landis for playing the game under those conditions. The Pirates didn't relish the prospect of hitting Johnson's fast ball in poor visibility.

The home team's prospects looked even dimmer when the Senators struck for four in the first against Vic Aldridge. The score held up until the bottom of the third. Johnny Morrison, who relieved Aldridge, blooped a single to CF. Eddie Moore smacked a long double to LCF to plate Morrison for the first run off The Big Train in 15 innings. Max Carey singled home Moore to cut the lead in half. The premiere base stealer of the NL, Carey advanced to second on a groundout and then stole third. Clyde Barnhart singled him home.

Joe Harris doubled home two runs to put the visitors up 6-3 in the top of the fourth. Ray Kremer replaced Morrison and shut down the Senators for three innings. In the fifth, the Pirates plated a run on back-to-back doubles by Carey and Kiki Cuyler.

After a 1-2-3 sixth, Johnson started the 7th by getting Moore to pop up. But Roger Peckinpaugh, the AL's MVP and generally considered the top SS in the league, muffed it for his seventh error of the Series. Carey then laced his fourth hit of the game, a double that drove home Moore and cut the lead to 6-5. After a sacrifice and groundout, Walter had a chance to strand Carey at third. However, Pie Traynor tripled to the RCF fence to tie the game. An excellent relay caught Pie trying to stretch his hit into a homer.

20-30 years later, and certainly today, Johnson would not have stayed in the game to face Traynor. But in 1925 player-manager Bucky Harris sent his ace back to the slab for the eighth inning. He had the lead again after Peckinpaugh somewhat redeemed himself with a line shot over the LF fence. Walter retired the first two batters. Then C Earl Smith doubled to RCF. Carson Bigbee, hitting for Kremer, doubled over Goose Goslin's head in LF to tie the game. Still, Johnson labored on. He walked Moore. The pesky Carey then grounded to Peckinpaugh who fielded it cleanly but committed his eighth Series error with a wild throw to second for what would have been an inning-ending forceout. Peck went from goat to hero and back to goat. To compound his misery, Cuyler hit a ground rule double into the jubilant crowd in RF to give the Pirates a 9-7 lead.

Bucs manager Bill McKechnie sent Red Oldham to the hill, and he saved the game with a perfect ninth.

Johnson's line: 8 IP, 15 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 130 pitches

James Harrison wrote in the New York Times the next day:

In a grave of mud was buried Walter Johnson's amibition to join the select panel of pitchers who have won three victories in one World Series. With mud shackling his ankles and water running down his neck, the grand old man of baseball succumbed to weariness, a sore leg, wretched support and the most miserable weather conditions that ever confronted a pitcher.

Harris has also been blasted for keeping Johnson in the game. Even McKechnie said, "Johnson didn't seem to have much stuff out there today and the boys continued their clouting." AL President Ban Johnson sent Harris a telegram:

You put up a game fight. This I admire. Lost the series for sentimental reasons. This should never occur in a World Series.

Carl Hubbell

Lefty Gomez

"Rowdy" Dick Bartell

Gus Mancuso

George Selkirk

Lefty Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants, widely considered the best pitcher in the NL, began the 1936 World Series by defeating the mighty New York Yankees 6-1. When the same two teams met in the 1937 Fall Classic, "King Carl" hoped to repeat his opening game magic.

Before a disappointing crowd of only 60,573 in Yankee Stadium on a muggy October afternoon, Hubbell was masterful for five innings, retiring eleven in a row after Joe DiMaggio's first inning single. The Giants pushed a run across in the fifth for a 1-0 lead.

Then Carl committed a double cardinal sin.

• He walked the leadoff man in the sixth inning.
• To make matters worse, that batter was his opposing moundsman, Lefty Gomez.

SS Frankie Crosetti, after attempting to bunt twice, singled to left to send Gomez to second. Next came the play that Giant manager Bill Terry called the "break of the game." With 3B Red Rolfe at the plate, C Gus Mancuso rifled a throw to catch Gomez off 2B. However, SS Dick Bartell dropped the ball as he tagged Lefty for an error. Rolfe then singled to left to load the bases. This brought up CF DiMaggio, in the second year of his Hall of Fame career.

• DiMaggio singled to left-center scoring Gomez and Crosetti to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Rolfe raced to third and DiMag took second on the throw to third.
• The Giants decided to walk 1B Lou Gehrig intentionally.
• C Bill Dickey hit a grounder that diving 2B Burgess Whitehead knocked down. Rolfe scored and the bases remained loaded. 3-1 Yanks
• LF Myril Hoag grounded to 3B Mel Ott, who forced DiMaggio at the plate.
• RF George Selkirk singled to plate Gehrig and Dickey and send Hoag to third. 5-1 Yanks.

Terry took out Hubbell and set off one of the strangest chains of events in World Series history.

• After a delay, RHP Dick Coffman finally appeared from the Giant bullpen in LCF.
• C Mancuso told home plate umpire Red Ormsby that Harry Gumbert was the new P.
• Accordingly, the stadium PA announced Gumbert as the new hurler.
• While Coffman warmed up, 3B coach Artie Fletcher, a former Giant, protested that Gumbert had to pitch to at least one batter since he had been announced.
• After conferring, the men in blue agreed with Fletcher and ordered the bewildered Gumbert to the mound from his spot in the dugout.
• Given only the minimum eight pitches allowed a reliever, Gumbert induced 2B Tony Lazzeri to hit a grounder up the middle that Whitehouse missed for another E.
• Coffman then replaced Gumbert and walked Gomez. This created another oddity – a P walking twice in the same inning.
• Crosetti flied to short left before Rolfe walked to force in a run.
• Finally, DiMaggio flied to CF to end the Giants' agony.

The Yankees tallied seven in the inning, all charged to Hubbell, although only four were earned. They added Lazzeri's solo HR in the eighth for an 8-1 triumph.

The Associated Press reported that Meeker OK "was deep in gloom, silent sorrow for the ill luck of this town's No. 1 citizen – Carl Owen Hubbell."

• The town had "locked up shop in high spirits this afternoon and crowded around radios to listen to G. O. Hubbell's boy pitch another world series game for the Giants."
• Carl's father said, "I hope that he has better luck next time. I guess we're kind of like the little boy who ran over the calf. We haven't much to say."

Three days later, Hubbell turned the tables on the Yankees in Game Four at the Polo Grounds.

• The Giants hit Bump Hadley with a six spot in the second, and Carl cruised to a 7-3 complete game victory.
• However, that was the Giants' only win in the series as the Yankees won the second of what would become four Series triumphs in a row.

Hubbell would never get a chance to pitch in the World Series again.

Andy Pettitte

Matt Williams

The Yankees led the 2001 World Series three-games-to-two. Joe Torre sent 15-game winner Andy Pettitte for the sixth game back in Arizona.

• The Diamondbacks had beaten Andy 4-0 in Game Two.
• He had pitched well, allowing only five hits, but one of them was a 3-run clout by 3B Matt Williams in the seventh.

Game Six was a different matter entirely. Pettitte lasted less than 3 innings.

• SS Tony Womack led off the bottom of the first with a ground rule double.
• Tony Batista drove him home with a single for the only run of the inning.

Arizona struck for 3 more in the second.

• Again, the leadoff man got on – Williams singled to RF.
• RF Reggie Sanders doubled to deep CF sending Matt to third.
• The runners stayed as 2B Jay Bell grounded out.
• C Damian Miller was walked intentionally to get to P Randy Johnson.
• The Big Unit got his bat on the ball and grounded to 3B Scott Brosius who threw out Williams at the plate.
• Womack singled to CF scoring two and putting Johnson on 2B.
• Bautista singled to LCF to plate the third run of the inning.
• Pettitte caught Luis Gonzalez looking to end the frame.

Inning 3 brought the lefty more misery.

• 1B Greg Colbrunn walked. Unknown to Pettitte, the Dbacks licked their chops as he now had to work from the stretch again.
• Williams doubled to deep RF, scoring Colbrunn.
• Torre brought in Jay Witasick. But the home team continued their onslaught, scoring a total of 8 runs in the inning for a commanding 11-0 lead on their way to a 15-2 victory.
• Pettitte's line for the evening: 2+ innings, 7 H, 2 W, 6 ER.
• Arizona won the Series the next night with a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth against Mariano Rivera.

Later, it was learned that Pettitte's implosion was not just the result of bad stuff or location. The Diamondbacks had determined that Pettitte was tipping his pitches when he worked from the stretch.

• When he prepared to throw a curve, he would draw his hands from his shoulder level to his waist in an arc, looping his hands in front of him.
• Before throwing his fastball, he would bring his hands straight down to his waist.
• While doing an international broadcast of Game 6, ESPN's Rick Sutcliffe, the 1984 NL Cy Young winner, noticed what Pettitte was doing.

Andy still feels bad about what happened in that fateful Game 6.

• "Basically, I feel like I cost us a World Series ring."
• "To tell you the truth, I don't think it even entered my mind at first. But as soon as someone [Sutcliffe?] came up to me and told me that I might be doing it, I knew it. I knew they had me."

In 18 ML seasons (1921-1938), Leon "Goose" Goslin compiled a .316 average with 1,609 RBIs and 248 HRs for the Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, and Detroit Tigers. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1968 by the Veterans Committee.

On April 28, 1934, Goslin had a bad day at Navin Field in Detroit against the Cleveland Indians.

• Detroit manager Mickey Cochrane had Goose in LF and batting cleanup behind SS Billy Rogell, 2B Charlie Gehringer, and C Cochrane.
• In the third inning, Goslin muffed Earl Averill's fly ball with two outs. Joe Vosmik doubled home Averill with what turned out to be Cleveland's only run of the afternoon off RHP Tommy Bridges.

At the plate, Goose went 0-4, but that only begins to tell the story.

• In the first inning, Goslin steps up against RHP Mel Harder with Gehringer on 3rd and Cochrane on 1st. Goose smashes a grounder to 1B Hal Trosky who steps on the bag and throws to SS Bill Knickerbocker who tags the runner to complete the DP.
• In the third, after making his error, the LF gets a chance to redeem himself. With Gehringer again on third with Cochrane at first, Goose drives a hard grounder to 2B Eddie Moore, who flips to Knickerbocker who relays to Trosky for another twin-killing.
• Fast forward to the fifth, with Thornton Lee on the mound in place of Harder. With one out, Gehringer is on first when Goslin grounds sharply to Trosky who repeats the first inning play by stepping on first and firing to Knickerbocker for DP #3.
• In the 8th inning, RHP Lloyd Brown gives up Gehringer's fourth single of the day. After Cochrane makes the first out, Goslin hits back to the mound for a Brown-Knickerbocker-Trosky twin killing.

Hitting into four DPs in one game constitutes a bad day at the old ballpark by anyone's definition. Goose is listed in the record books along with Joe Torre, who rapped into four twin killings for the Mets on July 21, 1975.

Goose Goslin

Early Wynn

Al Lopez

Duke Snider

At age 39 in 1959, Wynn led the AL in wins with 22 (against only 10 losses) as he played a big role in the White Sox winning their first AL pennant since the infamous Black Sox of 1919. As a result, he won the Cy Young Award when only one was given between the two leagues.

• Opening the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Comiskey Park, Wynn threw seven shutout innings in the 11-0 Chicago romp.
• He left complaining of a stiff elbow after facing two batters in the eighth.

After the Dodgers captured the next two games, manager Al Lopez called on Wynn to start Game 4 in the Los Angeles Coliseum with three days rest.

• Early gave up a single in the first and then two infield hits in the second.
• The roof fell in on him in the third in part because of shoddy support and several bloody hits.
  • After the first two batters were retired easily, Moon singled to LF.
  • Norm Larker singled to CF, sending Moon to 3B. When Jim Landis's throw skipped away at the hot corner, Moon scored and Larker reached 2B.
  • Gil Hodges singled home Larker.
  • Don Demeter stroked the fourth straight single, moving Hodges to 3B.
  • A passed ball by C Sherm Lollar allowed Hodges to score and Demeter to reach 2B.
  • C John Roseboro blooped a single into RF to plate Demeter with the fourth run.
• At that point, Lopez removed a dejected Wynn.
• The White Sox rallied to tie the game only to lose 5-4 on Hodges' 8th-inning HR.

Chicago pulled out Game 5 1-0 to earn a return trip to the Windy City.

• With a travel day providing a second day of rest and Wynn having pitched less than three innings in Game 4, Lopez called on his ace to keep the White Sox alive in Game 6.
• Early again started well, holding the Dodgers hitless in the first two frames.
• The third again caused problems.
  • With two out and none on, Moon walked.
  • Veteran CF Duke Snider smashed a HR into the lower stands in LCF.
• The next inning killed the Sox's chances.
  • Larker singled, and Roseboro bunted PR Demeter to second.
  • SS Maury Wills's single to CF plated Don.
  • Johnny Podres doubled off the CF fence, scoring Wills easily.
• Seeing the opposing P clout one convinced Lopez to make a change.
• LA finished with six runs in the inning on their way to a 9-3 romp.
• After the game, Wynn gave no excuses. "I goofed it up good. I was trying to baffle them and it didn't work."
• His line for his last two starts read like this: 6 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

1959 proved to be Early's last solid season.

• Age finally caught up with him as he dropped to 13 victories in '60 and won only 16 more in the next three seasons combined.
• Wynn retired during the 1963 season, his 23rd in the majors, after he recorded his 300th win.
• He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.