Minnesota Twins tickets

Pitching legend Walter Johnson (1,021 Runs/162 over 21 years) salvaged an otherwise dismal 60-year performance by the Washington Senators, as Johnson pitched on over half of the 18 Senators teams with winning records, including two pennant winners. The 1933 team won the other Senators pennant behind General Crowder, Joe Cronin, Goose Goslin, Hennie Manush, Buddy Myer, veteran Sam Rice, and rookie Cecil Travis. Roy Sievers, Mickey Vernon, and Dutch Leonard starred on weak Senators teams in the 1940s and 1950s. The Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961, and be-came a hitting juggernaut. Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, and Earl Battey powered the 1960s teams, while Rod Carew, Roy Smalley, and pitcher Bert Blyleven continued the Twins' winning ways in the 1970s. The Twins struggled in the 1980s and 1990s, but did win two World Series crowns behind Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Frank Viola, Chuck Knoblauch, and Rick Aguilera.

Profiled Senators/Twins Players:

Walter Johnson:Johnson is the best pitcher in major league history. He was practically the only reason why the Senators be-came a competitive team after 1911, and he was still the team's best pitcher for their 1924 and 1925 pennant winning teams. The "Big Train" won 417 games in his career, second only to Cy Young, and he would have won over 500 games if he played for Detroit or another team that could hit. Johnson struck out 3,509 batters, a record that stood for many decades, and he had a career 2.17 ERA. Johnson boasts the second best rate of success for start¬ing pitchers in major league history behind Pedro Mar¬tinez with a 3.10 Wtd. RA/9, giving up 1.5 runs per 9 in¬nings less than the historic average pitcher. Johnson finished just behind Cy Young in volume of success, with 1,021 Runs saved from scoring compared to Young's 1,027. But Young had the advantage of more frequent starts in the 1890s to offset his 11 percent worse rate of success.

Johnson produced many excellent seasons. One sea-son stands out as the best performance for a starting pitcher in the twentieth century. In 1913, Johnson went 36-7 in 346 innings, with 243 strikeouts, only 38 walks and a 1.14 ERA. His 1.68 Wtd. RA/9 that year is the third best rate of success in major league history, behind Pedro Martinez (1.55 in 2000) and Greg Maddux (1.64 in 1995). Johnson saved 117 runs from scoring compared to the league average performance, which gives him the highest volume of success for any twentieth century season. He also hit .261 that year for a 726 Production, versus his team's .252 average and 643 Production.