Here are two articles in our local Orange county media which came to our attention in the Fall of 2004.

The first article appeared in the 18 Nov 2004 edition of the Fullerton News Tribune. While it doesn't reveal any new facts, it is worthy of inclusion in this collection of articles because it shows that Walter Johnson is still remembered in Fullerton, more than 90 years after he moved back to Kansas.

The second article, which appeared in the West Anaheim Better Business and Concerned Citizens October 2004 newsletter demonstrates that Walter is also remembered in Anaheim, especially for his rôle in starting an Anaheim tradition.

'The Big Train'

WALTER 'THE BIG TRAIN' JOHNSON
FULLERTON CENTENNIAL

As Fullerton celebrates the centennial of its incorporation, the News Tribune explores what was happening in that new city of 100 years ago.

The fast ball that came at you with the "speed of a locomotive" earned him the nickname of "The Big Train" and the first stop on his career track to Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame was the campus of Fullerton Union High School.

Johnson photo

In 1936 Walter Johnson was in the first class of Hall of Fame inductees. To this day he commands a unique berth among history's top pitchers.

But then, in November of 1904 when he reported to baseball tryouts at Fullerton High, he was a raw, untested and unknown talent. His mother was quoted as saying that visit to the baseball field was the first time he threw a baseball in earnest.

The 1905 annual, "The Lucky Thirteen" (named for the number of graduates that year), referred to "the little freshman Johnson," calling him "the swiftest amateur pitcher in Orange County."

From that beginning 100 years ago this month, Johnson went on to compile some amazing records in 21 years with the Washington Senators. They included 417 major league victories while recording an astounding lifetime earned run average of 2.17. He started 666 games and completed 531 of them while striking out 3,509 batters.

According to a Fullerton News Tribune1 article in 1908, he shut out the New York Yankees three consecutive times on three September dates. Those shutouts were among the 110 he recorded in his career - including 56 consecutive scoreless innings in 1913.

Two others with Fullerton roots2 have joined him in the Hall of Fame - Arky Vaughan and Gary Carter. Two other former Fullerton High School pitchers - Steve Busby and Mike Warren - have joined him in pitching no-hitters.

But when "The Big Train" died in 1946, famed sportwriter Grantland Rice wrote, "Baseball may have produced a greater pitcher than Walter Johnson, but I doubt it. One of the all-time greats has had the game called by darkness. His successor has yet to show against the horizon."

-- Bob Ziebell

1 We're not sure to what newspaper the author refers. In 1908, Fullerton was the home of two newspapers, the News and the Tribune, which didn't merge until many years later.
2 Vaughan attended Fullerton High School. Carter attended Sunny Hills.

ANAHEIM FALL FESTIVAL and HALLOWEEN PARADE, Oct 29 & 30, 2004

The Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade is an Anaheim tradition that first materialized in downtown Anaheim in 1924 with baseball greats Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson appearing as Grand Marshals. Back then billed as the biggest event west of the Mississippi, the nighttime "Halloween Parade" was a spectacular event that drew crowds up to 150,000. Schools were dismissed on Friday to participate in Anaheim's famous Halloween Kiddie parade on the streets of downtown. Homemade costumes and floats built in back yards and garages expressed the creative ability and ingenuity of young imaginations.

The Halloween Parade disappeared in the mid-1980's1 due to difficult economic times. In 1995, a group of community volunteers established the Anaheim Fall Festival and revived the parade. It still remains in Historic Downtown Anaheim, and is now partnered with the Anaheim Fall Festival and other events including a new one this year, the premier of the "Harley-ween Masquerade," on October 29 & 30, 2004. The parade will showcase approximately 30 high school marching bands, includes many youth groups and community clubs.

1 Our daughter Alice participated in some of the last few Halloween Parades as a clarinetist in Savanna High School's marching band.