Ed Walsh
| Birthdate | 5/14/1881 |
| Death Date | 5/26/1959 |
| Debut Year | 1904 |
| Year of Induction | 1946 |
| Teams | Braves, White Sox |
| Position | Pitcher |
The last man to win 40 games in a season, Ed Walsh enjoyed a 14-year career in which he established an MLB-record 1.82 career ERA.
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Ed Walsh posted 5 straight sub-2.00 ERA seasons for the White Sox from 1906-1910
Ed Walsh posted 5 straight sub-2.00 ERA seasons for the White Sox from 1906-1910
Ed Walsh enjoyed a 14-year big league career from 1904-1917. He pitched all but one of those seasons for the Chicago White Sox.
The Deadball Era hurler was six days shy of his 23rd birthday when he threw his first pitch in the majors in 1904. In his first two seasons Walsh split time between starting and relieving in his 40 appearances. The big right-hander completed 15 complete of his 21 starts and pitched 19 games out of the ‘pen.
In 1906 Walsh hit his stride. Each of the next 5 seasons he posted a sub-2.00 ERA. From 1906-1910 he averaged 23 wins per year. Walsh’s best season came in 1908 when he led the league in appearances , starts, wins, complete games, shutouts, strikeouts, and saves. No pitcher has matched his 40 victories of ’08 since.
The versatile Walsh led the league in shutouts three times, saves five times, and innings pitched four times. Walsh’s 1.82 ERA remains the lowest career mark in baseball history.
When interviewed for Larry Ritter’s The Glory of Their Times, Tiger Hall of Famer Sam Crawford said, “Big Ed Walsh. Great big, strong, good-looking fellow. He threw a spitball. I think that ball disintegrated on the way to the plate, and the catcher put it back together again. I swear, when it went past the plate, it was just the spit went by.”
For his work Walsh was elected to Cooperstown in 1946.
In the collection is a 3×5 index card signed by Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh.
Walsh gave up Eddie Collins first MLB hit; later they were White Sox teammates in 1916
Walsh gave up Eddie Collins first MLB hit; later they were White Sox teammates in 1916
Eddie Collins debuted in the big leagues in 1906. In his first at bat he he the unenviable task of facing Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh.
Stepping to the plate at Chicago’s South Side Park, Collins laid down a bunt and beat it out in his first plate appearance. It was the first of his 3,315 career hits.
Ten years later the two were briefly teammates with Walsh’s White Sox in 1916. Collins gained induction into Cooperstown in 1939; Walsh seven years later.
In the collection is this letter written by Collins dated March 5, 1945. Addressed to a fan in Illinois, Collins outlines how he got his start in baseball. “…I expressed a desire to play baseball when I was finishing college; signed with the Philadelphia Athletics; and after a couple of years of utility work, bench warming, and mostly perseverance and confidence, I earned a regular job on a Major League team.”
Collins’ bold and flowing signature appears at the bottom.
