How Elite Were They? #40- Ed Walsh’s 40-win 1908 Season

Originally published on Apr. 10, 2024

By Zane Miller

Upon joining the Chicago White Sox for the 1904 season, pitcher Ed Walsh slowly waded his way into the team’s starting rotation. In the team’s first season playing as the White Sox, as they had been known as the “Chicago White Stockings” previously, the rotation was dominated by the established veterans of Nick Altrock and Frank Owen, leaving little room for Walsh to carve out a spot of his own. However, the White Sox were having no problem with winning at this time, going 89-65 in 1904 and 92-60 in 1905. Walsh pitched sparingly in these seasons, however he would get his big break in 1906 as poor command from fellow newcomer Frank Smith caused him to be dropped from the lineup, with Walsh being brought in his place.

Walsh did not disappoint, going 278 innings with a microscopic ERA of 1.88, pitching an MLB-leading 10 complete game shutouts while striking out 171 batters, being credited with a total of 17 wins. Most importantly, the White Sox went on to play in the World Series that year with a record of 93-58, with the team going on to win the championship in an upset over the Chicago Cubs, who still share the MLB record for most regular season wins with 116. Walsh started in games three and five of the series, getting credited with the win in both games as he allowed two hits and a walk with 12 strikeouts in a complete game shutout in game three, before his game five appearance saw him give up just one earned run on five hits and five walks with five strikeouts in six innings.

With a World Series title now under his belt, Walsh pressed on into 1907, where he pitched an astounding 422.1 innings as the only pitcher that season to go more than 400 innings, with the next highest total belonging to the Detroit Tigers’ George Mullin with 357.1 innings pitched. Not only that, Walsh also led the American League in ERA at 1.60. Had the Cy Young Award existed, Walsh most certainly would have won it. However, his 1908 season would make a mark on the history books that has not been seen since, and may never be seen again.

Though there are many candidates to pick from for Walsh’s best game on the 1908 season, as he had an MLB-leading 11 complete game shutouts, my choice is his September 21^st performance at home against the Philadelphia (now Oakland) Athletics. Despite getting minimal run support, Walsh never gave the Philadelphia offense any chance as he held them to just three hits in the complete game shutout effort, earning five strikeouts in the process. Other solid choices include a May 3^rd game against the Cleveland Naps (now Cleveland Guardians) where he claimed nine strikeouts in nine scoreless innings while allowing just six hits, as well as an October 2^nd game also against Cleveland, which saw him get a season-high 15 strikeouts in eight innings of work.

At season’s end, Walsh amassed 464 innings pitched, which would not only end up being his career high, but also set a new MLB record for innings pitched in a single season, a total which still stands today and is unlikely to ever be broken. Not only that, Walsh also secured 40 wins during the season, as he is also the most recent and possibly also the last pitcher to get 40 wins or more in a single season. This tear included a dominant month of May where he had a record of 7-1, with each of those wins being in a complete game effort, as well as a six-game winning streak from July 11^th to July 26^th.

In case that wasn’t enough though, Walsh also led all MLB pitchers in strikeouts with 269, just edging out New York (now San Francisco) Giants superstar Christy Mathewson at 259. Although Walsh’s season ERA of 1.42 ‘only’ put him in third in that category amongst qualified pitchers, it was still the best ERA he had to that point in his career. This likely would have meant another Cy Young Award for Walsh had it existed, though unfortunately the White Sox were unable to fully capitalize on his historic campaign as the team only mustered a record of 88-64 to miss a postseason berth.

Walsh continued to play for the White Sox for nearly his entire career, and while he didn’t win another World Series after 1906 or come close to surpassing his 40-win season from 1908, he certainly had his fair share of standout seasons afterwards. In 1910, he led all of MLB with an astonishing 1.27 ERA, before taking runner-up in the AL MVP race in both 1911 (a year which saw him pitch his first and only career no-hitter) and 1912 after leading MLB in innings pitched in both those seasons with 368.2 and 393 respectively. Unfortunately, Walsh dealt with nagging arm issues for the next few seasons, reducing his workload significantly and forcing his departure from the league after a brief stint with the Boston (now Atlanta) Braves in 1917. Walsh finished his career with 195 career wins, 2,964.1 innings pitched and 1,736 strikeouts for a career ERA of 1.82. This is still the best career ERA in MLB history amongst qualified pitchers, with legendary Cleveland Naps pitcher Addie Joss being the next closest at 1.89.

After retirement, with the United States having recently entered into World War I, Walsh joined the war effort as he began working at an ammunition factory for the next several months. He then embarked on a comeback attempt beginning in 1919 with a handful of minor league teams, though he would retire for good in 1921. From there, Walsh’s post-playing life took an interesting turn, as he became an umpire for the American League in 1922. Surprisingly, Walsh was not barred from umpiring games involving the White Sox, going against all common sense dictating that having one of a team’s most famous players umpiring games for that team might not be the best idea. In fact, he umpired 37 White Sox games that year, with 12 of them as the home plate umpire.

In any case, Walsh did not stick around long as an umpire, as he publicly stated that he did not like the job. Instead, he returned to the White Sox organization in 1923 as a member of the coaching staff, remaining with the team through the 1929 season. During the 1924 season, after manager Johnny Evers was forced to leave the team due to health issues, Walsh took over as interim manager for three games, leading to Walsh getting his first and only win as a manager on May 15^th against the Boston Red Sox in a 4-2 road victory. After Walsh’s coaching career came to an end, he continued to support his son, Ed Walsh Jr., who played with the White Sox from 1928 to 1932.

Thanks to his multiple 400-inning seasons, 40-win campaign and World Series championship, Walsh was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Coincidentally, he was inducted in the same class as the only other MLB pitcher to reach the 40-win mark, doing so just four years before Walsh. However, that’s a story for next time.

Thank you for reading my 1,000^th Scorum article! Special thanks to everyone who has been a part of this journey!