No American League pitcher ever worked as many innings as Big Ed Walsh did in 1908. The 6'1" spitballer maintained that his main pitch was easy on his arm, allowing him to hurl 464 innings on his way to a 40-win season. No major league pitcher has won as many games since.

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RELATED LINKS » 1908: Forty-Five Feet Toward Immortality Book Excerpts » "When Hall of Fame hurler Ed Walsh was asked in 1915 for advice on pitching, he answered, 'Hook up with some good catcher'" : Edward Gruver Submissions » Catching, A Family Affair: A Father's Day Tribute by Chuck Rosciam

Before playing pro baseball, Walsh worked in a Plains, Pennsylvania, coal mine, driving a mule team. He played two minor league seasons before being drafted from Newark (Eastern League) by Chicago's Charles Comiskey, who acted on a tip from the Red Sox. Walsh joined the White Sox in 1904. Manager Fielder Jones had him room with Elmer Stricklett, who was instructed to teach Walsh the intricacies of the spitter. With the new pitch added to his repertoire, Walsh shut out Washington on two hits that May 19.

It took time for Walsh to master the spitter; he won just six games in 1904, and eight in 1905. But in 1906, he went 17-13 (1.88) for the World Champion Hitless Wonders, leading the league with ten shutouts. In the World Series, he blanked the Cubs on two hits while striking out 12 in Game Three and was the winner in Game Five.

Walsh led the AL with a 1.60 ERA in 1907, going 24-18. In his great, 1908 season, the Iron Man pitched virtually every other day, appearing 17 times in relief and working a total of 66 games. He went 40-15, winning 45.5% of the White Sox' 88 games - the highest percentage of an AL team's wins in history. For the second straight year, he led the league in games, starts, complete games, innings pitched, and saves. He also led in hits allowed and strikeouts. On October 2, during the last days of a pressure-packed, three-way pennant race, he gave up only four Cleveland hits, only to lose 1-0 to Addie Joss and his perfect game.

Walsh's arm began to suffer from overwork. He threw only half as many innings in 1909 as he had in 1908. Yet he retained his effectiveness, shutting out his opponents in 8 of his 15 wins and recording a 1.41 ERA. He rebounded to again lead the AL in appearances in 1910-12, and in innings pitched in 1911-12. His 1.27 ERA in 1910 was the league's and his best. On August 27, 1911, he threw his only nine-inning no-hitter, defeating Boston 5-0. (On May 26, 1907 he had no-hit the Highlanders in a five-inning game.)

After winning 27 games in both 1911 and 1912, Walsh pitched less than 100 innings in 1913. By 1916 his arm was dead. He asked Comiskey for a year off but was released. He made a comeback attempt with the Braves in 1917 but was let go after 18 innings. He managed and pitched some in the Eastern League in 1920 and spent 1922 as an American League umpire. Umpiring was clearly not his forte; he returned to the White Sox as a coach for much of the remainder of the decade. He was coaching when his son, Ed Walsh, also a pitcher, broke in with Chicago. Walsh was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Committee on Baseball Veterans in 1946. (RL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » August 10, 1904: Jack Chesbro is knocked out by the White Sox after pitching 30 complete games in a row. For the year he will win 41 games, pitching 48 complete games out of 51 starts for the Highlanders. All are post-1900 records. His 455 innings pitched will be topped only by Ed Walsh's 464 in 1908. » August 17, 1904: Jesse Tannehill, a lefthander who will win 20 games or more six times, pitches a no-hitter for Boston against the White Sox, 6–0, Jesse brother Lee, playing 3B for Chicago, swings no better than his teammates. Ed Walsh is the losing pitcher. » September 26, 1905: Chicago White Sox P Ed Walsh hurls two complete-game victories over Boston, winning by scores of 10-5 and 3-1. When Doc White leaves the first game without retiring a batter in the first inning, Walsh comes in without warming up. He gives up five runs in the first, then blanks Boston the rest of the way. » August 2, 1906: While the Athletics, crippled by injuries, falter, Doc White launches the White Sox on a 19-game winning streak (longest in AL history) with a 3-0 win over Boston. The streak, interrupted only by a 0-0 tie with New York, catapults Chicago from 4th place to first in 10 days. Doc White wins six of the 19; Ed Walsh, 7. Boston, too, starts a more dubious streak of four straight shutout losses. They lose tomorrow, 4-0, 1-0 on the 4th, and 4-0 on the 6th. This ties the mark set earlier in the year by the Boston Nationals, and no team will top them. » August 18, 1906: Wee Willie Keeler is struck out for only the 2nd time this season, both times by spitballer Ed Walsh of the White Sox. » September 17, 1906: Playing as "Sullivan," Columbia University junior Eddie Collins makes his debut at SS with the Athletics. He gets one hit off Ed Walsh and strikes out twice. Collins will play 25 years in the ML, bat .333, and become a member of the Hall of Fame. » October 11, 1906: Pitching continues to dominate as Ed Walsh stops the Cubs on two hits. The Sox manage just four off Jack Pfiester, but one is a triple by George Rohe, with three on in the 6th, for a 3-0 win. Walsh fans 12, the record until 1929. » October 13, 1906: Mound magic disappears as both Ed Walsh and Ed Reulbach are knocked out. Paced by a WS record four doubles by Frank Isbell, the White Sox win the slugfest 8-6. » April 19, 1907: Ed Walsh has his sinker working as he fields 11 assists and two putouts during a 1-0 win over the Browns. His total of 13 chances ties the mark Nick Altrock set in 1904. » May 26, 1907: Chicago's Ed Walsh hurls a rain-shortened 5-inning no-hitter against New York. In a steady drizzle, New York is down 4-1 when Manager Clark Griffith lifts starter Al Orth and inserts himself. Hoping to have the game washed out, Griffith loads the bases and then serves a cripple to Walsh, who drives in two runs. The Sox figure two can play that game and, Billy Sullivan, who was on first with a walk, loafs home from 3rd and is tagged out. Umpire Jack Sheridan threatens a forfeiture if the shenanigans continue. Chicago scores two more in the 6th before rain washes out the game and the Sox win 8-1. » July 16, 1907: Ed Walsh sets another major-league record for fielding chances for pitchers, handling 12 assists and three putouts in a 13-inning game. » September 18, 1908: The White Sox stay close to the top when Ed Walsh tops Walter Johnson to win 1-0. The Sox manage just three hits off the Senators' ace. » September 27, 1908: Ed Walsh blanks the Red Sox, 3-0 for a Chicago win. Only four percentage points separate the top three AL teams. » September 29, 1908: Chicago White Sox ace Ed Walsh is the 3rd pitcher within a week to pitch and win both ends of a doubleheader, beating Boston Walsh gives up just one run and seven hits, while fanning 15 in winning 5-1 and 2-0. Walsh did the same thing to the Red Sox in 1905. » October 2, 1908: In a great pitching duel, Ed Walsh is almost perfect, giving up four hits and striking out 15 in eight innings, but Cleveland's Addie Joss is perfect, setting down 27 straight White Sox for a 1–0 victory. The only run scores on a passed ball by Ossee Schreckengost. It is the high point of Joss's career. He will finish 24–12 with a 1.16 ERA. » October 5, 1908: Ed Walsh of the White Sox tops Detroit 6–1 for his 40th victory and forces the American League pennant race to the final day. Detroit's 24-game winner Eddie Summers takes the loss. Walsh leads the league in games (66), IP (464), K's (269), complete games (42), saves (6), shutouts (11), and winning percentage (.727). His ERA is 1.42. » October 6, 1908: Having been in 13 of the last 16 games, Ed Walsh does not start the White Sox finale against Detroit. Doc White is hit hard in the 7–0 loss that gives the pennant to the Tigers. Bill Donovan pitches a two hitter. » July 2, 1909: The White Sox steal 12 bases in the course of a 15–3 win over St. Louis. Three are steals of home, including one by P Ed Walsh in the 6th inning, for a modern ML record. » June 6, 1910: Boston OF Duffy Lewis has the only hit—a single—against White Sox ace Ed Walsh. » August 4, 1910: Athletics Jack Coombs and Chicago's Ed Walsh duel 16 innings to a 0–0 tie. Coombs gives up just three hits and strikes out 18 in what he calls his best game. (Working with little rest, he wins 18 of 19 starts in July, August, and September, finishing 30–9 with a 1.30 ERA. His 13 shutouts are the AL record; in 12 other games he gives up just one run.) Walsh gives up just six hits in 16 innings but the woeful Sox offense provides no support. » August 23, 1910: Chicago's Ed Walsh tops Walter Johnson, 1–0, the 3rd straight time Walsh has beaten the Big Train and Washington by that score. » August 24, 1910: Atop the Washington Monument, White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh throws 23 balls before C Billy Sullivan snares one, then catches two more, 555 feet below. It duplicates Gabby Street's catch of August 21, 1908. The estimated speed of the ball is 161 feet per second. On the field Walsh will be 18–20 despite a league-leading 1.27 ERA, the only time a pitcher with a losing record loses 20 and leads either league in ERA. » September 25, 1910: In game one of a DH at Philadelphia, the Chicago White Sox stop A's ace Jack Coombs' string of shutout innings at 53 with a run in the 7th. But Coombs beats Ed Walsh 3–1 in 14 innings. The Sox win the nitecap, 5–2. » October 12, 1910: With the AL season ending a week earlier than the NL, the champion A's tune up with a 5-game series against an AL all-star team, which includes Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Doc White, Ed Walsh, and Walter Johnson. The A's drop four out of five to the all-stars, but Connie Mack will later state, "Those games, more than anything else, put the Athletics in a condition to outclass the National League champions." » May 27, 1911: At Chicago, Cleveland and Chicago battle to a 5–5 tie after nine innings, before Ed Walsh takes over in the 10th. The Naps rattle him for two doubles and a run, and ace rookie Vean Gregg, who takes over in the 8th, holds on for a 6–5 win. Frank Lange strikes out 10 Naps in nine innings, but gives up nine hits and five walks. Joe Birmingham has three hits to pace Cleveland. » June 18, 1911: Down 13–1 after five 1/2 innings, the Tigers make up a 12-run deficit to stage the biggest comeback in ML history, defeating the visiting Chicago White Sox by a score of 16–15. Ty Cobb chips in with five hits and five RBIs, as the Tigers score five in the 8th and three runs in the 9th. Cobb scores the winner when Sam Crawford hits a drive over the head of CF Ping Bodie for a double. Reliever Ed Walsh takes the loss with Clarence Mitchell pitching the last two innings to win. » June 27, 1911: White Sox ace Ed Walsh shuts out the Tigers, 3–0. Ty Cobb is held to an infield single and then is cut down stealing. » July 4, 1911: In the morning game between Chicago and Detroit, Ed Walsh stops Ty Cobb's 40-game hitting streak, as the White Sox win, 7–3. Though neither Detroit paper mentions the streak, Cobb has hit .491 since the skein started on May 15th. » August 27, 1911: Chicago's Ed Walsh pitches a 5–0 no-hitter against the Red Sox. A 4th-inning walk produces the only Red Sox runner. After going 18–20 in 1910, Walsh bounces back to win 27 and lead the AL in games (56), IP (369), and strikeouts (255). » September 30, 1911: In a field day at Chicago, Ed Walsh hits a fungo 419 feet and one-half inch, beating a 413 foot eight and one-half inch drive by Cincinnati's Mike Mitchell on September 11, 1907. » October 11, 1911: The first MVPs are announced. Using a point system—8 for a first-place vote, seven for 2nd, and so on—the eight voting writers give OF Ty Ty Cobb the maximum 64 points. P Ed Walsh is 2nd, and 2B Eddie Collins 3rd. The NL winner is the Cubs OF Frank "Wildfire" Schulte. Christy Mathewson is 2nd. Winners receive Chalmers automobiles. » May 8, 1912: The White Sox beat Washington 7–6, snapping Walter Johnson's five-game win streak. Johnson gives up two 2-run home runs, one to Harry Lord in the 1st and another to Ping Bodie in the 5th. A Johnson fastball breaks the arm of 3B Lee Tannehill, an injury that will hamper the infielder's throwing ability, and ends the career of the 10-year veteran. Sox starter Joe Benz leaves with an injury after pitching one 1/3 inning. Ed Walsh pitches the next five 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, and Frank Lange allows the same in his two innings. » October 9, 1912: In the opener of the Windy City Series, Jimmy Lavender and Ed Walsh allow no runs as the Cubs and Sox play to a 0-0 tie. The Cubs will win the next three decisions of the best-of-7 series. » October 18, 1912: In the rubber match of the 7-game Windy City series, the White Sox score three runs in the 1st two innings and keep going to win, 16–0. The Sox lost the first three games of the series. Ed Walsh shuts out the Cubs, allowing no hits after the 5th and pitching 42 innings against the Cubs in 10 days. Sox catcher Ray Schalk later tells Lloyd Lewis this was the greatest game he ever caught. » July 5, 1914: Big Ed Walsh makes his first start since straining his right arm in spring training in 1913. He lasts seven innings in a White Sox win over Cleveland, 6–3. » September 24, 1931: The round-robin playoff among New York City's three ML teams, to raise money for the unemployed, concludes with Brooklyn losing to both the Giants and the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. Again, a near capacity crowd turns out and adds $48,000 to bring the fund to $108,000. In field events held between games, Babe Ruth, normally a left-handed hitter, bats right and wins the fungo hitting contest. He breaks the old distance record held by Big Ed Walsh. Ruth's drive lands in deep center field, 421 feet away. The old record, set 20 years earlier, was 4191/2 feet. » July 26, 1933: The 61-game batting streak of San Francisco's (PCL) 18-year-old rookie, Joe DiMaggio, is stopped by Ed Walsh, Jr. of Oakland. » January 10, 1945: Baseball writers again fail to elect a new Hall of Famer. Frank Chance, Rube Waddell, and Ed Walsh come closest, but none get the required three-fourths of the vote. » November 15, 1945: The rules are revised for election of modern players to the Hall of Fame. A runoff election is formulated as a way to qualify more players for selection, but it fails to meet its objective as no one reaches the 75 percent requirement in the runoff. Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, Miller Huggins, and Ed Walsh come closest. » September 16, 1958: Yankee killer Frank Lary is the 3rd pitcher to beat them seven times in the same season, as the Tiger star defeats them, 4–2. Ed Walsh (9-1 in 1908) and Ed Cicotte (7-1 in 1916) were the others.