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Edward Augustine Walsh (May 14, 1881 – May 26, 1959) was an American pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball, nicknamed " Big Ed". From 1906 to 1912 he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Walsh holds the record for lowest career earned run average, 1.82.Coffey (2004), pp. 26–33. He is one of two modern (post-1901) pitchers to win 40 or more games in a single season, and the last pitcher to do so. He is the last pitcher from any team to throw more than 400 innings in a single season, a feat he accomplished in 1907 and 1908. Though injuries shortened his career, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
Interviewed for the 1966 book The Glory of Their Times, Hall of Famer Sam Crawford referred to Walsh's use of a pitch that was later outlawed: "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".Kashatus (2002), pp. 83–84.
In 1910, the White Sox opened White Sox Park, which was soon nicknamed Comiskey Park by the press in honor of team owner Charles Comiskey. The name was officially changed to Comiskey Park in 1913. An apocryphal story goes that architect Zachary Taylor Davis consulted Walsh in setting the park's field dimensions. Choosing a design that favored himself and other White Sox pitchers, rather than hitters, Walsh made Comiskey Park a "pitcher's park" for its entire 80-year history.
Walsh's playing time began dwindling in 1913. It has been claimed that he came into spring training in poorer physical shape than other members of the White Sox pitching staff, and his pride led him to try to keep up with the other pitchers in terms of pitch speed before getting into adequate shape, thereby causing damage to his pitching arm. "I could feel the muscles grind and wrench during the game, and it seemed to me my arm would leap out of my socket when I shot the ball across the plate", Walsh later recalled. "My arm would keep me awake till morning with a pain I had never known before". He pitched only 16 games during the 1913 season, and a meager 13 games over the next three years.
By 1916, Walsh's arm was dead. He wanted a year off, but Charles Comiskey released him instead. He attempted a comeback with the Boston Braves in 1917, but was let go, ending his major league career. He later did some pitching in the Eastern League, and gave umpiring a try (he umpired 87 American League games during the 1922 season), after which he was a coach for the White Sox for several seasons (1923–1924, 1928–1929).
Walsh retired with 195 wins, 126 losses, and 1736 strikeouts. His career ERA of 1.82 is the lowest major league ERA ever posted. He has the third-lowest career WHIP in MLB history (1.00) and the lowest ever for someone with 10 or more seasons pitched.
As a hitter, Walsh posted a .194 batting average (210-for-1,085) with 92 runs, 3 home runs, 68 RBI, 14 stolen bases and 46 bases on balls.
In 1999, Walsh was ranked number 82 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2011, he was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. Bios Of The Inductees . Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame website. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
Walsh's son Ed Walsh Jr. played for the White Sox from 1928 to 1932.
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