Call to the pen
Fansided

Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer and the 300-strikeout club

By Bobby Mueller

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25:Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) threw ten strikeouts during the game between the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Scherzer finished the season with 300 strikeouts. (Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25:Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) threw ten strikeouts during the game between the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Scherzer finished the season with 300 strikeouts. (Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images) /
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DATE UNKNOWN: Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame Pitcher Bob Feller poses for a photo. Feller pitched for the Indians from 1936-1956 and was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. (Photo by MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Big Train and Rapid Robert

Six years after Waddell’s second 300-strikeout season, right-handed hurler Walter Johnson had the first of his two 300-strikeout seasons. Johnson struck out 313 batters in 1910 and 303 batters in 1912. Of course, he pitched an incredible 370 and 369 innings in those two seasons, but topping 300 strikeouts was still an impressive and rare feat.

Johnson was the strikeout artist of his time. In addition to his two 300-strikeout seasons that easily led the league, he was tops in strikeouts 10 other times. Johnson was considered the hardest thrower in his day. He was a big man who brought his arm back in a wide arc and slung it to the plate from around chest height. Ty Cobb said of Johnson, “His fastball looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed.”

After Walter Johnson had his two 300-strikeout seasons in 1910 and 1912, no pitcher had 300 strikeouts in the 1920s or the 1930s. In 1946, Bob Feller was in his second season back after missing three years for military service during World War II. He came back with a vengeance when he struck out a career-high and new major league record 348 batters in 371.3 innings.

It was no accident that Feller set the new single-season record for strikeouts. As the whiffs accumulated that season, Feller had his eye on Waddell’s mark. After he set his career-high with his 262nd strikeout in mid-August, Feller decided to shoot for the MLB single-season record of 343. Cleveland was well below .500 as the calendar moved to September, but Feller continued to rack up innings. He started seven of his team’s final 17 games.

In the last two weeks of the season, he started on September 19th, 22nd, 25th, then pitched in relief on September 27th. The final game of the season was on September 29th and Feller was on the bump, tied with Waddell. He struck out five to get the record.

Feller was an anomaly. He had his big season in 1946, more than 30 years after Johnson had last accomplished the feat. Then another 300-strikeout drought ensued, as no pitcher achieved the mark for the rest of the 1940s or the entire decade of the 1950s. Feller was the only pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season during the 50-year stretch from 1913 to 1962, but two new strikeout stars were about to emerge on the scene.

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