"Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen mister, no man alive can throw any harder than Smoky Joe Wood."

"Feller isn't quite as fast as I was."

"I throw as hard as I can when I think I have to throw as hard as I can."

"I was the greenest rookie that ever was. One evening I was standing out on the sidewalk when a stranger approached and said, 'You're famous already kid. See, they've named a hotel for you.' I looked across the street and sure enough, there was a big illuminated sign that read 'Johnson Hotel.' Well, do you know that I was so green that I actually believed the man!"

"Nobody saw it, he hit it and it disappeared."

"The beanball is one of the meanest things on Earth and no decent fellow would use it. The beanball is a potential murderer. If I were a batter and thought the pitcher really tried to bean me, I'd be inclined to wait for him outside the park with a baseball bat."

"You can't hit what you can't see."

"He had a slingshot delivery with nice, easy movement, which didn't seem to be putting any strain at all on his arm. But he could propel that ball like a bullet." - Fred Lindstrom

"He's got a gun concealed about his person. They can't tell me he throws them balls with his arm." - Ring Lardner

"His fastball looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed." - Ty Cobb

"Just speed, raw speed, blinding speed, too much speed." - Ty Cobb

"Let there be no misunderstanding, no delusion, that Walter Johnson is, or was, a baseball legend. Not only inaccurate is that description, it demeans him." - Shirley Povich

"The first time I faced him (Walter Johnson) I watched him take that easy windup and then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him....every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park." - Ty Cobb

"That young fellow is another Cy Young. I never saw a kid with more than he displayed. Of course, he is still green, but when he has a little experience he should be one of the greatest pitchers that ever broke into the game. He has terrific speed and a motion which does not put much strain on his arm and this will all improve as he goes along." - Addie Joss