A poignant part of reading through the 1946 issues of The
Sporting News was the on-going coverage of Walter Johnson’s last months.
In April, Johnson had been hospitalized at Georgetown
Hospital in Washington, D.C., suffering from what was eventually diagnosed as a brain tumor.
Every couple of issues TSN reported on Johnson’s condition
in what was an eight-month series of rallies and relapses, with the great pitcher
slipping into and out of comas and varying degrees of lucidity. As his
condition worsened, the once-husky Johnson wasted away to 100 pounds.
In a news short in the Dec. 4 issue, the sporting paper
reported that Johnson had sent a birthday card to his old boss, Clark Griffith,
who turned 77 on Nov. 20. The item read . . .
CARD FOR GRIFF FROM BIG TRAIN
One of the most prized mementoes of the seventy-seventh
birthday anniversary of Clark Griffith, president of the Senators, was a card
from Room 103, Georgetown University Hospital. Accompanying the card was a
letter from Nurse Sara Shea, who wrote: “Walter Johnson asked me take his hand
in mine and help him guide the pen so he could sign it. I did and I enclose his
greeting to you.”
On Dec. 7, Johnson went into a coma from which he never
regained consciousness. He died just before midnight on Dec. 10.
As a collector, I’d like to think that what must surely have
been Walter Johnson’s last “autograph” survives somewhere today.
It would be really cool to see that letter/birthday card turn up somewhere. Hopefully the signature has not been chopped up to fit into a modern "cut signature" card.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, Bob. That's one of the best ones I've heard lately.
ReplyDelete