Walter Johnson vs. Salt Lake City Occidentals, 1910

Here’s another of Walter Johnson’s various games against black teams, courtesy of Todd Peterson, who sent it to me almost a year ago. Henry W. Thomas’s recent comments here reminded me I had it, so here it is.

Johnson is pitching for the Santa Ana Yellow Sox, with none other than Chick Gandil at second base, and the Cardinals’ Rube Ellis in left field. Perhaps the most notable player on this edition of the Salt Lake City Occidentals is Bill Pettus, who in my opinion deserves to be mentioned alongside Ben Taylor and maybe Julián Castillo when we talk about the best black first basemen of the deadball era (although here Pettus is in right field).

(Santa Ana Register, January 31, 1910)