"Big Ed Walsh. Great big, strong, good-looking fellow," Hall of Famer Sam Crawford said. "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."
Two achievements in particular speak to right-hander Ed Walsh's dominance of opposing batters at the turn of the 20th century: His lifetime ERA of 1.82, the lowest of all time, and his 40-win season for the 1908 Chicago White Sox.
