Imagine you were a pitcher, and had a season in which you went 34-5. Then imagine you had this season, and you still weren't the best pitcher in the league! Such was the case in 1912, one of the most remarkable seasons in baseball history. The year was highlighted by an ongoing duel between Walter Johnson and Smokey Joe Wood.

         Wood pitched for the Boston Red Sox, and they won both the pennant and the World Series. Johnson pitched for the Washington Senators, who finished second in the league. The race wasn't really close, though; Boston had a much better offense than Washington, and won by 14 games.
         There was another race during the season, however, which almost seemed to take on greater importance than who won the pennant. Walter Johnson set a new AL record with 16 consecutive victories; the streak ended when he entered a game in relief, and allowed an inherited runner to score, which broke a tie. Johnson was charged with the loss, which doesn't seem fair, but sometimes life is harsh.
         Wood, meanwhile, started on a streak of his own. He won 13 in a row before the Senators rolled into Boston. Wood was matched up against Johnson, in an epic battle. Wood was victorious, winning the game 1-0, and eventually matched Johnson's record of 16 straight wins before he too was beaten. Two 16-game winning streaks... and remarkably, this was also the year that Rube Marquard won 19 straight in the NL.
         A pretty good case can be made the Wood was the best pitcher in the league. But Johnson has better numbers in every category; Wood's won-loss record is spectacular, but then his team was also much better, too.
         Ed Walsh had his last great year; he hurt his arm next season, and his great career came to a close. Eddie Plank may have had the best year of his career; Plank never reached a great pinnacle of performance, but had a dozen fine seasons of roughly the same quality, and finished his career with more than 300 wins.
         Johnson, Walsh, and Plank are all deserving members of the Hall Of Fame. Wood is not; he hurt his arm next spring, and never fully recovered. He pitched well in a limited number of innings over the next three years, then decided to try his hand at being the outfielder. He wasn't too bad, finishing with a .283 career batting average.