Last November, beloved baseball player and school namesake Walter Johnson celebrated his 137th birthday. Having died in 1946, many remember him as one of the best players to ever play on the Washington Senators. Recently, WJ baseball claims to have spotted the late baseball player hitting home runs out on the ballfield after practice. Others have heard faint sounds of crowds cheering during lunch as many students sit in the stadium.

As the influx of these strange reports increased, The Pitch sent the official PPI, Pitch Paranormal Investigators, senior Emma Matalia, and junior Mia Magone to investigate the validity of these strange reports. To start their investigation they headed to the baseball field to interview some players. The original report came from varsity boys’ baseball player senior Casey Gaines.

“I remember hearing noises coming from the field after heading to my car for practice. It was really weird. When I turned around there was no one on the field, so I thought I was just imagining things. That’s when it happened again. When I heard the noise this time, I actually saw something, it [the ghost] was in black and white and was holding a baseball bat.”

The next report came from sophomore Grant Matalia as he reported seeing Johnson in the dugout. Matalia was sitting drinking Gatorade when he saw an apparition of a man drinking water.

“I looked over and there was a guy who out of nowhere just came and sat. He was drinking some water and just said hi. I looked at his jersey, which had “Big Train” written on it and I knew it was him, WJ.’ Matalia said.

After these two concerning reports, Matalia and Magone set out to inspect the paranormal activity. Spot number one was the pitcher’s mound. Out on home plate, they found evidence in the form of a baseball card. With this suspicious baseball card, the investigators sent it to the security office. In a review of the footage, the investigators found some suspicious news.

When they first turned on the security tape of the baseball field, they didn’t see anything, just a plain field. Then they looked into the file from interviewing Gaines. They saw the apparition clearly and saw the words “Big Train” on the back of the jersey then confirming G.Matalia’s report.

The next report that was investigated came from junior Eric Hsu. Hsu reported hearing roaring crowds when walking outside during lunch. After many reports from other reports E.Matalia and Magone checked out the field. Equipped with paranormal cameras and a bat and ball they set out to the field after baseball practice finished.

They headed out at around 7:30 PM when the sun finally set, and turned on the cameras and started hitting some baseballs. Matalia hit a few doubles and eventually, we switched. Right as we were switching I saw this ghostly figure start walking towards me from the dugout. I realized it was Walter Johnson. He asked if he could throw a few pitches to relive his glory days. They spent another hour playing ball and eventually had to leave. The whole interaction was captured on camera.

While there was no “Field of Dream” moment, the return of Walter Johnson has been solved.