Ryan and Score struck out a ton of batters, which somewhat mitigated their high walk rates.  Newhouser struck out 5.0 per nine.  In 1942, players started to leave the majors for WWII.  Bart Johnson pitched a lot in relief that season, and didn't have much of a career after that.  He did make 18 starts in 1974 with a low ERA, but that was it for him.  His strikeout and walk numbers in 1971 are closest to what Matsuzaka is posting this season.

One thing that's making Daisuke effective is that he's not giving into walks.  He seems to treat them as a mistake he made to that batter, rather than something he has to fix for the next batter.  So rather than trying to compensate by throwing the ball down the middle of the plate, he sticks with his game plan, which works quite well.  With batters hitting just .170 against him, his opposition OBA stands at .298.  It doesn't matter how you get to a low OBA, and so far, all the walks aren't hurting him.  He fools enough batters to keep those free passes from turning into runs.