He's big, he's strong, he's more than a little mean: "He was like a shark. He had the blood lust. The victims were hunched and trembling, walking the gangplank" (7.7). And you should see him throw a baseball.
But we have to ask: how much of his baseball skill is well, skill, and how much is just intimidation? Are people just too scared of him to hit the ball? The fact that he resorts to throwing a frog at Maniac sort of backs up our argument here. Giant John only cares about staying on top at any cost, making sure someone is scared of him, even when he can't achieve that within the rules of the game.
