I have always taken an odd interest in former batting champ Alex Johnson over the years.
I have no idea how it started. But by about 1982 I was borderline
obsessed with this guy who managed to win a batting championship in the
middle of all these superstar batting champs in the A.L.
I mean, it wasn't like he was a scrub or anything. But look at the
names of the American League batting champs from 1963 through 1979: Carl
Yastrzemski, Tony Oliva, Frank Robinson, Rod Carew, Alex Johnson,
George Brett and Fred Lynn. Now what name really
doesn't belong? We're talking six BIG names in baseball through those
years, and Alex.
Anyway, during this odd interest in Johnson I realized that he
never had a card in the 1976 set, my favorite set of all-time. Odd when
you think about it, because he actually had a card issued in the 1977
set, yet he never played that year! But for 1976,
his actual last year in the big leagues, nothing.
To a nerdy kid obsessed with baseball and baseball cards this was
big…and annoying. (I'm sure SOME of you out there know exactly what I'm
feeling here, correct?).
Well, to finally make it right, I have designed a nice 1976 Topps Alex Johnson card, showing him in his Tiger uniform.
He appeared in 125 games for Detroit that year, who he signed with
in January of '76, and batted .268 with 6 homers and 45 r.b.i.'s. Not
too shabby a swan song. Yeah, I know I'm pushing it a bit, since Topps
would have never been able to get a Tiger card
of him out for that set. But for once I went with where he would have
been playing THAT year instead of the previous year. And to be honest, I
have no idea why, especially since Johnson played with my favorite team
in '75, the Yanks.
But here you go. The "missing" 1976 Alex Johnson. Former batting
champ. Former headache. And former mystery to me for so many years.
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| Former A.L. batting champ in 1976. |