Here’s
a card for former American League batting champ Alex Johnson, who was
left out of the 1976 set by Topps, and is part of the ongoing “1976
Project” I’ve been working on with “Reader Jim”:
Nice shot of Johnson at the batting cages while with the New York Yankees.
Johnson was at the end of his career by the time he found himself in the
Bronx, even though he could still hit and was only in his early 30’s.
He appeared in only 52 games for the Yankees during the 1975 season,
hitting .261 with 31 hits in 119 official at-bats while DH-ing and
playing some outfield.
The following year he found himself with the Detroit Tigers, playing a
relatively full season and hitting a respectable .268 with 115 hits in
429 at-bats.
But that would actually end up being the last Major League action he’d
see, playing one more season of pro ball down in Mexico before calling
it a career at the age of only 33.
Johnson had some very nice seasons in the big leagues, topped off by his
batting crown in 1970 while with the California Angels when he barely
edged Carl Yastrzemski with his .329 average.
He collected a career high 202 hits that season, with 85 runs scored, 14
homers and 86 runs batted in while being named to his only all-star
team and finishing eighth in MVP voting.
By the time his 13-year career was over in 1977, he collected 1331 hits over 4623 at-bats, good for a .288 batting average.
Very respectable for that era as we all know.