On the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for former Chicago White Sox first baseman/DH Lamar Johnson, who made his Big League debut in 1974:
Johnson appeared in 10
games for Chicago in 1974, hitting a robust .345 with 10 hits in 29
at-bats, driving in two while scoring one.
He'd appear in only
eight games the following season, hitting an even .200 with six hits in
30 at-bats, including his first MLB homer and three doubles.
In
1976, though only appearing in 82 games, the man would rake, hitting
.320 with 29 runs scored and 33 RBIs, with 71 hits in 222 at-bats, and
he'd pretty much keep that solid hitting going for the rest of his
nine-year career.
He'd hit .302 in 1977 for the "South Side Hit Man", along with a career-best 18 homers, and two years later hit .309.
In 1980 he followed that up with a .277 batting average and a career-high 81 RBIs and 150 hits over 147 games.
I
don't know exactly what happened after that being that he was still
only 29 years of age, but in 1981 he'd play in only 41 games, hitting
.276, before finding himself with the Texas Rangers in 1982, appearing
in only 105 games, the last of his Major League career, hitting .259.
Nevertheless,
post playing career Johnson would go on to become a respected batting
coach for various teams, including the Kansas City Royals in the
late-90's, who set team records for offense (granted this was the
"steroid era").
For his playing career, Johnson finished up
with a very nice .287 batting average, with 755 hits over 2631 at-bats,
driving in 381 while scoring 294 in 792 games between 1974 and 1982.
