For fun today, thought I'd whip up a 1973 "traded" variation card for former batting champ Alex Johnson, who found himself off to the Texas Rangers after one season with the Cleveland Indians:
Johnson,
who won the 1970 batting title while with the California Angels, had a
disappointing season in Cleveland in 1972, appearing in 108 games for
the Tribe, hitting .239.
On March 8th of 1973, the Indians sent him packing to the Texas Rangers for pitchers Vince Colbert and Rich Hinton.
Just
three seasons earlier he hit a league-leading .329, barely out-hitting
the Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski, with 202 hits, 86 runs batted in and 17
stolen bases while making the All-Star team.
However,
issues regarding his play created problems with California management,
leading to conflict between he and manager Lefty Phillips.
As
the 1971 season opened these issues continued, limiting his play
because of "indifference", eventually leading to a season ending
suspension by the Angels' front-office without pay because of a few
different incidences.
Sadly, though he had a couple of decent seasons over the next few
years of his career, he never again reached the level of play between
1968-1970, done as an active player after the 1976 season at only 33
years of age.
By the time he retired, he finished with a very nice .288 batting average, with 1331 hits over 4623 at-bats in 1322 games, but sadly never again able to reach that level of play that made him one of the more promising young talents in 1970.
By the time he retired, he finished with a very nice .288 batting average, with 1331 hits over 4623 at-bats in 1322 games, but sadly never again able to reach that level of play that made him one of the more promising young talents in 1970.
