TRADED: 1973 ALEX JOHNSON

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.

TRADED- 1970 ALEX JOHNSON

Here’s another “traded” card to add to the collection, a 1970 edition for what was going to be the American League batting champ for that season, Alex Johnson of the California Angels:

After spending two very good seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, in which he batted .312 and .315 respectively in 1968 and 1969, Johnson was dealt to the Angels on November 29th as part of a five-man deal that brought Pedro Borbon and two others to the eventual N.L. West champ Reds.
Initially, it looked like a steal for the Angels, as Johnson went on to collect 202 hits with 85 runs scored and 86 runs batted in while edging out Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski for the league batting title.
Still only 27 years of age, it seemed like Johnson was on his way to a solid if not star career in the Majors with his new club.
Sadly, Johnson’s time with the Angels was full of controversy, running afoul  of manager Lefty Phillips, eventually getting benched for “loafing” among other things that spilled into the next season.
After numerous more run-ins with management, he was benched indefinitely, leading to only 65 games played in 1971, batting only .260, a 69 point drop from his batting champ campaign the year before.
Finally on October 5th of 1971, he was granted a trade and dealt to the Cleveland Indians for, among others, the great Vada Pinson, with Cleveland hoping the change of scenery would bring him back to All-Star status.
However, 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.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 ALEX JOHNSON (1976 PROJECT)

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.

REST IN PEACE: ALEX JOHNSON: 1942-2015

Alex Johnson: 12/7/42-2/28/15

Ugh, just got word from "Reader Jim" that former batting champ Alex Johnson passed away the other day at the age of 72.
Man this seems to be happening more frequently lately huh?
Johnson was quite a "character" during his playing days, something I touched upon on July 27th, 2013 in my post for the card shown up above.
Regardless, he put together a decent 13-year career that saw him play for eight different teams, before retiring from the game after 1976 and taking over his father's trucking business.
The highlights of his career would have to be his 1970 American League batting championship, which he won by the slightest margin over Carl Yastrzemski, and his National League Comeback Player of the Year Award in 1968 while playing for the Cincinnati Reds.
The card shown above was one I created to fill-in for his "missing" 1976 edition, but I'll be recreating it shortly with him properly shown as a New York Yankee, for whom he suited up in 1975.
Rest in Peace Mr. Johnson.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 ALEX JOHNSON

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.

Former A.L. batting champ in 1976.