“There are good days and there are bad.”

There’s no lack of irony in first line from the back of Alex Johnson’s rookie card that states “Here’s a manager’s dream…” Certainly any manager’s dream is a quality hitter with speed on the base paths. But ask any number of managers if they’d sometimes take those really good things but pair them with extreme lackadaisical attitude, frequent clubhouse problems, and a general sense of controversy you might still get a “yes,” but in the case of Alex Johnson, the hope for potential was outweighed by the negative at nearly every stop of his career.

There’s speculation, but no confirmation, that Johnson was a person with a mental illness, which creates a certain lens through which his career can be viewed in retrospect. Countless articles and profiles have been written about that struggle and the union litigation stemming from Johnson’s actions (or in many cases lack thereof) and counteractions of his management. We’ll strip most of that away in this profile and look and some of the not-before-seen aspects of Alex Johnson’s ledger career.

The Phillies Say No (But Sold High)

As also indicated by his rookie card, Alex Johnson was a very good up-and-coming prospect for Philadelphia. He was an excellent hitter for both contact and power and could steal bases. His glove work earned him the nickname Iron Hands, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be immediate signs of trouble.

Johnson debuted with the Phillies on July 25, 1964. His first home run came ten games into his season.

LEDGER ONE: August 9, 1964 vs New York Mets

Good thing too because things could have gone south from the ledger perspective immediately. Despite having a nearly entire compliment of plate appearances ahead of him, Johnson would not hit another home run against the Mets in his career.1

The rest of 1964 saw Johnson add three more ledgers over the course of a week in late September.

LEDGER TWO: September 23, 1964 vs Cincinnati Reds

LEDGER THREE: September 26, 1964 vs Milwaukee Braves

LEDGER FOUR: September 30, 1964 at St. Louis Cardinals

Johnson’s 1965 season was down offensively and cracks in the facade started to appear. He added four more ledgers sporadically throughout the season.

LEDGER FIVE: June 5, 1965 at Chicago Cubs

LEDGER SIX: July 5, 1965 vs Pittsburgh Pirates

LEDGER SEVEN: August 29, 1965 vs Los Angeles Dodgers2

LEDGER EIGHT: August 31, 1965 vs San Francisco Giants

Johnson’s time with the Phillies came to an end at the conclusion of the 1965 season as he was traded to the Cardinals that October in package that sent significant, established talent back to Philadelphia (and also Bob Uecker!). The shine was still on Johnson’s potential.

The Cardinals Say No (And Leverage No Ledgers)

The Cardinals were very sold on Alex Johnson to the point where we was being called the next Lou Brock. Manager Red Schoendienst even rearranged the Lou Brock-anchored outfield to get Johnson playing time. Sadly, Johnson ended up being both a statistical and managerial headache. He finished his time in St. Louis after two seasons recording only three home runs, none of them ledgers. He was shipped off to Cincinnati after the 1967 season.

A footnote to his time in St. Louis – Johnson became the first v30 Club member to play in a game for the Cardinals. At this point, of the original 16 charter teams, the Browns/Orioles, Giants, and Senators/Twins had also never rostered a v30 Club member.

The Reds Don’t Exactly Say No (But Definitely Not a Strong Yes Either)

Cincinnati nanager Dave Bristol “left him alone” and that seemed sufficient to pull some success out of Alex Johnson. He was The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year in 1968 and his power started to take shape in 1969, a season where he collected his final batch of National League ledgers which now included the first-year Padres and Expos.

LEDGER NINE: April 27, 1969 at San Diego Padres

LEDGER TEN: May 10, 1969 at Montreal Expos

LEDGER ELEVEN: May 14, 1969 at Philadelphia Phillies

LEDGER TWELVE: September 27, 1969 at Houston Astros

As previously noted, Johnson’s ledgers against the Mets and Dodgers were very back-loaded with plate appearances, but no additional success. His ledger against the Astros became the least back-loaded ledger recorded up to that point. He hit one against the Astros in plate appearance 161 against them and would only have three more plate appearances against them before getting traded to the American League at the end of the 1969 season.

This time Johnson was on the move, seemingly not obstinately, but because the Reds had expendable right-hand hitting talent.

The Angels Say No (As Definitively as a Team Can Say No)

Like other teams before, the Angels expressed very high hopes for Alex Johnson and 1970 paid those hopes off in some respects. He famously won the American League batting title over Carl Yastrzemski by a couple ten-thousandths of a percentage point on the last day of the season. The power he exhibited in Cincinnati was still there, and the ledgers rolled in.

LEDGER THIRTEEN: April 11, 1970 at Kansas City Royals

LEDGER FOURTEEN: May 17, 1970 (Game 1) at Oakland Athletics

LEDGER FIFTEEN: May 30, 1970 vs Baltimore Orioles

LEDGER SIXTEEN: June 14, 1970 at Detroit Tigers

LEDGER SEVENTEEN: June 30, 1970 at Milwaukee Brewers

LEDGER EIGHTEEN: July 11, 1970 vs Minnesota Twins

LEDGER NINETEEN: August 9, 1970 (Game 1) at Chicago White Sox

LEDGER TWENTY: August 17, 1970 vs Cleveland Indians

But things had started to unravel too, and in 1971 everything was off the rails – production, frustration, litigation, and more. Johnson’s SABR bio comprehensively lists incident after incident that befell Johnson and the Angels He was shipped off to Cleveland after the 1971 season.

The Indians Say No (And Cut Their Losses Early)

Johnson had managed two full seasons per team up to this point. The first half of his 1972 went okay with decent hitting and two ledgers.

LEDGER TWENTY-ONE: May 13, 1972 vs Texas Rangers

LEDGER TWENTY-TWO: June 4, 1972 at California Angels

But the second half featured more player frustration and led to yet another trade, this time to Texas.

The Rangers Say No (But Expectations Now Seemed Managed)

Rangers manager Whitey Herzog gave the most realistic outcome for Alex Johnson, certainly not the rose-colored expectations that others had placed on him.

And so they did after a season and half without any additional ledgers.

The Yankees Say No (Waiving Goodbye)

I think by this time, everyone was running out of words and almost certainly patience. Johnson was aging into the twilight, seldom displaying a signal of improvement on a physical or mental front. His season and half with the Yankees netted him a needed ledger before a final move to Detroit.

LEDGER TWENTY-THREE: September 10, 1974 at Boston Red Sox

The Tigers Say Welcome Home (But Also, “No”)

The idea of getting back on track with some “home cooking” has been floated in these member profiles before. Johnson had been born in Arkansas but raised in Detroit. Would the Tigers be able to get a final productive burst out of Johnson? Only sort of, as Johnson’s 1976 season wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible. What counts for us, though, is his last ledger.

LEDGER TWENTY-FOUR: May 28, 1976 vs New York Yankees

Johnson’s major league career would be over at the end of the season. He ended up collecting only three more home runs before the Tigers pushed him out in search of a youth movement to bolster their squad.

Epilogue

Of all the v-Club members thus far, Alex Johnson had the closest calls and generally the toughest time getting to twenty-four ledgers. But as we’ve said, this is not a skill issue – it’s about luck and timing more than anything, especially if you aren’t a home run hitter by trade. Whereas I have said that other members persevered through hardship to get to the Club, Alex Johnson just existed himself into the Club. Teams gave him chances despite some red flags and things simply fell into place on their own.

Ultimately it is an understatement to say that Alex Johnson’s career was turbulent. At every stop in his career Johnson was at odds with fellow players, coaches, upper management, the media, fans, and perhaps most significantly, with himself. Of all the snippets and articles out there about incidents of Johnson clashing or loafing or generally being controversial in some manner, this one, for some reason, makes me the saddest. From the June 18, 1971 edition of the Frederick Daily Leader:

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

Sub-title taken from headline in the Ellensburg Daily Record: June 1, 1971