Howard Johnson (baseball player)

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Howard Johnson
Howard Johnson
Infielder
Batted: Both Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 14, 1982 for the Detroit Tigers
Final game
October 1, 1995 for the Chicago Cubs
Career statistics
Batting average     .249
Home runs     228
Stolen bases     231
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Howard Michael Johnson (born November 29, 1960), nicknamed HoJo, is a former switch hitting third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs from 1982 to 1995. He is third on the Mets' all-time lists for home runs and runs batted in and second on their doubles and stolen bases lists. Currently, he is the Mets first base coach.

Contents

[edit] Notable achievements

[edit] Early career

Johnson was born in Clearwater, Florida and attended Clearwater High School playing baseball as a pitcher. He attended St. Petersburg College and, at age 17, was drafted in the 23rd round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees. Johnson did not sign with the Yankees and, the following January, he was drafted in the 1st round — 12th overall — by the Tigers.

In the minor leagues, the Tigers soon converted Johnson from a pitcher to an infielder and, in 1981, he hit 22 home runs for the AA Birmingham Barons. He was promoted all the way to Detroit to start 1982 but was hitting only .188 in early May when he was sent back to AAA. He was back in the majors in mid-August and posted fantastic numbers for the rest of the season, including a .405 average in September which raised his final average to .316. He started 1983 with the big club but was sent down again in late May with a .212 average.

[edit] Detroit and a championship

In 1984, Johnson was back with the big club and was made the left side of a platoon with Tom Brookens. Johnson started fairly well but had a poor second half. The Tigers led the division for the entire season but Johnson sat the bench for the entire 1984 ALCS while Brookens, Marty Castillo, and veteran slugger Darrell Evans split time at third. Johnson wound up with only a single pinch-hit at bat in the 1984 World Series as the Tigers eased through the postseason en route to their last championship.

After the season, Detroit traded Johnson to the New York Mets for pitcher Walt Terrell. The move put three players at third base for the Mets but, three days later, they sent Hubie Brooks to the Montreal Expos as part of a trade for eventual Hall of Famer Gary Carter.

[edit] New York and a second championship

Johnson's inability to hit well from the right side resulted in him being platooned by the Mets in 1985, this time with Ray Knight. Both started terribly and neither reached .200 until early July. Johnson hit below average all season while Knight was even worse. The Mets, as they had in 1984, narrowly missed the postseason in 1985.

1986 was the year of the Mets and both Johnson and Knight started very well. The Mets' problems shifted from third base to shortstop as Rafael Santana struggled to keep his average above .150 most of the season. Johnson was a capable shortstop defensively and picked up extra playing time moving between short and third but his hitting started declining in May. Between his mediocre hitting, continued lack of power, and an injury that wiped out three weeks in June, Johnson played in only 88 games in the regular season. When he returned from the June injury, Johnson went on a home run tear including two in his first game back and, within six weeks, his slugging average jumped from .376 to .510. One of Johnson's home runs occurred in a legendary game on 1986-07-22 against the Cincinnati Reds. When a tenth-inning bench-clearing fight ended, three Mets players were out of the game and they were forced to spend the rest of the game with a pitcher in the outfield and two pitchers in the batting lineup. When one of the pitchers, Jesse Orosco, drew a walk in the fourteenth inning, Johnson followed with a three-run home run which led to a Mets win. Johnson faded down the stretch and was virtually shut out of the postseason, going 0-for-7 in four games combined. His only start was Game 2 of the 1986 World Series when he went 0-for-4 in a crucial Mets loss that put them in an 0-2 hole. His only other at bat in the series was in Game 6 when he struck out in the ninth inning. Nevertheless, at age 25, Johnson already had his second World Series ring.

[edit] Breakout of 1987

The most important event of Howard Johnson's career happened very quietly: Ray Knight was allowed to become a free agent after the 1986 World Series. Johnson, given sole ownership of the third base position, began a three-month power surge in mid-May. In ten games, he hit five home runs, including a pair of three-run shots, with thirteen RBI. In an eleven-game span a month later, he hit another six home runs with ten more RBI. In seven games around the All-Star break, he hit another six home runs and seven RBI raising his slugging average over .520. With his 22nd home run in mid-July, the previously light-hitting Johnson took over the team home run lead from Darryl Strawberry, all the while hitting from the seventh spot in the batting order. He ended July with six RBI in seven games along with a four-hit game and then started August with a grand slam. In a thirteen-game span in late July and early August, he had at least one RBI in all but one game and amassed an amazing seventeen RBI overall. Three games in mid-August brought another three home runs and seven RBI but the power tear was about over for his breakout season.

Johnson's surprising power surge was complemented by an equally-surprising surge in speed. While he had only 31 stolen bases in five previous seasons, on 1987-09-11, Johnson stole his 30th base to join the exclusive 30-30 club for the first time. He and Strawberry became the only teammates to achieve 30-30 status in the same season. Another grand slam in September brought Johnson's home run total to 36, just four shy of his entire career before 1987. Unfortunately for the Mets, as Johnson's power faded, so did their run at the postseason and the defending World Champions missed the playoffs. The entire league took notice of Johnson's unexpected rise in 1987 and he received 42 points in the voting for National League MVP. His home run and RBI totals were second only to Strawberry on the team and his home runs were seventh-best in the entire majors. In a complete reversal of his previous seasons, his right-handed hitting was substantially better than his left-handed hitting with numbers better in almost every category including a batting average 36 points higher and slugging 74 points higher. His 36 home runs overall were the most in National League history by a switch-hitter, breaking Ripper Collins' 53-year-old record.

In 1988, Johnson did not nearly live up to his stellar 1987 season, but still showed decent home run power. He reverted back to hitting much better from the left side with only a .183 average and .338 slugging from the right side. A mid-season injury to his right shoulder contributed to his poor offense. One bright spot was 1988-09-08 when he had the only five-hit game of his career, going 5-for-5 with a three-run home run and four RBI in a Wrigley Field victory. While Johnson was struggling to stay above .230, the Mets tried out 21-year-old third base prospect, Gregg Jefferies, who blazed through September. After thirteen games, Jefferies, who was also a switch hitter, had a batting average of .462 and a fantastic slugging percentage of .962 with five home runs, a four-hit game and four three-hit games. Despite Johnson's mediocre season, the Mets easily coasted to a division win but Johnson went 1-for-18 with six strikeouts in the 1988 NLCS. With the heavily-favored Mets down 3-2 in the series, he was benched for Games 6 and 7 in favor of Jefferies. Johnson pinch-hit in Game 7 and struck out for the final out of the Mets disappointing season.

[edit] Response to trade rumors

With Johnson and Jefferies competing for the third base job, the 1988-89 off-season was filled with trade rumors. The logjam was cleared when second baseman Wally Backman was traded to the Minnesota Twins making Jefferies the Mets' regular second baseman in 1989. Johnson was moved from sixth or seventh in the lineup to third, in front of star slugger Darryl Strawberry, who had led the N.L. in home runs and slugging in 1988. The Mets were rewarded for not trading Johnson when he surpassed most of his numbers from 1987. Johnson had a torrid June when he hit eleven home runs, 24 RBI and logged a slugging percentage of .770 earning him his first National League Player of the Month award. In the All-Star voting, eventual Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt was elected to start for the N.L. but that posed a problem: Schmidt had already retired six weeks before the game. As a result, Johnson was chosen to start for his first All-Star Game. In his first All-Star at bat, he drove in the second run of the game in which the N.L. lost 5-3. Johnson played well in the second half but an overall team slowdown knocked the Mets out of the playoffs. With his 30th home run on 1989-08-20, Johnson joined Bobby Bonds and Willie Mays as the only multi-year members of the 30-30 club. He ended 1989 with 36 home runs, tying his career-high and his own N.L. record for switch hitters. He also broke the 100-RBI mark for the first time, finishing with 101. Only Kevin Mitchell's career year stopped Johnson from winning both the home run and slugging titles in the N.L. like his teammate, Strawberry, had done in 1987. Johnson also stole 41 bases which were the most for his career and scored 104 runs which tied for first in the N.L. He received 153 points in voting for N.L. MVP, finishing fifth. Both his on base percentage and slugging from 1989 were career highs.

After his stellar 1989, Howard Johnson's salary doubled from less than $800,000 to over $1.6 million but, similar to 1988, Johnson followed a great year with a decent one in 1990. Johnson put up consistently average numbers for the entire season. He stole 34 bases and, for the third time, he played in over 150 games. Despite finishing with only a .244 average and .434 slugging percentage, Johnson still racked up 90 RBI and 37 doubles. He spent the last two months of the season as Kevin Elster's replacement at shortstop. The Mets started the season so poorly that manager Davey Johnson was fired in May but, under new manager Bud Harrelson, they recovered to win 91 games. They even took over first place in early September but missed the playoffs in the end. Johnson's best game was his first ever five-RBI game, including a grand slam, at Wrigley Field on 1990-06-13. The quality of his season again mirrored the quality of his right-handed hitting as he batted only .208 from his weaker side.

[edit] Leading the National League

Johnson's fall-off in 1990 led to more trade rumors. Instead, the Mets' troubled all-time home run and RBI leader, Darryl Strawberry, left New York when he was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 1990. Johnson became the leader of the offense for the Mets and, in response, became arguably the best offensive player in the National League in 1991, winning two-thirds of the coveted triple crown. Johnson started slowly in April and caught fire in early May. The RBI came in waves all season as he hit a right-handed grand slam on 1991-06-18 and had 26 RBI in 22 games before the All-Star break. With 63 RBI, Johnson was selected as a reserve to his second and last All-Star Game. He finished out July well and had a slow August before a fantastic September in which he hit ten home runs with 28 RBI while slugging nearly .700 earning him his second National League Player of the Month award. Johnson was the last Met to win the award until David Wright in June 2006.

At season's end, Johnson had won both the National League home run title and RBI title. The 38 home runs broke his own record for N.L. switch hitters and 117 RBI was the most by an N.L. switch hitter since Ripper Collins in 1935. Both were also career bests for Johnson. On 1991-10-01, he stole his 30th base becoming only the second player, after Bobby Bonds, to join the 30-30 club in three different seasons. In June 1991, he passed Dave Kingman into second place on the Mets' all-time home run list. Johnson received 112 votes for National League MVP, finishing fifth. He likely would have received more MVP consideration except that the Mets had fallen all the way to a 77-84 record, second-to-last in the division. Despite his heroics, the Mets scored the fifth fewest runs per game in the majors. Johnson's had become a one-man show — his 38 home runs were more than the next two highest totals on the team combined and his RBI total was tops on the team by more than 40. His biggest liability was defense as he accumulated a career-worst 31 errors. In September, with Hubie Brooks out of the lineup and Johnson struggling defensively, the Mets moved him into the outfield where he played for most of the rest of the year.

While Johnson seemed to be at the peak of his career in 1991, it turned out the 30-year-old's glory days were nearly over. The 38 home runs he hit that season were more than he would hit in all of his subsequent seasons combined. The Mets were sinking and Johnson soon followed.

[edit] Sudden decline and retirement

Going into the 1992 season, Howard Johnson was surrounded by high-priced veterans like Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman and Bret Saberhagen but he responded by virtually disappearing. While he was a spotty right-handed hitter his whole career, in 1992, he stopped hitting from either side of the plate. 1991's home run leader hit just three in April and followed up with an even worse May. After three months, he had only seven home runs and was batting .223 with a slugging percentage well under .400. A home run in late June turned out to be his last of the season. He went homerless for another month before fracturing his wrist in late July. He played a few more games in agony before the fracture was diagnosed and his season ended in early August. Johnson made over $2 million while his slugging percentage dropped nearly 200 points from 1991. The Mets had the third-highest payroll in the majors and finished 72-90, two games out of last place in the division. Johnson's lone bright spot was when he hit his 183rd National League home run, breaking Ted Simmons' league career record for home runs by a switch hitter.

1993 made Mets fans forget 1992 as the team went from bad to the worst team in the majors — and Johnson was again terrible. His batting average didn't reach .200 until almost May and his slugging only raised above .400 for barely a week before diving back down. He missed three weeks in June and his season again ended prematurely in late July. At age 32, while still making over $2 million per season, Howard Johnson appeared to suddenly be washed up. After the end of the 103-loss campaign, Johnson's time with the Mets came to a disappointing end as he was granted free agency.

In 1994, Johnson signed with the fledgling Colorado Rockies. Despite the extremely hitter-friendly atmosphere of Mile High Stadium, he wound up hitting more home runs on the road finishing with only ten overall. In the crowded left field position, he split time with Mike Kingery and Eric Young but was mostly pinch hitting by August when the 1994 Major League Baseball strike ended the season. His .211 average was the worst of his career to that point and he was not re-signed.

Johnson signed on with another team sporting a home run park, the Chicago Cubs, shortly after the strike ended in April 1995. He saw limited playing time and his average was at .115 in mid-August, lower than many of the team's pitchers. All of his production was at Wrigley Field as his average on the road was under .100 with only two extra base hits. A decent spurt in September raised his overall average to .195 but was not enough to garner a new contract from the Cubs. When he found no team interested, Howard Johnson retired at age 35.

[edit] Post-retirement - coaching and a brief comeback attempt

After retiring, Johnson expressed an interest in coaching. In mid-1996, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays had not yet played in the majors but they named Johnson to the coaching staff of their rookie-level minor league team, the Butte Copper Kings.[1]

In February of 1997, Johnson attempted a comeback with the Mets but abandoned the attempt after only a month when his batting average was just .129.[2] Later in the year, he signed on as a scout with the Mets.

Johnson was named the batting coach of the Mets' brand new Brooklyn Cyclones minor league team for 2001. He was made the manager for 2002 after Brooklyn was named co-champion of the New York - Penn League (the championship was cancelled due to the September 11, 2001 attacks). In 2003, Johnson was the hitting coach under manager, Ken Oberkfell, when the St. Lucie Mets won the Florida State League championship. Johnson and Oberkfell were promoted to the AA Binghamton Mets for 2004 and guided them into the Eastern League playoffs. Both were promoted again to the AAA Norfolk Tides for 2005 and, under Johnson's tutelage, the Tides posted their highest batting average in six seasons.[3] He served as the Tides' hitting coach again in 2006 under Oberkfell.

In 2007, he returned to the Major League uniform, taking over first base coaching duties with the Mets.

[edit] Miscellaneous Post Career Information

Within two years of retiring, Johnson's two major National League switch-hitting home run records were broken. In 1996, his single-season record was broken by former teammate, Todd Hundley, who finished with 41. In 1997, his career record was broken by Bobby Bonilla who hit his 210th National League home run in the midst of a championship season with the Florida Marlins.

Mike Piazza passed Johnson into second-place on both the all-time Mets home run list in 2004 and the all-time Mets RBI list in 2005.

In 2001, Johnson was on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot but received no votes in his only try.

In Marietta, Georgia at the Northeast Cobb County YMCA, on November 18 & 19 2006, he was offering his services to youths in the batting cage.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Transactions. The New York Times (1996-06-01). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
  2. ^ Two pitchers cut by Tigers, Red Sox. Augusta Chronicle (1997-03-27). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
  3. ^ Field Staff. Norfolk Tides. Retrieved on 2006-06-20.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Will Clark		 National League Player of the Month
June 1989		 Succeeded by
Mark Grace
Preceded by
Will Clark		 National League Player of the Month
September 1991		 Succeeded by
Barry Bonds
Preceded by
Ryne Sandberg		 National League Home Run Champion
1991		 Succeeded by
Fred McGriff
Preceded by
Matt Williams		 National League RBI Champion
1991		 Succeeded by
Darren Daulton
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