Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 19 of the 2010 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of May.
May 5
1995 Thirty-four years after Don Zimmer played third base in the franchise’s first game, Edgardo Alfonzo becomes the 100th player to cover the ‘hot corner’ in Mets history. Howard Johnson played the most games at the position appearing in 835 games over a span of 8 seasons.
Howard Michael Johnson, nicknamed HoJo, was born November 29, 1960 in Clearwater, Florida.
Originally a pitcher in the Detroit Tigers organization, Howard Johnson became an infielder to allow his natural batting talents to blossom. When finally given a chance to play regularly with the New York Mets, Johnson established himself as one of the most well-rounded hitters in the game.
Johnson was drafted in the 23rd round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees but did not sign. The following January, he was drafted in the 1st round — 12th overall — by the Tigers.
Johnson broke camp with the Tigers in 1982, but wasn’t in Detroit to stay until 1984, when he hit 12 home runs with 50 Runs Batted In in. He started fairly well but had a poor second half. He 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 the world championship.
Detroit’s lack of faith in his potential led them to trade him to the New York Mets that December.
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 July 22, 1986 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 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.
Usually hitting sixth or seventh, Johnson was easy to pitch around in 1987, but still slugged 36 homers and tallied 99 RBIs. Opposing managers, especially Whitey Herzog of the rival Cardinals, repeatedly had Johnson’s bat confiscated to check for cork. Eventually Herzog realized that Johnson’s power was for real — two years later he suggested that Johnson’s arms should be checked instead.
Johnson and Darryl Strawberry became the first teammates to both hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases, and Johnson’s 36 homers set a National League record for a switch-hitter.
Johnson fell off to 24 homers and 23 steals in 1988, playing the second half of the season with a sore right shoulder. The Mets reached the League Championship Series, but Johnson hit very poorly in the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over the winter, he was the center of many trade rumors.
But the Mets held onto him, and soon reaped the benefits. Johnson moved to third in the lineup in 1989 but continued to draw walks, showing both that he was a patient hitter and that National League pitchers would rather pitch to anybody else, even Darryl Strawberry.
At the All-Star break, Davey Johnson said, “the Mets’ season [was] a Howard Johnson highlight film.” Johnson finished with career highs of 101 Runs Batted In, 104 runs, and 41 steals while batting .287 with 36 homers. With his second 30-30 season, Johnson became only the third player ever to accomplish the feat twice.
A dead fastball hitter in his first few seasons, Johnson used a high-tech reflex program to hone his timing. His ability to hit even the best fastballs gave him many clutch late-inning home runs against opponents’ ace relievers, who tended to be fireballers. A favorite victim was the Cardinals’ Todd Worrell, who surrendered five home runs lifetime to Johnson before Whitey Herzog finally decided not to let Worrell pitch to Johnson in vital situations.
Johnson’s stats dropped significantly in 1990, fueling more speculation of a trade. Instead, the Mets’ troubled all-time home run and Runs Batted In 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 Runs Batted In came in waves all season as he hit a grand slam on June 18, 1991 and had 26 Runs Batted In in 22 games before the All-Star break. With 63 Runs Batted In, 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 Runs Batted In
Year end stats showed Johnson hitting 38 home runs, stealing 30 bases, knocking in 117 runs and scoring 108 times. With his third 30-30 season, Johnson joined Bobby Bonds as the only players to accomplish the feat more than twice.
Johnson endured an awful 1992, playing in only 100 games due to a hairline fracture on his wrist he sustained in August, and tallying just seven homers and a .223 batting average. There would be no magical bounce-back this time: Johnson followed up the poor 1992 with a similar 1993 season, batting .238 with seven homers over 72 games.
When the Mets didn’t re-sign Johnson at the end of the season, he joined the Colorado Rockies in the thin, homer-happy air of Denver, hoping to revitalize his sagging career. He ended up batting .211 with ten homers over 93 games.
Johnson then signed with the Chicago Cubs in April 1995 and quickly became a fan favorite, knocking seven home runs in limited play. But when nobody would sign him as a free agent following the ’95 campaign, he retired.
After taking a job as a coach for a rookie team in the fledgling Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization in 1996, Johnson felt the burning desire to play once again. He arranged a spring training tryout with the Mets for 1997, but fell short in his comeback attempt. After Johnson hit just .129 with one homer during spring training, he decided to hang up his spikes for good.
Since then, Johnson has served as a scout, coach, and manager in the Mets minor league system. In 2007, he took over first base coaching duties and later becoming the hitting coach with the Mets.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
Batting practice
1. That period of pre-game time set aside for hitters to improve the swings, speed, and timing of their batting habits. The batting practice period has its own rituals and traditions; for example, it is customary for each batter to take the same number of practice pitches and some teams have established cycles of batting, such as starting each practice plate appearance with a bunt. It is also a time for a batter to work on his timing and adjust for the wind, lights, and other environmental factors. Marquee power hitters tend to attract fans to batting practice because they put their power on display.
2. The offensive production of a team having a field day against a particular team or pitcher.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
