RIP Dave Johnson

Longtime MLB player and manager Dave Johnson passed away this morning at age 82.  I don't think it's very well known that Johnson spent two seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in the mid-70's, although the fact that he was the only player to be a teammate of both Hank Aaron and Sadaharu Oh sometimes comes up as a trivia question.

Johnson joined the Giants in mid-April of 1975, after he'd appeared in one game with the Atlanta Braves that season.  The signing was significant in a number of ways.  Johnson would be the first foreign player on Yomiuri since (I think) Toshio "Andy" Miyamoto in 1962 and the first foreign player for the team who was not of Japanese descent.  He would also be the first former Major Leaguer to play for the Giants.  He also be replacing Giants legend Shigeo Nagashima at third base, a position he really hadn't played much before.  The newly retired Nagashima would be his manager.

If I'm following the chronology in Johnson's Japanese Wikipedia page correctly, he signed with the Giants on April 18th, arrived in Japan on the 20th and made his first appearance in a game on the 22nd.  That's a game with the ichi-gun team, not a farm team game to get his feet wet.  His first at bat was a pinch hitting appearance against the Dragons and Senichi Hoshino - he struck out.  That would be a portent on how the season would go.  Johnson would battle injuries and unfamiliarity with both Central League pitchers and the third base position.  At one point in June, he struck out in eight straight at bats, a league record.  He finished the season with a .197 average with 13 home runs in 91 games.  He struck out 71 times.  Johnson took some of the blame from the fans for the Giants suffering their first (and only) last place finish in their history.

Things improved in 1976.  The Giants made a big trade to bring in Isao Harimoto from the Fighters which took some of the pressure off Johnson.  They also moved Johnson to second base, with outfielder Shigeru Takada (who was displaced by Harimoto's arrival) moving to third base.  Despite still suffering from some injuries, Johnson responded by hitting .275 with 26 home runs in 108 games, helping the Giants win their first Central League under Nagashima (and first in three years which doesn't sound like a long time but that pennant in 1973 had been the last of nine straight).  He was selected for the All Star team but declined, taking advantage of the time off to go back to the States for medical treatment.  He won both the Best 9 and Diamond Glove post-season awards for second base.

The season ended on a sour note, however, in the Nippon Series against the Hankyu Braves.  In the second half of the season, Johnson had extracted a promise from Nagashima that he wouldn't be pinch hit for or removed from the starting lineup.  But after going hitless in eight at bats with four strikeouts in the first two games of the Series - both losses for the Giants, Nagashima replaced him with Shozo Doi for Game Three (which Yomiuri also lost).  Johnson decided at that point that he'd leave the team after the Series ended.  The Giants would rally, winning Games Four, Five and Six before ultimately losing the Series in seven but Johnson would only start in one more game.  He went 0-13 with six strikeouts in the Series.

Negotiations with the Giants for the 1977 season broke down with the Giants insisting on a 30% pay cut and Johnson insisting that Nagashima apologize for breaking his promise.  The Kintetsu Buffaloes expressed interest in signing him after he and Yomiuri officially parted ways, but decided not to pursue it after the Giants expressed disapproval.  Johnson returned to MLB and spent his last two seasons with the Phillies and Cubs before retiring at the end of the 1978 season.

Dave Johnson had a number of baseball cards while he was in Japan.  Engel's latest guide lists 31 cards for him, including 20 from the 1975/76/77 Calbee set.  I think that number's a little low, though as it does not include a card he shares with Isao Harimoto or his appearance on the Giants' team card.  He also had a card in the 1975 NST set, one of the Yamakatsu sets, a Broder set and a bunch of oddball sets including a couple of inserts in kid's magazines.  Here's some of the Calbees and the Yamakatsu:

1975/76/77 Calbee #348

1975/76/77 Calbee #385  (w/Isao Harimoto)

1975/76/77 Calbee #449

1975/76/77 Calbee #494

1975/76/77 Calbee #559

1975/76/77 Calbee #591

1975/76/77 Calbee #675

1975/76/77 Calbee #1067

1976 Yamakatsu JY1a (w/Isao Harimoto)

I've had that Yamakatsu card a while now but it wasn't until today that I noticed that it only had a facsimile signature for Harimoto.

As far as I can tell, Johnson has only appeared in two OB sets since he left Japan - the two BBM sets from 2013 that featured foreign players - "Legendary Foreigners" and "Deep Impact":

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners #14

2013 BBM Deep Impact #03