Wednesday, August 24, 2016

#568 - Cliff Johnson


What a card: Cliff Johnson was enjoying the most regular playing time of his career when this card was issued. Thirteen years into his 15-year major league career, he batted above .300 for the first and only time.

My observation on the front: That is the definition of a healthy cut, good sir. Hope it went far.

More opinion from me: Johnson was such an ever-present player when I was growing up -- he played for the Yankees at the height of my Yankee-watching; he played for the Blue Jays during a time when the Blue Jays were available on my TV; I pulled his cards constantly when I was a kid -- that it's still hard to believe he isn't playing anymore and is in fact 69 years old!

Something you might know: While with the Yankees, Johnson got into a famous fight with teammate Goose Gossage in 1979 that put Gossage on the DL for two months with a thumb injury. Johnson was traded to the Indians shortly afterward.

Something you might not know: The fight was started by Reggie Jackson, who said, "Hey Cliff, how did you hit Goose when you were in the National League?" after Gossage's thrown socks inadvertently flicked Johnson in the shoulder.



My observation on the back: I will forgive Cliff for his youthful indiscretion. But only because the Dodgers lit up Bumgarner and his friends tonight.

The blog wants to speak now: The TV category is updated.

2 comments:

Rob said...

I don't know if you've seen this - but some Cliff Johnson baseball card fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKC8JPmZfZ8

Andy Diver said...

Cliff was always one of my favorites since he was the only player I knew of at the time who was born and resided in San Antonio.