Well traveled long career in baseball....245
home runs over 16 years....drawback it was a highly uneven distribution....Johnson
starts out as a highly regarded Yankee prospect, compared as a new Mickey
Mantle (as many were)....Nevertheless, Yanks sent Deron to KC A’s via their
well beaten trade route in the 50’s....could not hit for KC despite more
playing time....after a year of minor league ball in his hometown of San Diego,
resurfaced with the AAA Padres parent club; Cincinnati Reds....Made immediate
impact with good power and.273 BA in 1964....his 1965 follow up improves by 15
BA points, along with his league best 130 RBIs....output immediately starts to
decline...with his BA dipping 30 points in two successive seasons....1968
shipped to Atlanta where his .208 BA was unsatisfactory....surprisingly wasn't put up in the expansion draft but another low point
sold to Phillies for straight cash deal 1969.....great investment, strung together 3 solid
seasons with a personal best 34 homers in 1971....1972 power and his BA went into freefall....following year took
advantage of the new DH rule in the AL putting up fair numbers in 1973 (A’s)
and 1975 (White and Red Sox)....passed away in 1992....Jimindowningtown I got a feeling you are chime in.
Yes I am :), but in a direction even you didn't expect!
ReplyDeleteIn the early 1970s, the Phillies yearbooks included some family photos of the players. I remember that Deron Johnson had a hot-looking wife. (Italian or Latina, IIRC).
Ah...three things in life we can certain on...death, taxes, and Jim responding to a Philadelphia Phillie card.
ReplyDeleteI remember yearbooks having family pictures. Always an interesting group of pictures. The crying baby, the moody adolescent. It may have been the first time I'd see interracial marriage and people saying "its the camera that makes the wife look white"