#153 - Jon Matlack

Now this is a great card. For a number of reasons. First, it shows a pitcher throwing his signature pitch. For Mr. Matlack here, that would be his curveball. Jon had a big overhand curve and, like Bart Johnson a few posts back, incorporated a big kick into it. While the kick is not shown here, the long stride does give an indication of how big it was. Also, Jon is into this pitch: he's got the Michael Jordan thing going with his tongue. Next, Matlack looks like he's the only Met on the field. The first and second basemen must be hugging the bases which would indicate there's at least a runner on first. In fact, if you look closely at the right side of the photo, you can make out a corner of a mitt and a head with what appears to be a blue batting helmet. It could be John Milner or maybe even Willie Mays. The odd thing is that it looks like whoever it is is still holding the runner on, but Jon is already mid-pitch. Lastly, look at that crowd! There's not an empty seat, definitely a nice change from some of the other cards. It is therefore interesting to speculate as to whether this is a post-season shot. Matlack's only game in the playoffs was at Cincinnati, so it ain't against the Reds. During the Series, two of his starts were at Oakland, so if this is a Series game, it is Game 4. I think I've about worked this card to death.

Jon Matlack was a star high school pitcher from West Chester, PA. When he was scouted by a lot of teams, he was ultimately selected by the Mets. But since he was 16 at the time, he wasn't allowed to sign which was an invocation of something called the American Legion rule. The rule basically stated that any player selected before his 17th birthday had to wait six months until signing, which was a pretty absurd way of keeping American Legion teams from being raided, I guess, but put the poor players in limbo. I cannot believe the rule came up too much, but who knows. On top of everything else, at the time of his selection, Jon's dad was undergoing treatment for cancer. The poor kid must have been torn to pieces. At any rate, later in '67 he did sign, but too late to get into more than a couple games in Double A ball that year. He had a very nice year in '68 at Single A (13-6 with a 2.76 ERA) and then spent the next three seasons at Tidewater where the ERA was a tad high but he put up winning seasons each year, averaging 12 wins per. In '71 Jon got a few starts at the top, going 0-3 but with a respectable ERA.

Matlack came zooming out of the gate in '72, winning his first six games and having a four game streak in which he allowed one earned run in each game. He would finish 15-10 with an ERA of 2.32 on the way to winning Rookie of the Year. '73 would be a year of highs and lows for Jon, the high probably being his two-hit shutout of the Reds during the playoffs. The low occurred during a game against the Braves at Shea. Jon was pitching to Marty Perez, who hit a come-backer that popped Matlack right in the temple. He was rushed to the hospital and it turned out his skull was fractured. Pretty scary stuff but '73 was sort of a year of destiny for the Mets and Jon ended up missing only two starts. His Series was awfully good, except in the won-loss column in which he was 1-2, but with a 2.16 ERA. Jon would then go on a three year run in which he was an All-Star each season (in '75 he was co-mvp) and lead the league in shutouts twice but fell prey to weak-hitting support and went a combined 46-37, even though his ERA was well under 3.00. In '77 the Mets turned truly awful and Jon's record fell to 7-15 as his ERA bloated. Following the season, he was another featured player in the huge three-team trade that had him go to Texas, John Milner to Pittsburgh, and Willie Montanez (from Atlanta) and Tom Grieve and Ken Henderson (from the Rangers), come to the Mets.

In Texas, Matlack went back to posting a superb ERA - 2.27 - while winning 15 games. In '79 his season got interrupted by elbow surgery and he only won five games in 13 starts. He returned in '80 with better than a league average ERA winning ten games. '81 was the strike year and Jon's numbers were not great as he missed some time and only got 16 starts. He had also developed shoulder issues at this point. In '82 he had a decent season but he was now working out of the pen as much as he was starting. Some speculated that was due to his being player rep during the strike year. Another sub-par year in the bullpen followed in '83 and then Jon was done at only 33 years old. He went 125-126 for his career with an ERA of 3.18 with 30 shutouts, 97 complete games, and over 1,500 strikeouts. In his only postseason he was 2-2 with a 1.40 ERA. When done playing he gave both real estate and horse raising a shot, but by '87 was back in baseball as a pitching instructor, first for the Padres, and then for Detroit which he was still doing as recently as last year.

That's a great middle name. It must have been a family one. Matlack was a big deal in high school. Along with the 22-1 record he threw five no-hitters including a perfect game. For the ROY voting, Jon got 19 out of 24 votes. Four went to Dave Rader of the Giants and one to Jon's teammate, John Milner. '72 was a great season for Matlack; I'm pretty sure the high point was speaking at my Little League dinner in Morristown, NJ that fall.

This one's easy:

1. Matlack and Oscar Gamble '79 Rangers.

#152 - Oscar Gamble

Well, this is getting repetitious: just about every Indian in the '74 set is photographed at Yankee Stadium like the Big O here, and each one either did or would play for the Yankees. Oscar is coming off his first season in Cleveland and here comes the afro. That thing just kept growing until it peaked on his '76 Traded card. Here it's mildly tame but you can sense the coming breakout. Speaking of breakout, in many ways '73 was that type of season for Mr. Gamble. Finally given a regular spot - sort of - in a line-up he responded with a homer total that exceeded his career total prior to that year and until then career bests in average and RBI's. And while his card lists his spot as Outfield, the defensively-challenged Oscar spent way more time in both '73 and '74 as a DH.

Oscar Gamble is from down south, Alabama way. He was signed by Buck O'Neal for the Cubs in '68. After a year of Rookie ball, he was promoted to Double A in '69 where he hit nearly .300 and then put in a month-plus for the Cubbies. Leo Durocher, then the Cubs' manager, remarked that Oscar reminded him of a young John Callison, which was an interesting comparison because a few months later, Oscar and Dick Selma were traded to Philadelphia for the real thing. The next three seasons O shuttled back and forth between the majors and Triple A. He hit in the low .230's for the big guys but above .290 for Eugene. He didn't really distinguish himself otherwise those years and after the '72 season he was traded to Cleveland with Roger Freed, another Philly outfielder, for Del Unser.

Once he got to the Tribe, Gamble ran into two guys who would help his career get rolling. Larry Doby taught him to be patient at the plate and Wally Moses taught him how to pull the ball, which Oscar partly effected by adopting his hunched over stance that allowed him to use his legs more when hitting the ball. Thus, in his three years for the Indians, while Oscar would get up roughly twice as much as he did in Philly his homer totals would grow from eight to 54, his RBI and run totals would nearly triple, and his average popped about 30 points. He was also beginning to demonstrate better success against lefties than righties so his destiny as a platoon player was being set. In '76 he went to the Yankees for Pat Dobson and although his average fell, he hit 17 homers and had 57 RBIs in roughly a half season for the pennant winners. He had an OK playoff against KC then only hit .125 against the Reds. That winter George Steinbrenner, desperate for an all All-Star infield, sent Oscar and LaMarr Hoyt to the White Sox for Bucky Dent. Oscar would then have a big season as a Southside Hit Man in '77 as he tapped 31 homers and 83 RBI's, both personal bests. It was a short honeymoon though, as he then became a free agent and moved to San Diego.

For the Padres, Gamble had a tough time and is widely recognized as being one of the all-time worst free agent signings. Between being hurt and experiencing a much deeper right field porch than in his recent past, his power totals slumped to seven homers and 47 RBIs. San Diego gave up fast and after the season Oscar and Dave Roberts went to Texas for Mike Hargrove, Kurt Bevacqua, and Bill Fahey. Back in the AL, Oscar had a monster season, hitting .358 with 19 homers and 64 RBIs with a .456 OBA in only 274 at bats. He did this for two teams since mid-year he returned to the Yankees in a big trade that moved Mickey Rivers to the Rangers. The next five seasons Oscar would do his platoon thing pretty effectively, racking up full-seaon numbers that equated to 29 homers and 94 RBIs with about a .360 OBA. He had an excellent post-season in '81, killing Milwaukee in the divisional series and putting up an overall OBA above .500. After the '84 season, Oscar signed with the White Sox as a free agent but another '77 was not to be in his last season. He hit .265 for his career with 200 homers and 666 (ouch!) RBI's and had a .356 OBA. In the post-season he hit .286 with a couple homers, seven RBI's, and a .406 OBA in 18 games.

After playing Oscar went back to Alabama where he did some sports agent business, some investing business, and spent a bunch of time working with local youth sports teams. His son would later play in the Phillies system.

Oscar was a pretty little guy at only 160 pounds. Instructional Loop (should "Loop" be capitalized?) stats are post-season and don't make baseball-reference so these are hard to authenticate, but those were short seasons, so those numbers are pretty nice. The second star bullet was a bit daunting for Oscar as he had to fight his way off a field overrun with fans tearing down parts of the stadium.

Oscar was quite a personality when he played. Let's use another one here:

1. Gamble and Luis Tiant '79 to '80 Yankees;
2. Tiant and Diego Segui '74 to '75 Red Sox.

#151 - Diego Segui

Diego Segui's two cards on this post look like they're taken a couple seconds apart at what appears to be Busch Stadium. I like how they put the pissed-off photo on the Traded card so we can see how well he took the news. Boston certainly wasn't a death sentence, but it was the beginning of the end for Diego's career. '73 was his last good season and during it, Diego would establish the full year club record in saves before the All-Star break. He had twelve by then. Pretty scary. No wonder poor Rick Wise got zero help from the bullpen while there.

Diego Segui took a tough route to the majors. He was born in Cuba where he played high-level ball and then in '58 was signed by the Reds, who brought him north and the promptly dropped him. While things in Cuba weren't out of control yet, they were a bit dicey and rather than try to return, Diego made his way to an independent team for whom he put up not great numbers that season. After it he was sold to the Kansas City A's. The next three years Diego worked his way through the KC system, perfecting his forkball, and having serviceable numbers as both a starter and reliever, but nothing fantastic. In '61 at Triple A Hawaii he went 5-10 with a 4.62 ERA, which didn't exactly demand his elevation. Still, like a lot of KC pitchers he could hit - 18 RBI's one year and a .286 average another - and his ability and willingness to both start and relieve as well as KC having nothing spectacular up top contributed to his coming up to the A's in '62.

Segui's first two years were pretty good as he occupied a swing role and that first year put up six saves. Then in '64 he moved into the rotation but for the next two seasons he fell victim to his own and the A's poor numbers and went a combined 13-28. Before the '66 season he was sold to the Senators and about two-third's in he was traded back to KC, where he spent the rest of the season in Triple A, where his numbers improved, but not by much. In '67 Diego had an excellent start in Triple A, in seven starts, sporting a 1.29 ERA. Those numbers got him back to KC and for the balance of that year and the next, Diego hit his stride as a reliever for the A's. The first year he occupied a set-up role and in '68 he closed a lot more games, again adding six saves. Following '68 he was drafted by the expansion Pilots where he would have his best season, getting into a career-high 66 games and recording 12 saves to go with his 12-6 record. For '70 he went back to Oakland for run number three, essentially for Ted Kubiak. That year he led the AL in ERA, moving into the rotation during the second half of the season. Another year as a starter followed including a post-season start against Baltimore in '71. But just as Oakland was really getting things going in '72, Diego was traded to St. Louis. In the next year and a half he got in 98 games for the Cards as the closest thing those teams had to a closer and in '73 he set the team's saves record with 17 which would be broken a couple years later by his bullpen mate Al Hrabosky.

In '74 Diego threw 108 innings in relief for Boston, but his ERA shot up over a run and his saves total fell to ten. His '75 was not a very good season (2-5 with six saves and a 4.82 ERA), although he did get a bit more post-season action. He was released by the Sox just as the '76 season started and hooked up with Hawaii, the Padres' Triple A club. There he had a pretty good year (11-5 with a 3.18 ERA as a starter). For '77 he was bought by the new Seattle Mariners for whom he would be the starting pitcher in the team's first game, equaling that distinction with the old Pilots. He is the only guy to play for both teams. After a few winless starts he returned to the bullpen and was released at the end of the season. For his career, Diego was 92-111 with a 3.81 ERA, 28 complete games, seven shutouts, and 71 saves. As a hitter up top he had four homers and 24 RBI's and in the post-season was 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in two games.

After his release, Segui pitched for eight seasons in Mexico going a combined 96-61 with a 2.91 ERA and throwing until he was 47. In his first season there in '78 he threw a perfect game. After his Mexican run he eventually worked his way back to the Kansas City area. He was a farmer for a bunch of years and also, according to a Seattle Pilots website, a competitive fisherman. There is a Diego Segui still active in Olathe, Kansas, for the Bass Pro Fishing Shops. I suppose it could be the same guy, although since he'd now be 73, I do not know that he would still be working.

Segui was sort of famous for that forkball. There is an in depth piece about him from the SABR guys here. Like most of these write-ups it is very in depth. It does seem to imply that his '75 appearance in the playoffs was his first, which would be wrong, and it has some decent biographical holes but outside of that it's a good read.

No predictions on this card regarding Diego in Boston. It was a pretty big trade in terms of bodies. Diego nearly played for the Padres. Had he, I am pretty sure he would have been the first guy whose first name was the same as all or part of his team's name. Diego also had a long run in Venezuela winter ball, in addition to his time outlined above. There he went 95-58 with a 2.76 ERA and is in that country's baseball hall of fame. His son, David, would be a big league first baseman for 15 years.

Diego played for the wrong KC team to make this quick, So:

1. Segui and Bob Stinson '77 Mariners;
2. Stinson and John Mayberry '75 to '76 Royals.

#150 - John Mayberry

Boy, when the photographer of the Royals cards took action shots, he really liked to blur the background, didn't he? I think those are a bunch of fans behind Big John wearing yellow shirts but I can't really tell. This shot is taken at either Yankee Stadium or Comiskey, which is where the other Royals action shots were taken. My nod is Comiskey since NY dugouts had a big vertical cement beam in them and the Yankees typically used the first base dugout. Anyway, it's a pretty good action shot and shows how wide Mayberry's stance was. One commentary from back then said his right foot was halfway out to the mound. '73 was a big year for John as he continued the roll he was on since moving to KC. He led the league with 122 walks - he was the only true home run hitter on the team so he got pitched around a bunch - and OBA with .417. He also ended up being an excellent fielder and the Royals infield for the rest of the decade was one of the league's best. John made the All-Star team in '73 and provided most of the AL offense in the game.

John Mayberry grew up in Michigan and in '66, when he was 16, he was on the Sophomore Champion NABF (National Amateur Baseball Federation) team and in '67 he would be drafted and signed by the Astros for a $40,000 bonus. A big guy, John would show some power in the minors (he topped out at 23 homers and 82 RBI's), but he was much more adept at getting on base and as he bounced back and forth between Triple A and Houston from '69 to '71, he was getting tutored on being a line drive hitter. While he put up real good OBA numbers those years at Oklahoma City - well over .400 - he couldn't stick in Houston and was putting up a few too many strikeouts. After the '71 season, then, he was traded essentially even-up to the Royals for Jim York, a reliever. That trade came on the heels of the big one where Houston basically guaranteed the Reds the pennant the next few seasons. Both are viewed as two of the worst trades in baseball history.

At Kansas City, Big John flourished. Given the first baseman job upon Bob Oliver's trade to California, John showed his stuff as he became one of the AL's premier power guys and really amped up the walks. In '72 he had his first 100-RBI season and got some MVP votes.  In '74 he again was an All-Star but spent a bunch of time on the DL and his RBI totals and average fell. He bounced back in '75, putting up his best offensive numbers - a .291 average with a .416 OBA, 34 homers, 38 doubles, and 106 RBIs - and came in second to Fred Lynn in MVP votes. But the next two years, while the power numbers were respectable - 95 and 82 RBIs - the average plummeted to the .230 level. He did, however, hit for the cycle against the White Sox in '77. But in that year Pete LaCock and Clint Hurdle were pushing for time at first and after the season John was sold to the Blue Jays.

In Toronto, while Mayberry didn't exactly have a resurgence, he did provide the team with great fielding at first and was the team's most consistent hitter, hitting .260 and averaging 24 homers and 75 RBIs over the next four full seasons. His first year he moved his average up to .290 but therefter it fell every season. In '80 he hit 30 homers, setting the Blue Jays record. By '82 he was giving up time to Willie Upshaw and was spending more time at DH. Later that season he was traded to the Yankees where he finished out the year and his career. John finished with a .253 average, a .360 OBA, 255 homers, and 879 RBIs. He also has one of the best career fielding percentages at first base with a .994. In the post-season he hit .200 with 2 homers and six RBIs in nine games.

After his career, Mayberry coached for Toronto and KC and then moved to community affairs work for the Royals. His son, John Jr., is currently trying to break into the Phillies lineup after playing ball at Stanford.

Mayberry was an enthusiastic player and when he first came up to Houston he got to play against Atlanta and had Hank Aaron at first base after a single. He was a big fan and after the pitcher threw over to him to hold Hank on, John yelled back, "Throw that ball back over here. I want the chance to touch his man again!"

The homer was hit during those NABF playoffs. While John was involved in one big trade, he was nearly involved in two more. Following the '71 season, Montreal tried to trade for John even up by dangling Mike Marshall before the Astros. Houston shot them down, apparently preferring Jim York. That really helps secure the infamy of that trade. In '78 before being sold to Toronto, John was almost sent to the Mets for Jerry Koosman. I don't know which side shot that deal down, but given Koosman's '78 for the Twins, that big NY comeback might have ended in the AL playoffs.

This one will be all NL:

1. Mayberry and Jesus Alou '70 to '71 Astros;
2. Alou and Del Unser '75 Mets.
3. Unser and Mac Scarce '73 to '74 Phillies.

#149 - Mac Scarce

Mac Scarce looks very tall to me in this photo. He is at Shea. The cards this year with the Shea outfield in the background always throw me off because I'm not used to the foliage beyond the wall. Mac has the warmup jacket thing going on an overcast day. The Phillies lost 91 in '73 so I think a lot of days seemed overcast. Mac felt a little of that weather in '73 when, despite a very good ERA and his twelve saves he had a not so great record. No Florida weather and no run support - no wonder he had to wear that jacket.

Mac Scarce is about the purest reliever we have seen so far on this blog. He grew up in Virginia where by high school he was pretty much a stud at everything, including football, as his team's quarterback. He went to Manatee Junior College in '67. There he was already strictly a reliever and he was teammates with Johnny Grubb. After two years at Manatee, Mac was drafted by the Reds but shot them down. Instead he played summer ball in South Dakota (with John Stearns and Mike Caldwell, among others) and then went to Florida State. There he had two great seasons, going 1-2 with a 1.62 ERA and 12 saves with 49 K's in 33 innings in '69 and 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA, 18 saves, and 60 strikeouts in 36 innings as a senior. He was then nabbed by the Phillies in the '71 draft. At Single A that summer he would pick up where he left off in college. In '72 he was in Triple A where he had a rough start and moved down a level. He then killed them at Double A Reading where he had six saves to go with his four wins and 0.46 ERA.. That got him up top where he had a nice rookie season for a crappy team. He gives props to Steve Carlton for helping him out. '73 was all Phillies as Mac had a pretty good year with his saves and a low ERA, despite a few too many walks and the 1-8 record. '74 wasn't so great and in the middle of a bad season - 3-8 with a 4.99 ERA - Mac was sent to Triple A. While he had some minor injuries during the season, he really messed up his arm during winter ball - probably rotator cuff issues - and that December he was traded with Del Unser and John Stearns to the Mets for Tug McGraw, Don Hahn, and Dave Schneck.

Scarce pitched one game for the Mets in '75 and was then traded to the Reds for Tom Hall. He spent the next three seasons pitching primarily at Indianapolis, the Reds' Triple A club, but wasn't the dominant pitcher he'd been in the past at the minor levels. Over that time he was 8-10 with eight saves and a 3.97 ERA. In '78 he went to the Twins as a free agent, returning to the top for a few games (1-1 with a 3.94 ERA in 17 games) then moving down to Toledo, where he dropped over a run from his ERA. Although he was then traded to the Rangers, he retired before the '79 season. Mac finished with a 6-19 record, 21 saves, and a 3.69 ERA. In the minors he was 18-14 with a 3.03 ERA and 31 saves,

After baseball Scarce worked a while at an electrical supply business and then moved into real estate, starting his own company in 1990. There is an excellent interview with him from the SABR guys here.


Now that's a hell of a name, maybe the best one so far. Florida State won the SEC title in '70 and then lost a heartbreaker to USC (and Dave Kingman) in the CWS in extra innings. Mac pitched over seven innings in relief in that game.

Two short career guys, but we get lucky:

1. Scarce and Ollie Brown '74 Phillies;
2. Brown and Nate Colbert '69 to '72 Padres;
3. Colbert and Hilton '72 to '74 Padres.

#148 - Dave Hilton

We are back to the NL and when I say back, I mean way back. I know the Padres were only five years old at the time, but Dave here looks like he's in a uniform from the '50s. And those glasses are too much. Very Malcolm X. Dave looks very serious here where he appears to be the only life form on some post-apocalyptic field where the grass was struggling. Unfortunately '73 was a struggle for Dave as well. Though he would get his greatest amount of plate time that season, he responded with a sub-.200 average, which wasn't a key to longevity, even for the Padres. He also had one of the team's young stars - though not for long - ahead of him at his preferred position of third base in Dave Roberts. But this Dave was a battler and he returned to the minors in mid-season to work on his game at second, ditched the glasses, and returned the next season to raise his average a bunch. He was never gonna be Joe Morgan, but he did a pretty good job as Dave Hilton.

Dave Hilton grew up in Texas and played ball at Rice University. While at Rice he was a sought-after player but couldn't get drafted out of the school because he was too young. So he did what was a fairly common practice back then and after his first year transferred to a local two-year school since those schools didn't have the same restrictions. He was then the first overall pick by the Padres in the January '71 draft. His first season in Single A produced a pretty light average but he showed decent power while splitting time between shortstop and third base. In '72 he moved to Double A and had a nice year while playing nearly exclusively at the hot corner. He came up to San Diego that September and got in a couple games. He was on a path to be the next Padre third baseman. But that summer San Diego took a big deal kid out of Oregon, Dave Roberts, and that Dave sort of leapfrogged over this Dave and pretty much stepped right into the regular spot. So, while our Dave would have another spanking spring training in '73, that low average and the other Dave's big year would cause this guy to do some traveling between Double A, Triple A, and San Diego. By then he was putting in some time at second and in '74 that would be his primary position in Triple A where he had a very good offensive year (.328 with 22 doubles and 43 RBIs in less than half a season). That year the other Dave cooled off a bunch so for San Diego Hilton played third, boosting his average over 40 points. In '75 after a couple games at San Diego, Hilton got hepatitis which slammed him out of the lineup and after he recovered he went to the minors to rehab, where he had a good season - .298 - back at third base between Double and Triple A. In '76 he was a full-timer at Hawaii where he had another good year (.288 with 16 homers and 77 RBIs). Following that season he was purchased by the new Blue Jays and again spent the '77 season at Triple A, putting up similar power numbers, but with a .237 average.

In '78 Hilton would take his game over to Japan for the Yakult Swallows, where he made an immediate impact. He was the leadoff hitter on the team that won the Japanese Series, batting .317 with 19 homers and 76 RBIs. The following season his average slipped a bunch to around the .260 level and in '80 he was traded or sold to the Hanshin Tigers where he had a poor season. Before the season was over he returned to the States where he managed to hookup with Portland, a Triple A team of Pittsburgh's. He put in another full season there in '81 with decent numbers but was by then 30 and after that season he was released. In '82 he moved down to Mexico City for his final season as a player. For Dave's major league career he hit .213 in what amounted to a full season. In the minors he hit .277 with 87 homers.

Hilton would stay involved in baseball, initially hooking up with the Minnesota organization, for whom he managed in the minors in '84. He also managed at that level for the Braves ('92), and Orioles ('97) and in that role went a combined 162-194. In between he coached in those systems as well as Oakland's and Milwaukee's and made it up top for the Brewers ('87-'88). He has also done scouting both in the States and in Asia. He has also been running his own baseball school for years. I have linked to its website here.

Topps completely dismisses Dave's time at Alexandria (Double A) in '73. '72 was Dave's big year in the minors and I believe he played winter ball in Venezuela. The cartoon is a harbinger of his later move to Asia. He has a SABR bio.

Back to the NL now, there is one guy who makes this happen:

1. Hilton and Dave Roberts - why not - '72 to '75 Padres;
2. Roberts and Johnnie Jeter '72 Padres (Hilton didn't play enough);
3. Jeter and Bart Johnson '73 White Sox.

#147 - Bart Johnson

Bart Johnson had a big kick. Not as big as Juan Marichal's but Bart was 6'5" so even half way up was plenty big. Here he gets it going in Oakland. '73 saw Bart return to the bigs via a journey that took him to another league (Single A), another position (outfielder), and nearly another sport (basketball). But Bart was a guy who appreciated challenges and he would sure get plenty of those.

Bart Johnson is another Cali kid who was a local hoops star and played some baseball. He went to BYU and scored 28 points a game for its freshman team. He was then a first rounder by the White Sox in the June '68 draft and played some Single A ball the rest of the season, going 3-5 with a very good ERA. He remained at that level in '69 and went 16-4 with a 2.15 ERA and got a late call-up to Chicago where he put up pretty good numbers in the rotation but only went 1-3. He would then have a super IL season and also play that winter in Venezuela. Bart would split the '70 season between Double A, Triple A, and Chicago, representative of the turmoil playing for a horrible team. He went 7-4/2.40 at the lower levels and then spent all of '71 with the Sox. He began the season in the rotation. Not afraid to throw at guys, Bart got into it with Mike Epstein after he plunked him (Epstein basically kicked his butt) and Don Buford came after him with a bat after Bart threw one behind Buford's head. Later in the season Bart moved to the bullpen to open a spot in the rotation for Wilbur Wood. He would put up 14 saves in half a season of pen work. So things were looking good for Mr. Johnson. But then came a big one of those challenges.

Before the '72 season Johnson hurt his knee playing hoops. Scheduled to be the closer, he had a couple horrible early appearances and was then sent all the way down to Single A for rehab. While there he also gave playing in the field a shot and actually played more in the outfield than as a pitcher. On the hill he threw super well in very limited appearances. But he felt the Sox were being unresponsive to his needs and following the season he tried out for the Seattle Supersonics. Bart worked out a conditional deal with Seattle but was then able to iron things out with the Sox, though, and in '73 he was back in spring training. He assumed a spot in the bullpen as long reliever and grabbed some spot starts. But the knee was still bugging him and he only got in 22 games. He started the '74 season in Triple A where his numbers weren't too hot - 3-2 but with a 5.33 ERA. But he came back up in July and had probably the best run of his career as he went 10-4 in the rotation with a 2.74 ERA. Hopes were high for '75 but in a spring training game he slipped on the field and destroyed his back, missing the entire season. He came back in '76 and went 9-16 with a 4.73 ERA as a starter and in '77 went 4-5 with two saves and a 4.01 ERA as the long guy. Old problems continued to nag him and in '78 and '79 he pitched in Triple A with not a lot of success. After playing in Mexico in '79 he hung them up. Bart finished with a record of 43-51, 22 complete games, six shutouts, 17 saves, and a 3.94 ERA. He was a pretty good hitter despite having a big strike zone, posting a .215 lifetime average. In the minors he was 31-21/ 2.97 and hit at a .288 clip.

Johnson kept close to the Sox after he played and from '80 to '97 worked as a scout for the team. He also scouted for the Rays from '97 to 2007. There is a pretty in depth interview with him here.

That's a pretty tough first name so I see why he preferred Bart. Another guy on that high school team was Fred Kendall, the Padres catcher. The last bullet showcases Bart's offensive work during his Single A rehab. He also hit .277 in Double A that year.

Back to the AL for a card. No big deal:

1. Johnson and Brian Downing '73 to '77 White Sox;
2, Downing and Ron Fairly '78 Angels.