Cliff Johnson--1982
Mickey Rivers once said that, “Cliff
Johnson was so ugly, he should have to
wear an oxygen mask.” (Baseball Digest,
Dec. 1991) As we can tell from his 1982
card, Rivers was right, as Johnson was
never going to be confused as a male
model, thus the surly look without a smile
in sight when the baseball card
photographer came to town.
A big bopper, Johnson floated through
seven organizations during his 15-year
career, probably deserving more playing
time than what he gathered, though his
glove was hard to hide. A consistent long
ball threat, Johnson would bang out 196
homers during his career, logging 15 or
more big flies in eight different seasons,
while never fanning 70 times in a season.
Over the past weekend San Diego’s Matt
Stairs connected on his 21st career
pinch-hit home run to move past
Johnson as the all-time home run hitter
coming off the bench. Thus comes, the
end of Cliff Johnson’s trivia question era,
which means we probably won’t have to
look at his mug anymore.
(8/23/10)
Johnson was so ugly, he should have to
wear an oxygen mask.” (Baseball Digest,
Dec. 1991) As we can tell from his 1982
card, Rivers was right, as Johnson was
never going to be confused as a male
model, thus the surly look without a smile
in sight when the baseball card
photographer came to town.
A big bopper, Johnson floated through
seven organizations during his 15-year
career, probably deserving more playing
time than what he gathered, though his
glove was hard to hide. A consistent long
ball threat, Johnson would bang out 196
homers during his career, logging 15 or
more big flies in eight different seasons,
while never fanning 70 times in a season.
Over the past weekend San Diego’s Matt
Stairs connected on his 21st career
pinch-hit home run to move past
Johnson as the all-time home run hitter
coming off the bench. Thus comes, the
end of Cliff Johnson’s trivia question era,
which means we probably won’t have to
look at his mug anymore.
(8/23/10)
