The Worst Red Sox Team of All Time Pt. 10: Roy Johnson

Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.

The Red Sox made a surprisingly good trade in June of 1932.  They sent doubles machine Earl Webb (he of the Major League single season record of 67) to the Detroit Tigers for Dale Alexander and Roy Johnson.  Alexander has been previously covered in this series.  He was the first Red Sox player to win the batting title.  Johnson also played fairly well with the Red Sox for a few years.

Johnson had been with the Tigers for a few years going into 1932.  He was a decent hitter with some speed who led the American League in doubles in his rookie season and triples the following season.  He was also a decent base-stealer.  He was unfortunately a less than good fielder in the outfield though, so he had some flaws that made him expendable.  He was hitting just .251 in 49 games at the time of his trade to the Red Sox.

Immediately upon being traded, Johnson turned his season around.  He played in 94 games with the Red Sox the rest of the way, primarily in right field.  He continued to be a bit of a liability in the outfield, but the Red Sox needed offense more than anything and Johnson delivered.  He hit .298/.378/.484.  Johnson was second on the team with 11 home runs and led the team with 13 stolen bases.  

Johnson found Fenway Park to his liking and spent three more seasons with the Red Sox, never hitting lower than .313.  His stolen base numbers dipped into the teens all three years, but he turned into a decent RBI man, driving in 95 in 1933 and 119 in 1934.  He finished 12th in the MVP vote in 1934 with a .320/.379/.467 line.  For his Red Sox career, he hit .313/.386/.458 with 31 home runs, 327 RBIs, and 31 stolen bases.

After the 1935 season, he was traded along with Carl Reynolds to Washington for future Hall of Famer Heinie Manush.  Johnson played a few more seasons with the Yankees and Braves, but was never as successful as he was with Boston.  

The Red Sox failed in 1932, but they swung a huge deal for two players that would help them significantly.  Roy Johnson was even better than Dale Alexander throughout his Red Sox career.  Interestingly enough, Roy's younger brother Bob Johnson later played with the Red Sox in 1944-1945.

One-Card Wonder Pt. 43: Kelly Johnson

Technically, I have two cards of Kelly Johnson, but since one of them is a parallel of this card, I am still counting this.

Johnson is one of two players to play for every team in the American League East (current Red Sox lefty-masher Steve Pearce is the other), and he did so in descending alphabetical order.  He was once a rising star with the Braves who had some big power for a second-baseman.  He was then traded to Arizona where he was even better, hitting 26 home runs in 2010.  The Diamondbacks then exchanged second-basemen with Toronto, sending Kelly for Aaron Hill, another future Red Sox.

At this point in his career, Johnson became a journeyman, always hitting for some power, but not much else.  From 2011 to 2016, Johnson played for eight teams, including three teams in 2014.  It was in 2014 that he showed up in Boston.  He started the season with the Yankees before being sent to Boston at the trading deadline in a very rare trade between the two rivals.  Boston sent Stephen Drew to New York.

In his very short time in Boston, Johnson appeared in just ten games and appeared at every infield position except shortstop and also played left field and designated hitter.  He did not produce at all, hitting .160/.160/.200 with no home runs and one double.  He had just one RBI.  He was then shipped off to Baltimore along with Michael Almanzar for Jemile Weeks and Ivan DeJesus, his stint in Boston being ultimately forgettable.

And that is why it is so shocking to see this card.  He played for three teams in 2014, starting with the Yankees and finishing with the Orioles, and yet he has this Topps Update card commemorating his time with the Red Sox.  I am thrilled it exists, but it makes me wonder how he gets a Red Sox card, but Andrew Miller, who played three and a half seasons in Boston, does not get one.

Johnson played two more seasons, splitting each one between the Braves and Mets.

Slightly More Than One-Year Wonder Pt. 2: Deron Johnson

These players made it longer than one full season, but less than two seasons. They do not qualify as one-year wonders. They lasted slightly too long. But they still spent a brief part of their careers with the Red Sox.

Okay, I kind of broke my rule here.  Deron Johnson was actually with the Red Sox for parts of three seasons, but he did not come close to even a half season in any of the three seasons in which he appeared for the Red Sox.  In fact, he only played in 29 games with the Red Sox over the course of those three seasons.

Johnson came up with the Yankees in 1960 and was traded to the Kansas City Athletics in 1961.  After a year back in the minors in 1963, Johnson caught on with the Cincinnati Reds and emerged as a legitimate power threat, hitting 21 home runs in 1964.  He followed that up with his best season, coming in fourth in the MVP vote when he hit .287/.340/.515 with 32 home runs and a league-leading 130 RBIs.  Johnson played a couple more years with the Reds then started to bounce around afterwards, playing with the Braves, Phillies, Athletics, and Brewers over the next several seasons.  He continued to show off some power, hitting 20 or more home runs six times.  He hit 245 home runs in his career.  He received MVP votes in three seasons.

In 1974, Johnson started the season with the Athletics, but struggled and was traded to the Brewers.  He did not do much better with Milwaukee and the Red Sox purchased him in September.  He played in 11 games for Boston, hitting .120/.115/.120 (how that is possible, I have yet to figure out).  He was released at the end of the season and signed on with the White Sox for the 1975 season.  He turned in a very good power season for Chicago, then was traded back to Boston in September again to help provide power in the absence of Jim Rice.  He appeared in just three games, but hit .600/.667/.900 with his final home run and three RBIs.  He came back to Boston in 1976, but appeared in just 15 games and hit .132/.233/.211, but he hit his final double and triple.  He was released in June and did not appear in the Majors again.  Johnson appeared at DH and first base while with the Red Sox.

Game-Used/Autograph Pack Pulls

I might as well go ahead and get this out of the way now. Over the years, I have only gotten seven game-used or autograph Red Sox cards in packs. Probably not the least of any team, certainly not the most. I do not have any real way of keeping track since I have sold or traded most of my other ones. I do know that only one of my Red Sox cards holds a candle to some of the other stuff I have pulled. I have gotten Barry Bonds and two Derek Jeter autograph cards. So here's a picture. If you click it, you can see a larger picture:1. TED WILLIAMS: 2002 FLEER CLASSIC CUTS (BAT) This was the very first game-used Red Sox card I pulled, and it's a great one. I bought a hobby box of 2002 Fleer at the local hobby shop, thinking it was inexpensive and I would probably get something decent out of it. I had no idea it would be a Ted Williams game-used bat card. I had not gotten a Williams game-used before because they were more expensive than I was willing to pay. This is my all-time favorite pull. 2. JIM RICE: 2003 FLAIR GREATS HOME TEAM CUTS (BAT) This one I kind of saw coming. I picked up one of the special Red Sox boxes of 2003 Flair Greats with the additional pack of all Red Sox. I knew I would be getting something. Jim Rice is a recent Hall of Famer, although he was not at the time I got this. The Home Team box was a great idea that I wish they would have done more with. 3. MANNY RAMIREZ: 2003 FLEER AUTHENTIX HOME TOWN HEROES (JERSEY) See above. Fleer Authentix did the same thing. This time, the players were currently active and I got Manny Ramirez. 4. GEORGE SCOTT: 2004 TOPPS ALL TIME FAN FAVORITES AUTOGRAPH (AUTOGRAPH) Fan Favorites is one of my favorite sets. After compiling the 2003 team set through retail blasters, I decided with the smaller team set in 2004 to just buy one hobby box. I also wanted a better shot at autographs. There was one autograph card each year that I really wanted for the Red Sox. In 2004 my pick was George Scott, I was shocked when I actually pulled it in a pack. 5. CARL YASTRZEMSKI: 2005 ARTIFACTS AL ARTIFACTS (JERSEY) I bought a hobby box of 2005 Artifacts. This was one of the big pulls, though not the biggest. With this Yaz jersey, I completed the trifecta of the major Red Sox left-fielders. 6. DAVID ORTIZ: 2005 FLEER CLASSIC CLIPPINGS GAME WORN JERSEY COLLECTION (JERSEY) This one was taken from a retail blaster. Each blaster had one in it, I was lucky to get a Red Sox in mine. 7. KRIS JOHNSON: 2006 BOWMAN STERLING (AUTOGRAPH) One day I decided to spring for a pack of 2006 Bowman Sterling. Incredibly expensive packs had something like two autos and a game-used. One of my autos was this 2006 draft pick. Johnson is doing reasonably well in the minors and may make it to Boston in late 2011.