BoJo

[Murderers Row]

Does anyone know why Bob Johson's career ended so suddenly? He lead the league in batting runs in '44, and didn't play a game after '45

[tearforamariner]

Does anyone know why Bob Johson's career ended so suddenly? He lead the league in batting runs in '44, and didn't play a game after '45

I imagine it has to do with Ted Williams' return from WWII. I think the Red Sox were using him as a replacement player, and when Ted came back, they released him.

[Ubiquitous]

Bob I believe got demoted or since this was before a lot of the formalized minor leagues, he got released and played in the minors. I believe he played until around 1948 where knee surgery ended his playing days.

It was probably a combination of things. Bob was 39, the "real" players were coming back, he groused about his salary, and it looked like he was in decline.

I can't find anything as to why he didn't catch on anywhere else, but it does look clear that he wasn't ready to quit playing baseball. Since he went on to play in the pacific coast league.

[DoubleX]

I think Johnson is one of those really good players that history has really bypassed. I consider him a border line Hall of Famer (well just on the outside actually), but had his career started earlier, I think he'd in. He didn't get his shot until age 27, so he probably lost about 5 years of a career.

[Murderers Row]

I think Johnson is one of those really good players that history has really bypassed. I consider him a border line Hall of Famer (well just on the outside actually), but had his career started earlier, I think he'd in. He didn't get his shot until age 27, so he probably lost about 5 years of a career.

Yeah, he is really underrated.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Can anyone compare him with that other favorite victim of the late start, Minnie Minoso?

[KCGHOST]

He was an A's farnhand in the early 1930's. Tough to get called up with Al Simmons already in place. Once Simmons was unloaded after 1932, Johnson got his shot.

[DoubleX]

He was an A's farnhand in the early 1930's. Tough to get called up with Al Simmons already in place. Once Simmons was unloaded after 1932, Johnson got his shot.

They could have stuck Johnson in RF. The A's OF wasn't too impressive outside of Simmons.

[Ubiquitous]

It is odd that Bob Johnson only played 24 games in right field. By all accounts he was fast and had a strong arm. I'm thinking what held him up though was that he really couldn't field well. In one year alone he made 20 errors, which begs the question how many bad plays did he make that didn't count as an error?

His fielding is probably what caused him to not make it to the bigs until he was much older. Apparently he played 4 seasons of minor league ball before making the jump to the bigs. If that is true then Bob started playing baseball at a really late age.

[bluezebra]

Does anyone know why Bob Johson's career ended so suddenly? He lead the league in batting runs in '44, and didn't play a game after '45

Ball game over. World Series over! Yankees win thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Yankees win!

You're living in the past.

Bob

[DoubleX]

Apparently he played 4 seasons of minor league ball before making the jump to the bigs. If that is true then Bob started playing baseball at a really late age.

For some reason, I had thought I read someplace a while ago that part of why Bob didn't make it into the system until his mid 20s, had something to do with growing up in Washington state, and thus he wasn't scouted real heavily. I could be wrong though.

[Ubiquitous]

Even his brother it looks started late as well. I believe he started playing in the Pacific Coast League at 23 years of age. It might very well be that these two guys were playing semi-pro or something up in the boondocks of Washington and it took forever for somebody to notice them.

[EvanAparra]

Ball game over. World Series over! Yankees win thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Yankees win!

You're living in the past.

Bob

It's called history.

Evan

[Captain Cold Nose]

It's called history.

Evan
That's right, MR's sig is only of historical context.

[EvanAparra]

That's right, MR's sig is only of historical context.

We can only hope.

[Murderers Row]

We can only hope.

Well, what the hell else could it be?

[EvanAparra]

Well, what the hell else could it be?

I meant as that I hope it will stay historical. Relax.

[Ubiquitous]

I thought it was actually a funny line. As in we can only hope that saying the Yankees win would be a thing we talk about in history not in current events. I for one hope that.