TTM Stats
- Sent: 3/25/2021 | Received: 4/5/2021 | 10 Days
- ’90 Upper Deck, ’92 Topps, ’92 Upper Deck, ’94 Topps Traded (plus fee)
- Address: PO Box (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Howard Johnson is a former player in the major leagues who played most of his career at third base but also played shortstop and the outfield. His career spanned from 1982 to 1995 and during that time he played for the Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago Cubs.
Johnson was born and raised in Clearwater, Florida. He played mostly as a pitcher in high school and was first drafted by the Yankees in the 23rd round of the 1978 MLB Draft but didn’t sign. He then went on to St. Petersburgh Junior College and the Tigers drafted him in the first round of the 1979 MLB Draft with the twelfth overall pick. The Tigers converted him to an infielder during his time in the minors and he made his major league debut with the club on April 14, 1982.
While he played some in 1982 and 1983, it was 1984 when he got into 116 games for the eventual World Series winning Tigers for that year. After that season he was traded to the New York Mets, where he would spend the bulk of his career, for Walt Terrell.
Johnson would have a pretty good career as a Met and really came into his own once he got a place to play after some other players left or were moved out of the team. In 1987, the year after he was part of his second championship winning team, he played 157 games and hit .265 with 36 homers, 99 RBI and 32 stolen bases. This would be the first of three 30-30 campaigns and the first of five 20-20 campaigns. He would even flirt with a 40-40 year in his first All-Star year of 1989 when he hit .287 with 36 homers, a career high 41 stolen bases, and 101 RBI.
1991 was his best year and it was the second of his All-Star appearances. That season he hit a career high and NL leading 38 homers with a career high 117 RBI. It was also his second Silver Slugger winning year and third year in which he received MVP votes. He would move on to the Rockies and Cubs, each for a year as a free agent before calling it a career.
He worked as a scout after his career ended and then moved into coaching, mostly in the Mets system and later was the hitting coach and first base coach for the big league club.
The Score on Howard Johnson – 7.0
HoJo was one of my favorite players growing up. I think I just have something for Mets third basemen maybe. I love his signature and I think you could definitely pick it out as his if there were a bunch on a team picture or on a ball or something. I see he changes the bible verse on his cards and I wonder if that is for a reason based on the card or just some of his favorites.
Thanks Mr. Johnson! I’m giving this return a 7 overall.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.