Indian Bob Johnson With posts by Odie and Royal Rooter

Annotated by JingleBob

... not to mention a chapter in my book ...

"Indian Bob" Johnson -- Baseball's Forgotten Superstar

When you think of Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's several hitters immediately come to mind because of their Hall-of-Fame status; such immortals as Frank "Home Run" Baker, Eddie Collins, Al Simmons and Jimmy Foxx. Also such stalwarts as Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Joe Jackson graced Connie Mack's line up at various points in their careers.

Yet, somebody is missing from this list.

Max Bishop perhaps? No. Gus Zernial? Not him either. Does the name Bob Johnson ring a bell with anyone? Who's Bob Johnson you ask? He's just one of the great sluggers of the 1930's and 1940's. Unfortunately not very many people remember, or even heard of him because he played his career mostly in the second division of the American League, plus he's not in the Hall-of-Fame. Nothing can be rectified as to who he played for, his not being in Cooperstown is a matter that could, no, should be dealt with.

But first ... who was "Indian Bob" Johnson?

Bob Johnson was an eight-time All-Star outfielder with second-division American League clubs in the 1930s and early 1940s. Columnist Red Smith noted that "Bob was a first-rate outfielder with a powerful and accurate throwing arm. He was righthanded all the way, a flatfooted hitter with power."

Although he led the league with a .431 on-base percentage in 1944 and tied the AL record of six RBIs in a single inning, Johnson should be remembered for one of the most consistent careers on record. During 13 seasons, Johnson hit more than 20 homers 9 times, drove in more than 100 runs 8 times, and earned more than 75 bases on balls 10 times.

The man, the myth, the legend

Johnson was born in Oklahoma in 1906, and his family soon moved to Tacoma, Washington. He left home in 1922 at age 15 and began his baseball career with the Los Angeles Fire Department team. Because Johnson was part Cherokee, he was subjected to the nickname "Indian Bob," just as other players of Native American ancestry had similar epithets foisted upon them in this era.

Johnson was soon playing semiprofessional ball. When his brother, Roy Johnson, became a professional, he felt buoyed. He said, "When Roy became a regular with San Francisco in 1927 I knew I could make the grade in fast company. I had played ball with Roy and felt I was as good as he was."

However, Johnson failed trials with San Francisco, Hollywood, and Los Angeles. He did not play professionally until Wichita of the Western League signed him in 1929. He was soon moved up to Portland. In 1931 the righthanded hitter went to spring training with the Philadelphia A's but was sent down because he had trouble hitting the curveball.

In 1933 Philadelphia sold off veteran Al Simmons to the White Sox, and Johnson beat out Lou Finney for the center field job. In his rookie season, Johnson collected 69 extra-base hits, including 44 doubles. On June 16, 1934, Johnson had his best single day at the plate. He went six-for-six, with a double and two homers. Three years later, on August 29, 1937, Johnson had the best inning of his career when he drove in an AL-record six runs.

During a series of poor seasons for the Athletics it seemed that on some days Johnson alone constituted the offense. On June 12, 1938, he drove in all eight runs in an A's win over the Browns. After the 1942 season, Johnson thought Philadelphia was underpaying him and demanded a trade. Owner Connie Mack complied and sent the valuable outfielder to Washington for another flyhawk and cash. Johnson was still a valuable player but no longer the power threat he was in his youth. After hitting only seven homers for Washington in 1943 he was sold to the Red Sox at the end of the season. Aided by Fenway Park's short left-field wall, Johnson had his best overall season in 1944. Although he hit only 17 homers, he smashed 40 doubles and led the league in on-base percentage and batting runs. He left the Red Sox after the 1945 season and spent five years in the minors.

A .296 career hitter with a .393 on-base percentage, and 288 home runs, Johnson also accumulated 74 fielding runs. He died on July 6, 1982, in Tacoma, Washington.

Let's have a look at his career highlights it is very impressive, and measures up with many whose visage is displayed at the Hall. For example;

Of all players active in the period 1920-1941 he places 9th in home runs (288) the eight ahead of him are all Cooperstown enshrined ... in RBIs he places 14th in this era, the only one of the top 15 not inducted ...

In the thirteen seasons that he played he garnered more RBIs (1283 in 6920 AB) than Hall of Famer Heine Manush (1183 in 7654 AB) ... if you want to get fussy and point out that Manush outhit Johnson .330 to .296 I'd like to remind you that a much more important offensive statistic (OBP) Johnson is well ahead of Manush .393 to .377 ... the high BA is more eye catching but OBP is more valuable.

In the thirteen seasons that he played he garnered more RBIs (1283 in 6920 AB) than Hall of Famer George Sisler (1175 in 8267 AB) and others ...

When you think of keen batting eyes what names come to mind? How about Rogers Hornsby? Would you say he had pretty good plate judgement?

Johnson might've had a better eye ... Hornsby walked 1038 times in 8173 AB, Johnson walked 1075 times in just 6920 AB

Or perhaps Honus Wagner? Do you think he'd know the difference between a ball and a strike?

Johnson despite 3510 fewer AB walked 112 times more. I'm not going to say it means anything, but ...

Rod Carew ... bunch of batting titles, he knew the strike zone pretty well you would think ... did Johnson know it a little bit better? He drew fifty seven more walks than Carew. Nit picky you say? O I forgot, Carew also had almost 2 600 more AB than "Indian Bob"

If you insist on being picky about the fact he wasn't a lifetime .300 hitter (there'll be some additional thoughts on that later) it's good to bear in mind while people rave about batting averages, it's OBP that wins ballgames. For example, I'll contrast a pair of second basemen.

Who would you rather have on your team? Carlos Baerga who in 442 AB hit; .314 19 80 with the 1994 Cleveland Indians.

Or Max Bishop, who in 441 AB hit .252 10 38 with the 1930 Philadelphia Athletics?

Superficially most would pick Baerga. But when you look a little deeper Bishop was far, far more productive. One stat I left off was walks. Bishop drew 128 freebies that year, Baerga just ten.

So ... Baerga, who out hit Bishop by 62 points was actually left in the dust by Bishop in OBP by a whopping 112 points! (For the record Baerga's OBP in 1994 was .333, Bishop's in 1930 was .426)

Let's look how this affected run production ... Bishop produced more runs than Baerga 145 to 142. Baerga barely eclipsed Bishop in OPS .858 to .834, but Bishop hammered Baerga in runs created (hits+walks)(total bases)/(AB+BB) 88 to 75.

So actually, despite Baerga's numbers being more eye popping, Bishop was actually more productive offensively.

But it all boils down to first getting on base.

Now back to Johnson ...

His lifetime on base percentage (.393) is higher than ...

Frank Robinson (.392)

Honus Wagner (.391) and ...

Willie Mays (.387) Hall-of-Famers all

Lifetime, Johnson slugged .506 better than players such as ...

Ernie Banks (.500 ... and played his entire career at Wrigley Field ... a lot of it at a traditional "power position" -- first base)

OF Reggie Jackson (.490)

OF Al Kaline (.480 ... in a hitter's park) ... three Hall-of-Famers.

A quick check on the man Johnson replaced in the Athletic's outfield; Al Simmons, a no-questions-asked Hall-of-Famer. Total Baseball actually gives Johnson a higher Total Player Rating than Simmons (35.1 to 27.4). Now, quite frankly, I feel quite strongly that Simmons was the better ballplayer but it's good to keep in mind that there's little to choose between them in career OPS (Simmons .915 Johnson . 899).

Of course it's good to see how he compares with other Hall-of-Fame outfielders of his era.

So ...

I decided to do a little comparing between Bob Johnson and the Hall-of-Fame outfielders that were Johnson's contempararies. The players used were Earl Averill, Chuck Klein, Ducky Medwick and Paul Waner.

The results?

*Projected with same number of AB as Johnson, stats in boldface indicate totals higher than Johnson's.

I'd say he matches up pretty well.

So we can see that Johnson's power and production levels were of Hall-of-Fame caliber, but why was Johnson's batting average so much lower than the others? Well, he was the only real threat in the Athletics lineup after Foxx left, so it was a simple matter of his (most likely) being pitched around. Either that, or as mentioned earlier, he had a marvellous batting eye. Whichever it was, it works into the Hall-of-Fame argument.

When Jimmy Foxx left the A's in 1935 Johnson was quite literally the only real threat in the A's attack. Now bear these numbers in mind remembering that this was the era of the "big boppers." From 1936-1941(see charts below) only one player ... Steve Chapman topped 100 RBI's in a season (1941), nobody topped 30 HR and the only ones to top twenty were Wally Moses in 1937 (25), Franklin Hayes who hit 20 in 1939 and Steve Chapman hit 23 in 1940 and 25 in 1941. In this enviroment, from 1935-1941 Bob Johnson batted .298 he had a staggering OBP of .401 so either he was incredibly selective or got pitched around frequently. During that span of eight seasons he ripped 202 doubles, nailed 55 triples and blasted 184 HR. He drove in 878 runs and scored 805. He slugged .529 during that stretch. You also have to consider that he averaged just under 100 runs and 100 RBI every year for his entire career.

How many players of any era can make that claim?

Those that can are probably in the HOF.

To the best of my knowledge he and Gil Hodges are the only players with seven consecutive 100 RBI seasons not inducted. Hodges is a popular HOF candidate. So consider his supporting cast when considering his qualifications. Look at the offensive support Hodges had around him, also Ebbets Field was a much better place to hit than Shibe Park. Hodges never again topped 30 HR or 100 RBI once the Dodgers left Brooklyn.

He, quite literally produced Hall-of-Fame numbers without much support from his teammates. Most of the guys in the Hall had a degree of support in the line-up, Johnson did not. Yet he averaged almost 100 Runs + 100 RBI a season with few runners to drive in or few players to drive him in for that matter. Just for a small sampling, Jimmy Foxx left the Athletics before the 1936 season. So for six years he had meager support in the lineup. Below are, according to Total Baseball, the regulars in the Athletic's lineup from 1936-41 ...

During that stretch, here is an "average" Bob Johnson campaign ...

Remember Johnson began that stretch at the age of twenty nine. During this period Johnson provided 25% of the Athletic's total offense.

Getting back to the comparison between Waner, Averill et al ...

Although he is overshadowed in the BA department, as Bill James states, you don't focus on hits, you focus on runs. Of this group he leads in runs, RBIs and naturally runs produced. He is also first in extra base hits, third in OBP (bearing in mind that he is just .011 points from Waner and a miniscule .002 behind Medwick). He's second in HR (comfortably ... he's 50 HR up on Averill who finishes third) and just twelve back of Klein. Suffice it to say, his numbers are well within the "group" of these HOF outfielders of his era who are in the Hall.

If its true that you have to; "play for a contender, or they'll never remember" then Bob Johnson's career would have to be Exhibit A. There is no excuse for him not being named to the Hall of Fame. He did not play in the current era, when, a top notch performer who is in the last year of his contract would be shipped to a contending team. These were the days of the odious "Reserve Clause" so he couldn't help the fact that he played for the A's during one of the lowest points in franchise history. I think it can be safely said that, if he played in the same Yankee outfield as DiMaggio (just imagine, they would have been known as Joltin' Joe, and Bashin' Bob, just as Maris and Mantle were known as the M 'n M boys) he would be most certainly a Hall-of-Famer. To the best of my knowledge, he has done nothing to besmirch the game of baseball, so it is a marvel why is not a Hall-of-Fame member.

Here are Johnson's career numbers ...

Best

Odie

Haven't we given players from the 1930s enough chances to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame? The BBWAA has already voted numerous times on players from this era. The Veteran's Committee, who has never been shy about enshiring players, has considered - and elected - holdovers from the 1930s. Yet some people believe want to elect even more players from this era?

Consider the case of Indian Bob Johnson. Many baseball fans don't even know who he is. Johnson played for twelve seasons, put up good numbers, then quietly retired. He received two votes for the Hall of Fame - one in 1948, another in 1956.

Johnson made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1933. While Connie Mack sold off his superstars to stave off bankruptcy during the depression, Johnson simply drove in 100 runs a year, smacked 25-30 home runs a year, and averaged .300. Johnson was a solid player but never did anything spectacularly. He never let the league in a single offensive category, though he did finish in the top five in home runs for a few years. Johnson never won an MVP, though he once placed 8th with 52 votes after a productive season in 1939.

The A's got rid of Johnson after an unproductive 1942 season. Johnson had a lifetime average over .300, with 252 Homeruns and 1040 Runs Batted In. The Senators took a flyer on Johnson, but he had his second consecutive dissapointing season, batting .265 with 7HRs and 63 RBI.

In normal times, a player like that might have been released in the middle of the season, but Johnson had the fortune of playing during WWII. Teams were running out of able-bodied ballplayers. The St Loius Browns were desperate enough to play the one-armed Pete Gray. With Gray, and a rag-tag group of 4Fs like Mark Christman, Mike Kreevich, and George McQuinn, the Browns were able to win the pennant for their first, and only, time in franchise history. Sigmund Jakucki was one of the leading pitchers for the Browns in 1944. Jakucki made his major league debut in 1936, then played in the minors for the next 8 years until the Browns called his number in 1944.

Johnson hooked up with the Red Sox in 1944 and knocked in 180 runs over the next two years. When World War II ended, and the stars returned from the service, Johnson hung ‘em up.

Johnson supporters will have us believe that MVP voters, and Hall of Fame Voters, forgot about Johnson because he played on mainly last-place ballclubs. If you check through the MVP votes, though, you'll see that voters didn't ignore the Philadelphia Athletics. Pinky Higgins, Wally Moses, Frankie Hayes, Phil Marchildron, Johnny Babich, and Dick Siebert were all able to get MVP votes while with the Mackmen. Voters clearly saw Indian Bob Johnson, they knew about him, but they didn't consider him a dominant player.

The "Indian Bob for Hall of Fame" delegation likes to use the "He's in the Group" argument to extoll Johnson's virtues. They create a group of Hall of Famers, then they use lifetime statistics - focusing on career OBP and Slugging percentage (the components of Total Player rating), to judge the Hall-of-Fame-worthiness of each ballplayer. Their "group" is Joe Medwick, Paul Waner, Earl Averill, and Heine Manush. The problem is that none of these players were elected to the Hall of Fame because of their OPS.

Paul Waner was elected by the BBWAA voters in 1952. Waner was a line drive hitter who won three batting titles and, in 1927, won the NL MVP as he lead his Pirates to the NL Pennant. Voters focused on his .333 lifetime average and his 3,154 base hits - though they reasoned that 1309 RBI for a singles hitter was pretty respectable. Johnson had a lifetime .296 batting average with 2051 hits.

Joe Medwick was elected to the Hall of Fame for his triple crown in 1937, his MVP in 1937, and his three consecutive RBI titles from 1936 - 1938. Johnson never won an MVP or an RBI crown. Ducky was nearly killed when he was beaned by former teammate Bob Bowman after he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Though he played until 1948, Ducky was never the same player after the beaning.

Voters inducted the Medwick that they remembered before the beaning: affording his some sympathy for his tragedy, and giving exceptional weight to his seasons of dominance with the Cardinals. Medwick wasn't elected to Cooperstown for his career totals.

Earl Averill was elected by the Veteran's Committe in 1975. The Veteran's Committee gave Averill special consideration for the back injury that he suffered in 1937. Earl was a feared hitter early in his career, and he was the only outfielder selected to the first six all-star games. After his malformed spine started to affect his swing, Averill was ordinary.

Heine Manush was elected by the Veteran's Committee in 1964 for his .330 lifetime average and his 2524 base hits. Manush was a line-drive hitter, a la Waner, who managed to knock in 1156 runs during his 17 year career.

The two BBWAA selections, Medwick and Waner, were stronger than the Veteran's Committee selections. Waner and Manush were elected for their batting average and base hits, while Medwick and Averill were elected for their achievements before injuries limited their success. It doesn't make sense to compare Johnson, a slugging OF , with any of these four players.

Who should we compare Johnson with? Bob Feller, in his autobiography Now Pitching, talked about seven sluggers of his day. Let's compare Johnson with the other sluggers of his era, as defined by Rapid Robert from Van Meter, Iowa:

DiMaggio and Williams are off the charts. Foxx played when the ball was extremely lively, but his numbers are still phenominal. Greenberg, with his MVP seasons, is the middle of the pack. Johnson has similar lifetime numbers to Greenberg, but he also played 500 more games than Greenberg. Rudy York and Zeke Bonura round out Feller's list of "big boys".

The above list also "ranks" the players. All the players above Greenberg were easily elected to the Hall of Fame, the three sluggers below Greenberg were omitted. Greenberg was a controversial selection when he was elected to the Hall of Fame. Johnson, York, and Bonura are a cut below the first four big boppers.

If you think Johnson ranks with the four Hall of Famers, recall that Greenberg, Williams, and DiMaggio fought in the armed services, and lost parts of the prime of their careers. Meanwhile, Johnson was fattening his numbers against sub-par competition.

Seems like Indian Bob was more like a "respected hitter with the Philadelphia Athletics, along with Lou Finney, Walley Moses, and Pinky Higgins". Bob Feller used these words in his autobiography to describe Johnson. MVP voters thought the same of Johnson: he garnered a few votes, but didn't earn the same respect as the feared hitters of his day.

You can make a case that Johnson is so unknown that he deserved better. I'd tend to agree. That's not a reason to elect Indian Bob Johnson to the Hall of Fame. Let's find an artifact - a glove, a cap - and ask the proprietors of the Hall of Fame to display it in their museum with a writeup on Indian Bob Johnson.

Thanks,
JingleBob