Final Card: Bob Johnson

This is the final card for Bob Johnson (#693). This was one of five 1970 cards sent to me by the nice folks at DeansCards.com.

Bob was a utility infielder who played for 11 seasons, starting with the Kansas City Athletics, and making 6 more stops before wrapping up his career with the Oakland Athletics. Johnson began playing pro ball in 1954 for an unaffiliated class-D team. After the season, he was acquired by the Detroit Tigers, and spent the 1955-59 seasons with various teams in their organization. Following the 1959 season, he was selected by Kansas City in the Rule 5 draft. After only 1 season with the Athletics, Bob was taken by the Washington Senators in the 1960 expansion draft.



With the Senators, Bob shared the shortstop job in 1961 with Coot Veal, and the following season started 117 games between 3rd base and shortstop.

After the 1962 season, Johnson was traded up the road to the Orioles, where he spent the next 4+ seasons, as the backup at all 4 infield positions. Bob did not appear in the 1966 World Series, as the Orioles only used 9 batters and 4 pitchers to dispatch the Dodgers in a 4-game sweep.

In May 1967, Bob was sold to the Mets. This began a succession of short stops with several teams (Mets, Reds, Braves, Cardinals, Athletics) over the last 4 seasons of his career.

Bob's last game was on June 10, 1970. He was released by the A's on July 8th, ending his 11-year career.