Alex Johnson obit

Johnson, 1970 AL batting champion, dies

Detroit native won crown on final at-bats for Angels; also stood out with Reds, Indians, Rangers

 He was not on the list.

Alex Johnson, the 1970 American League batting champion, died Saturday at age 72, reportedly due to complications from cancer.

The Detroit News and WXYZ-TV in Detroit reported Johnson's death, and visitation and memorial information was posted by a funeral home in his native Detroit.

Johnson, a right-handed-hitting outfielder who debuted in the Major Leagues with the Phillies in 1964, batted .329 for the California Angels in 1970 to lead the AL in batting. Johnson singled in his final two at-bats before leaving the Angels' last game of the season to finish with an average .00037 higher than that of Carl Yastrzemski, whose Red Sox had finished their season the previous day.

Traded five times from October 1965 through March 1973, Johnson never spent more than two seasons with any one team and played for eight of them in 13 big league seasons. He recorded a career .288 batting average, drove in 525 runs and stole 113 bases. He was an All-Star and finished eighth in AL Most Valuable Player voting in 1970.

After going from the Phillies to the Cardinals to the Reds, Johnson hit .312 and .315 in 1968 and '69 before being traded again, this time to the Angels. He was also a full-time player for the Indians (1972) and Rangers (1973-74), and finished his career with the Yankees (1974-75) and Tigers (1976).

Johnson was a high school teammate of Tigers great Willie Horton and also played sandlot ball with former Tigers star catcher Bill Freehan. Johnson's brother Ron was a halfback for the University of Michigan, finishing sixth in the 1968 Heisman Trophy voting, and was a two-time NFL Pro Bowler who played six seasons for the New York Giants.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1964 to 1976, for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Detroit Tigers. He was the National League Comeback Player of the Year in 1968 and an American League All-Star and batting champion in 1970.

Johnson worked his way up the ranks quickly in the Phillies' farm system, batting .322 with 40 home runs and 187 runs batted in across two seasons to earn a spot on the Phillies' bench for the start of the 1964 season. However, he was optioned back to the Arkansas Travelers of the Pacific Coast League without having logged a major league at-bat in order to make room on the major league roster for relief pitcher Ed Roebuck, who was acquired from the Washington Senators shortly after the season started.

Johnson soon earned a call back up to the majors as he batted .316 with 21 home runs and 71 RBIs in just over half a season with Arkansas. In his Major League Baseball debut, Johnson went 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBIs and a run scored. He remained hot for his first month in the majors, batting .400 with one home run and nine RBIs through August. He eventually settled into a lefty-righty platoon with Wes Covington in left field, which he would do through the 1965 season. That October, the Phillies traded Johnson, Pat Corrales and Art Mahaffey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bill White, Dick Groat and Bob Uecker.

To make room for Johnson in left field, St. Louis shifted Hall of Famer Lou Brock to right field. Along with Curt Flood in center, the Cardinals boasted one of the top young outfields in the National League heading into the 1966 season. However, Johnson batted just .186 with two home runs and six RBIs through May 17 when he was sent down to the Tulsa Oilers of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL). That year, he was named the "Most Dangerous Hitter" in the PCL.

Johnson returned to the Cardinals in 1967, batting .223 with one home run and twelve RBIs mostly as a pinch hitter and back up for Roger Maris in right field. The Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox in the World Series that year, though Johnson did not appear in the post-season. Just before spring training 1968, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Dick Simpson.