Even before he was a Cub, Lance Johnson was always a player I really liked despite him most notably playing for the crosstown rival, Chicago White Sox. Hell, I didn't even find it aggravating when White Sox announcers would refer to him as One Dog. As an undersized guy my entire life, I appreciated Johnson being only 5'10" and 160 pounds since that is about my current adult size. Could I make a run at the major leagues? It's not impossible, just need to gain hand-eye coordination, the ability to swing a baseball bat, and not have a noodle arm.
Helping my case is that Johnson weirdly got better into his early 30s and put up his best numbers in 1996 for the New York Mets at the age of 32 where he hit 21 triples, stole 50 bases and led the league in hits. In 1997, his numbers he was nearly as good, but the Mets traded him to the Chicago Cubs in a deal where each team exchanged two pitchers and a center fielder (Brian McRae going to the Mets).
The Cubs thought they had a center field solution with Johnson, but early on, that did not appear to be the case. On April 27th, he was hitting .115, and then he went down with an injury that would keep him out until the All-Star break. And although that was a mighty hole to dig out of, Lance did everything he could to make a positive impact. It took him until August 18 to get his average above .200, but that average just kept rising as the season went on.
He caught fire in September as he hit .345/.395/.491 to give him a very respectable final season line of .280/.335/.352 by the end of the season. But even though he was only able to play in 85 games, Lance Johnson came through down the stretch.
In Game 163 against the San Francisco Giants, he led off the sixth inning with a single and would help extend the Cubs lead. He also received all three starts in the playoffs but was unable to keep the hot hitting going as he had just two hits in 12 at bats.
Health was Johnson's downfall as he could not stay healthy in 1999 and his numbers began to drop off. He signed with the Yankees as a free agent for the 2000 season, but only played in 18 games before washing out of the big leagues for good.
But Lance Johnson was just a cool player. He was small, super fast, and the man barely believed in doubles as he was always trying to stretch them into triples. Even with the White Sox, he was fun to watch, but I am glad that I got to cheer for him while playing for the Cubs, even with injuries limiting his time. A guy like Lance Johnson gave you hope. Now it's time for me to hit the batting cages.
In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
#20 - Amaury Telemaco
#19 - Tyler Houston
#18 - Geremi Gonzalez
#17 - Orlando Merced
#16 - Scott Servais
#15 - Mark Clark
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