Sure, all the house runs and stolen bases come up in conversations about Howard Johnson. But so do hotfoots, big plastic glasses stuffed with iced tea and an endearing, happy-go-lucky persona.
Former Mets enjoyment of speaking about Johnson, whether or not it’s Bobby Ojeda noting that when he thinks of HoJo’s taking part in days, “I think of a dirty uniform” or Ron Darling recalling Johnson’s prodigious power: “Pound for pound, the strongest player I ever played with.”
David Wright was by no means Johnson’s teammate, however their relationship is an enduring hyperlink spanning Met generations — as a coach, Johnson had an outsized affect on among the finest Mets ever. And he and Wright turned lifelong buddies.
“Without his mentorship, I would never have realized the potential I didn’t even know I had,” Wright says. “Even after I doubted my very own skills, he was the primary one to pump me up.
“He had an incredible playing career and then for him to show up in Port St. Lucie when it’s about 150 degrees — he could be doing a million other things instead of sweating with me — it meant the world to me.”
For all that and far more, Johnson, 62, is amongst these being acknowledged by the Mets on Saturday, June 3. HoJo, together with ace Al Leiter and broadcasters Gary Cohen and Howie Rose, might be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame throughout a ceremony at Citi Field earlier than a 4:10 p.m. recreation in opposition to Toronto. Longtime Mets media relations director Jay Horwitz, now the crew’s historian, might be introduced with the Mets Hall of Fame Achievement Award.
It’s a nifty little bit of recognition for Johnson, a 3rd baseman who is perhaps essentially the most underrated Met in membership historical past. He hit 30-plus homers and stole 30-plus bases in the identical season in 1987, 1989 and 1991, making him certainly one of solely 4 gamers in MLB historical past to have completed that feat no less than 3 times. When Johnson did it a second time in 1989, Johnson, Bobby Bonds and Willie Mays — Willie Mays! — have been the one gamers who had achieved 30-30 greater than as soon as.
In 1987, Johnson slugged 36 homers, breaking a 53-year-old NL report for dwelling runs by a switch-hitter. Four years after taking that mark from Ripper Collins of the Cardinals, HoJo bested his personal report by hitting 38.
That’s the identical yr he turned the primary Met to guide the NL in RBI. Johnson dots the Mets’ report books — he’s fourth in profession dwelling runs (192), as an example. Johnson stole 202 bases for the Mets, making him certainly one of solely three Mets ever with no less than 200 steals, together with Jose Reyes (408) and Mookie Wilson (281).
“When I see some of it, I can’t believe I actually did that,” Johnson says. “It’s good to be talked about in a superb group of gamers. I do know Pete [Alonso] goes to cross me [in home runs — Alonso is 27 behind as of Friday].
“Maybe even this year.”
Still, Johnson left an enduring mark on the Mets. His profession was, he says, “supercharged” by the deal that introduced him from Detroit for pitcher Walt Terrell after the 1984 season. “It’s one of [Frank] Cashen’s great trades,” says Keith Hernandez. “That one is overlooked.”
Those Tigers have been a juggernaut in ‘84, roaring to a World Series title. Johnson didn’t understand how rapidly he’d be a part of one other ‘80s behemoth, the 1986 Mets. But he was completely happy for a brand new alternative.
“It opened a whole new avenue for me,” Johnson says. “I could show off some skills — running. One of the first things Davey [Johnson] told me was, ‘You’re on your own stealing.’ It was very liberating.”
“It was a remarkable thing that we got him,” says Davey Johnson, who managed these nice Mets groups of the Nineteen Eighties. “Tremendous power. Great arm — I told him, “HoJo, you got a cannon, baby.’”
Johnson struggled batting from the appropriate facet, and the third-base job went from a platoon of kinds with Ray Knight to Knight largely taking on. Johnson solely performed 88 video games that season, however Knight left the Mets after ‘86.
Johnson recollects Whitey Herzog, the supervisor of the rival Cardinals, continually bringing in lefty pitchers to face him. “I knew that was my main flaw, but I didn’t want to give up switch-hitting,” Johnson says. “It made me more dynamic. So I worked my rear end off.”
“He made himself into a good right-handed hitter,” Hernandez says. “That was his greatest accomplishment, as far as I’m concerned.”
“When we lost Knight, he really blossomed,” provides Ojeda. “He didn’t crack below the strain of changing him. He simply did his job like an All-Star and, I wouldn’t say it went unnoticed, but it surely didn’t get the eye it ought to have. He by no means self-promoted. Had he, there’d be a HoJo ice cream stand at Citi Field.
“The guy loves ice cream.”
And iced tea. “I was with him about a month ago. He had instant ice tea with him,” Wilson says, laughing. “He’s still drinking his iced tea.”
Johnson generates heat emotions from myriad former Mets. Darling calls him “good-natured” after which notes how uncommon that was for the mid-’80s Mets. “Those teams tended to be a little grouchier,” Darling says.
Still, Johnson may make his teammates snort.
“Great sense of humor. He’s a character,” Hernandez says. “He was part of Roger [McDowell] and the hotfoot. They were collaborators in crime. They got Bill Robinson [the hitting coach] I remember.”
Did they ever get Hernandez? “No,” Hernandez stated. “They wouldn’t dare.”
While the Mets didn’t win one other World Series after ‘86, Johnson emerged from the star shadows of the big-name Mets. He was an All-Star in each 1989 and 1991 and stored thriving, all whereas going full-speed, Ojeda says.
“He never half-stepped a play,” Ojeda recollects. “If the team needed a knock, he went for it. If the team needed a jack, he was going to get it. A base? He would steal it. He was a catalyst, built like a truck. He didn’t have a six-pack — he had a 12-pack.”
It wasn’t all clean. “Injuries crept in,” Johnson says. Herzog and several other different opposing managers accused Johnson of corking his bat, too. “They took my bat out of the game six or seven times and X-rayed it and it was clean,” HoJo says. “That’s sort of case closed. But I perceive it. When you see large jumps — People requested if I did steroids. They suppose you’ll be able to’t do it your self. No, that’s not the case.
“The corked bat, that was mostly gamesmanship. I ran into Whitey in a hallway at Shea once and he said, ‘Hey, you know I’m just messing with you when I do that stuff with your bat.’ I think that was his way of saying, ‘I respect you.’ It made me respect him. I already did — he and Davey were masters at pushing the right buttons.”
Johnson heard commerce rumors, too, whilst he starred. One time, he was going to Seattle for ace Mark Langston; one other, he was going to be dealt for Kevin McReynolds.
Any regrets? “As I’ve gotten older and watched players play longer and, even though I took care of my body well, I wish I had done more,” Johnson says. “I’m not an enormous, large individual, so there was put on and tear on me. My type of play possibly shortened my profession. I don’t know if I may’ve modified that.
“I went ‘til the batteries ran out.”
There’s one other factor — after the ‘93 season, Johnson had a chance to reunite with Davey Johnson in Cincinnati. Knight was one of the Reds’ coaches and he left HoJo a protracted message on his answering machine, telling him he ought to be part of them. “The tape ran out on it,” Johnson says. But more cash loomed in Colorado, so he went there.
“I should’ve gone with Davey — he knew me better than anyone,” Johnson says now. “My wife was pushing me in that direction. I should’ve thought about it harder. I should’ve prayed on it more.”
He performed 93 video games with the Rockies in 1994 and 87 with the Cubs the following yr and retired at 35. He tried a quick Mets comeback in 1997, but it surely fizzled.
Nowadays, Johnson runs the Showtime Sports Academy in Franklin, Tenn., along with his son, Glen. He enjoys instructing hitting there and does clinics, too. A latest one was in Darien, Conn. “It feeds the baseball side,” Johnson says.
So will the Mets Hall of Fame Induction. Johnson’s entire household is coming — every of his three youngsters has two kids of their very own. Another grandchild is on the best way.
“I’m so glad he’s getting this honor,” Wright says. “I think he’s incredibly underrated…Going into his house, when he’d invite me over to grill out in spring training, everything was ‘Mets.’ He really cherishes his connection to the Mets.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com