by Dale B. Smith

If Major League Baseball ever decided to hand out an award for best performance by a ballplayer on a perennial last place team, the hands down winner should be the Philadelphia Athletics’ Bob Johnson. Perhaps never has such a talented player suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune more than the A’s outfielder who starred on the team for 10 years between 1933 and 1942.

Born Robert Lee Johnson in Pryor, Oklahoma on November 26, 1906, he was proud of his Cherokee heritage and was known to most as Indian Bob. A talent for baseball also appeared to be in the family bloodlines as Bob’s older brother Roy broke in as an outfielder with the Detroit Tigers in 1929, getting 201 base hits and batting .314. In Philadelphia, however, a new baseball dynasty had begun as the Athletics captured the pennant. In only four years, brother Bob would join the A’s but by then the dynasty had fallen victim to the Great Depression.

When Connie Mack acquired Cherokee (as he was alternatively called) from Portland of the Pacific Coast League, the outfielder was already 26 years old. That made him one year older than first baseman Jimmie Foxx who had already been in three World Series. By 1933, much of the nucleus of the team had departed or was aging. In the outfield, Al Simmons and Mule Haas had been sold and Bing Miller was 38 and seeing limited duty. Lefty Grove and George Earnshaw were both 33 but only Grove remained effective. In the infield, Jimmie Dykes was gone but Max Bishop was still playing a solid second base at 33. Mickey Cochrane was still the best catcher in baseball when Johnson joined the outfield in 1933.

The Athletics finished a respectable third place that year but, at 79-72, the team was now a shadow of its former self. In his rookie year Bob shared the outfield with Doc Cramer and Ed Coleman. He was second on the team with 21 home runs (Foxx had 48) and had 93 runs batted in, scored 103 runs and had 155 hits while batting .290. Little did Indian Bob know that the disappointing 3rd place finish would be as good as it ever got while playing on the Athletics.

Following a fifth place finish in 1934, the A’s finished in last place in six out of the next eight years with the reprieve being two seventh place finishes. Yet, in the 10 years Johnson played on the Athletics, he played as though the pennant was on the line every year. While there were occasional challenges from teammates like Wally Moses or Sam Chapman as MVP of the A’s after Jimmie Foxx left in 1936, Bob was virtually in a league of his own.

In his ten years with the Athletics, Indian Bob hit over 20 home runs a season nine times including 34 in 1934. He had over 90 runs batted in nine times with a high of 121 in 1936. He scored over 90 runs a year nine times with a high of 115 in 1939. He hit over .290 eight times with a high of .338 in 1939. Five times he was selected to represent the Athletics in an All-Star game: 1935, 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1942. He was so popular that Sears put his name on their fielder’s glove brand.

In Philadelphia Athletics history, only Jimmie Dykes played in more games and had more at bats than Bob Johnson. Only Al Simmons and Jimmie Dykes had more hits, only Jimmie Foxx had more home runs and only Simmons and Foxx had more runs batted in and extra base hits. No one, however, scored more runs than the 997 times Indian Bob touched home plate for the A’s.

In the 101 year history of the Athletics franchise, Bob Johnson is 4th in at bats, 5th in base hits, 4th in doubles, 5th in home runs (behind Mark McGwire, Foxx, Reggie Jackson and Jose Canseco), 3rd in runs batted in, total bases and extra base hits. He is now second in runs scored behind leader Ricky Henderson.

What this man might have done with more help than a last place club can give staggers the imagination. Johnson is still tied for the franchise record of 15 home runs in one month (June 1934) which he shares with Mark McGwire (May 1987). He also shares the record of having 3 grand slam home runs in one season with Foxx, Gus Zernial, Gene Tenace and Dave Kingman.

Bob Johnson played his last three years with the Washington Senators in 1943 and the Boston Red Sox in ’44 and ’45. He never slowed down. At the age of 38 in the Red Sox outfield he had 148 hits and batted .280.

Unfortunately, 1945 was the last major league season for Indian Bob. It would have been perfect redemption after all the frustrating years with the A’s for Indian Bob to play the Red Sox outfield with Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio in the 1946 World Series. Ironically, that role was left to former A’s teammate Wally Moses who had the highest batting average on the Red Sox that Series with .417 in a loosing cause.

By the end of his 13-year career, Bob had amassed 2,051 base hits, scored 1,239 runs, batted in 1,283 runs and hit 288 home runs. His career batting average was .296. A virtual model of consistency, in only one season did he ever play less than 130 games or have less than 130 base hits.

Indian Bob Johnson died in Tacoma, Washington on July 6, 1982. Society members voted him one of the ten most favorite Philadelphia Athletics players of all time. This was without the benefit of a World Series ring or a more recent history. Even today, his place in A’s history is well represented by the statistics he kept.

Unfortunately, Bob’s association with the Philadelphia Athletics of his era may be keeping him out of the Hall of Fame. Certainly his numbers are at least as good or better than many that are enshrined at Cooperstown. Fortunately, Indian Bob Johnson has been selected, along with several other veterans, for new consideration by the Hall of Fame. Perhaps all of Bob’s hard work with last place teams will eventually pay off. Regardless, Indian Bob Johnson will always be a winner with fans of the Philadelphia Athletics.