AIRBRUSHING THROUGH THE 1970'S- 1974 TRADED BOB JOHNSON

On the blog today I thought we'd take a look at a Topps negative I found floating around the web for former pitcher Bob Johnson's 1974 traded card:

 

 

As always, just interesting to see how Topps went about their airbrushing to have a player on their "new" team, in this case for their new idea of a "traded" sub-set, which they would repeat two years later in 1976.

Johnson was sent to the Cleveland Indians from the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he pitched for three years after coming up with the Kansas City Royals in 1970.

What I always remember about Johnson is that he had a hard-luck year in 1970 when he became the only pitcher to strike out 200 or more batters in a season, yet fail to win 10 or more games.
Pitching for the Royals that year, Johnson went 8-13 with a 3.07 earned run average, while whiffing 206 batters, tossing four shutouts and completing ten of his 26 starts.

That is a nice rookie year in the Majors if you ask me!

The following year he found himself in Pittsburgh and won a championship with them, even starting a game in the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
All told, he posted a career 28-34 record, with a 3.48 ERA and 507 strikeouts over 183 games, 76 of which were starts, and 692.1 innings.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 BOB JOHNSON

Here’s a “missing” 1975 card for former pitcher Bob Johnson of the Cleveland Indians:

Johnson appeared in 14 games for the Tribe, starting ten of those games, leading to a 3-4 record with a 4.38 earned run average over 72 innings pitched.
Those would be his last games in the Majors until 1977, when he made a comeback of sorts with the Atlanta Braves and appeared in 15 games, thus closing out his 7-year career.
He had a hard-luck year in 1970 when he became the only pitcher to strike out 200 or more batters in a season, yet fail to win 10 or more games.
Pitching for the Kansas City Royals that year, Johnson went 8-13 with a 3.07 earned run average, while whiffing 206 batters.
The following year he found himself in Pittsburgh and won a championship with them, even starting a game in the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
All told, he posted a career 28-34 record, with a 3.48 ERA and 507 strikeouts over 183 games, 76 of which were starts, and 692.1 innings.