#59 Jay Johnstone - California Angels

John William Johnstone
California Angels
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  175
Born:  November 20, 1945, Manchester, CT
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent, June 30, 1963
Major League Teams:  California Angels 1966-1970; Chicago White Sox 1971-1972; Oakland Athletics 1973; Philadelphia Phillies 1974-1978; New York Yankees 1978-1979; San Diego Padres 1979; Los Angeles Dodgers 1980-1982; Chicago Cubs 1982-1984; Los Angeles Dodgers 1985

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1978; Los Angeles Dodgers 1981
Died:  September 26, 2020, Granada Hills, CA (age 74)

One of the more colorful players from his era, Jay Johnstone enjoyed a 20-year major league career, winning World Series rings with the Yankees in 1978 and the Dodgers in 1981.  Johnstone spent the first five seasons of his big league career with the Angels, playing steady center field defense.  He signed with the Phillies before the 1974 season, and he'd have his best years statistically as their right fielder, as the team won National League East pennants in 1976 and 1977.  Johnstone batted .329 in 1975 and .318 in 1976, easily his career bests.  He was one of the sole bright spots for the Phillies in the 1976 NLCS against the Reds, batting .778 (7 for 9) as his team was swept in three games.  Johnstone drove in at least 50 runs in each season between 1975 and 1977.

1992 - Johnstone, Chris Wheeler and Garry Maddox

He joined the Yankees part way through the 1978 season, getting into a pair of World Series games as a late inning defensive replacement as the Yankees defeated the Dodgers in six games.  Johnstone would see his next longest stretch of time with one club when he joined the Dodgers in 1980.  He batted .268 over four seasons with the club, often playing pranks on his teammates and manager Tommy Lasorda.  Johnstone went 2 for 3 as pinch-hitter in the 1981 World Series, including a two-run pinch-hit home run in Game 4 that may have turned the tide of the series in the Dodgers' favor.  His last years in the majors were spent largely in a pinch-hitting role with the Cubs in the early 1980s.  Johnstone collected 1,254 hits while batting .267 with 102 home runs and 531 RBIs.  He'd work briefly in the broadcast booths of the Yankees and Phillies in the late 1980s/early 1990s, while also hosting a blooper TV show called The Lighter Side of Sports between 1986 and 1989, airing on ESPN.

Building the Set / Card #112
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 35th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me less than a dollar.  If I stick to composing posts five times a week, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the end of January.  But as the summer begins, that's becoming a bigger If.

The Card / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

The photos for this card and Johnstone's 1968 Topps card seem to be taken at the same time, and Johnstone's uniform number (#10) is visible on his helmet's brim.  There's an Angels coach making a cameo in the background, and that could be manager Bill Rigney (#182).  Another player behind Johnstone has his head blocked out by the purple name/position circle.  Topps is stretching for highlights on the back of the card given Johnstone had just embarked on his major league career.  He batted .261 in 41 games in 1968 and Vic Davalillo (#275) was the team batting leader with a .298 average.

Accuracy Index:  Johnstone's card scores a 5 for the new-ish photo in the correct uniform.

1969 Season
Johnstone was the opening day center fielder for the Angels, and he'd make 141 starts at the position throughout the season.  This was the first year in which he earned a regular spot in the starting line-up, and Johnstone batted .270 with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs - a career high he would tie in 1977 with the Phillies.

Phillies Career
Johnstone was sold by the Athletics to the Cardinals on January 9, 1974, and the Cardinals released him on March 26th at the end of spring training.  The Phillies would sign him a week later, on April 3rd, and he'd report to their top farm team in Toledo.  After a solid start in Toledo, manager Jim Bunning (#175) recommended Johnstone be given another shot in the majors and he'd never play another minor league game.  Johnstone received a fair amount of playing time after his call-up, hitting .295 over 64 games.  In 1975, he'd start the season as the team's fourth outfielder, but ultimately play more games in right field than any other player.  In 1976 and 1977, he was the team's opening day right fielder, and he'd have two of his best seasons while the Phillies were on their way to division pennants.  As mentioned above, he destroyed Reds' pitching during the 1976 NLCS.

Johnstone got off to a slow start in 1978, batting just .179 through the season's first 54 games.  On June 14th, Johnstone and Bobby Brown were traded to the Yankees in exchange for pitcher Rawly Eastwick.  Johnstone played in 462 games with the Phillies - more games than he had with any of his other seven clubs.  He batted .303 with 33 home runs and 200 RBIs.  He'd return to the organization briefly in 1992 and 1993 as a broadcaster for the team's PRISM cable network.

1967 Topps #213

1975 Topps #242

1977 Topps #415

1983 Topps #152

1986 Topps #496

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1967 Topps #213
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17):  1967-1972, 1975-1984, 1986
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2006 Fleer Greats of the Game Nickname Greats #NG-JJ
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  91 in the Beckett online database as of 6/4/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
The Phillies Room

#58 Fed Gladding - Houston Astros / #60 Nelson Briles - St. Louis Cardinals