#14 DAVE JOHNSON

FAVORITE BRAVES PLAYERS OF THE 1970'S

#14 DAVE JOHNSON

ATLANTA BRAVES 1973-1975

Who was Davey Johnson? Was he the Phillies pinch hitter during the late seventies who hit two grand slams in 1978?

No, probably not.

Was he the second baseman and one of the vital cogs of the great Orioles teams of the 60's and 70's who played in four World Series? 

Yeah, but that's not quite it.

Was he one of the best managers in baseball? Leading four different teams to division titles? 

Oh, so close. But not quite.

For the purposes of this blog, Davey Johnson will always be the guy the Braves got in 1973 and out of nowhere hit 43 home runs.  Davey had hit only five for the Orioles in 1972 and 15 for the Braves in 1974, and never hit more than 18 any other year, so 1973 will always remain a pleasant but unsolved mystery.

His most memorable home run of that season was number 39 on September 8, 1973, a game winner off Tom Hall of the Reds in the bottom of the ninth. I say this with bias because I was at that game. Nice shot, Davey!