Jun 26 2011 07:35 PM
Re: Jose Vs. One Dog
| Lance Johnson holds the Mets record for base hits in a season, with 227 in 1996. Let's track Jose Reyes's challenge. METS HITS IN A SEASON Through 78 NYM Games REYES 2011: 113 Johnson 1996: 105 |
That's not the only One Dog Mets record Reyes is threatening.
| BASEBALL;Johnson Just Hits Like No One Else By JASON DIAMOS Published: June 25, 1996 He is bidding to become the first player in major league history to lead both the National League and American League in hits. He will almost certainly become the third player to lead both leagues in triples. Yet Lance Johnson, the 32-year-old Mets center fielder, has never been selected to an All-Star Game. Nor does the man dubbed the "one-dog" because of his resemblance, while running the bases, to a greyhound nearest the rail, figure to be selected to this year's gala in Philadelphia, despite some hefty credentials. Which is shameful. After last night's 2-1 victory by the Mets over Colorado, Johnson was second in the National League in hits with 102, three behind Montreal shortstop Mark Grudzielanek. He was looking more and more like Wee Willie Keeler, the turn-of-the-century slap hitter whose ability to hit 'em where they ain't made him the National League leader in hits in 1900 and made him runner-up in the American League four years later, perhaps the closest any player has come to being the hits leader in each league. And Johnson has other things going for him this season. He is second in the league in stolen bases with 23 and he has already broken the Mets record with 11 triples, six more than anybody else in the league. Johnson is also on pace to break Mets records in four more categories: at-bats, runs, hits and total bases. That would usually be more than enough to gain a certain amount of recognition, especially when you consider that Johnson led the American League in hits last year and in triples the four years before that, all with the Chicago White Sox. He even achieved the rare feat of having more triples than doubles, while having double figures in both (14 to 11 in 1994), something he has a chance to do again this season. But Johnson now plays for the Mets, who are struggling as usual. Bernard Gilkey, Todd Hundley, even the rookie shortstop Rey Ordonez, get much more publicity. And Johnson, as the saying goes, speaks a lot more with his actions than with his words. "I'm not shy," said Johnson, who is indeed a very confident person. "I like to be what you call silently dangerous." Not to mention silently productive. "He scores runs, he steals bases, he gets his base hits, he plays an above-average outfield," said Tom McCraw, the Mets hitting coach. "The guy does it all. It's been amazing to me that the media has really dwelt on the fact that he doesn't walk. He's got a chance to lead both leagues in base hits. Not walks." But that is precisely the biggest knock on Johnson the leadoff hitter: He does not walk very much. His on-base percentage (.342) is not much higher than his batting average (.317). He rarely takes many pitches. "The only knock on him is that he doesn't get enough walks as a leadoff hitter," Mets General Manager Joe McIlvaine said. "It's not a knock, it's just a fact. But if you're leading the league in hits, you're getting on a lot. From an offensive standpoint, that's really the only thing he could do better in. But we knew that when we got him." A No. 7 or a No. 2 hitter most of his career, Johnson never needed to look for walks as much. But now he is being paid to be a leadoff hitter. And that, he said, pointing to semantics, is exactly what he is doing. "I can walk," Johnson said. "You know anybody in this game getting paid to walk? I'm not getting paid to walk. I'm getting paid to hit. They want a leadoff hitter. They got a leadoff hitter. They didn't get a leadoff walker. "When we really need to get a walk, I somehow manage -- if you're paying attention to my game -- sometimes I get the walk. I don't go up looking for a walk. I'm not going to, for anybody. But I can walk." Manager Dallas Green said it has taken Johnson, who signed a two-year, $5.7 million free-agent deal last December, a little time to learn the National League after spending the last eight seasons with the White Sox. Johnson is 25 for 73 leading off a game (.342). And, after a slow start, his stolen-base total is rising (15 in little over a month). "I know one thing," Green said. "He's been very valuable to us. He's a name I write down every night without even thinking about it. That's a pretty nice thing to have. We haven't had very many guys like that." Not bad for a player whose size -- listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 160 pounds -- has always been held against him. "Nobody likes a short outfielder," said Johnson, who grew up in Cincinnati as a fan of Joe Morgan and Pete Rose, neither of whose size diminished his desire or ability. "I guess I took my genes from my mom." Johnson said he gets his speed from his father, a retired policeman whom Johnson said he was afraid to challenge to a race until a couple of years ago. Johnson is hoping that kind of athletic longevity can give him at least seven more seasons, until he hits 40. As for the recognition, Johnson is still waiting. "I'll probably get it after I get my 10 years in," he said. "People will realize some of the things I've done. I figured it would be 8 to 10 years before they started taking notice. And that's exactly what has happened." A lot of people will take notice if he leads the National League in hits. When Johnson was told earlier this year that he could join Sam Crawford and Brett Butler as the only batters ever to lead both leagues in triples, he asked if anybody had accomplished the feat in hits. "Baseball's been around, what, a hundred years or so," he said. "Being the only person in the whole game to do something like that would be pretty special." |
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/25/sport ... les&st=nyt
