Bob's another guy that lost an entire year to military service. He was cruising before leaving and struggled a little coming back, but rebounded well. His numbers look better than his win-loss record for the Royals. Believe it or not, Bob was responsible for building the Royals. He was in the trade that brought Amos Otis to the Royals from the Mets and the Pirates gave up Freddie Patek to get him. Those were two cornerstones of the Royals in the '70's.
It's kind of neat to see all the guys hanging around behind him. I wonder if they're making fun of his bent-over, finishing up the fake pitch pose? Bob was 6-4 and 220, which was a big guy back then, so if anyone was poking fun at him, I'll bet little Jose Pagan wasn't one of them.
That 1971 playoff game on the back of Bob's card was a big deal. The LCS (best of 5) was tied 1-1 and the Giants were going with Juan Marichal. Marichal shut the Pirates down on 4 hits, only allowing solo homers to Richie Hebner and Bob Robertson. Bob had to be better and he was, scattering 5 hits and allowing only an unearned run over 8 innings. The Pirates won that game to go up 2-1 and then closed it out in Game 4. Bob wasn't so strong in the Series against the Orioles. He started and lost Game 2, getting knocked out in the 4th.
There were 4 Bob Johnsons to have played in the big leagues. This Bob wasn't the best, but he's the only one with a World Series ring.
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