Friday, May 16, 2014

no. 292 - jay johnstone


Who is the man: Jay Johnstone was preparing for his first season as a Chicago White Sox player when 1971 arrived. He was traded by the Angels in a six-player deal on Nov. 30, 1970.

Can ya dig it: You can see that Johnstone is still wearing his Angels uniform.

Right on: That's a pretty serious shot, sweaty brow and all, of someone who would become known as possibly not having a serious thought in his head.

You see this cat Johnstone is a bad mother: Although Johnstone didn't play as a regular starter that many seasons in his 20-year major league career, he enjoyed some memorable postseason moments. Johnstone's pinch-hit home run in Game 4 of the 1981 World Series for the Dodgers against the Yankees enabled L.A. to come back from a three-run deficit and win 8-7. It was pretty much the turning point of that World Series. Also, Johnstone went 7-for-9 for the Phillies against the Reds in the 1976 NLCS.

Shut your mouth: Johnstone and his fellow Dodgers pranksters, Rick Monday, Jerry Reuss and Steve Yeager, once sang "We Are The Champions" together on "Solid Gold".

No one understands him but his woman: Johnstone's nickname in the majors was "Moon Man," but there are a few different versions of how he received that name.


(A word about the back): Johnstone once said that football was his best sport in high school. He received 35 scholarship offers to play the sport, but he took the Angels' offer to play pro baseball.

2 comments:

  1. His two autobiographies are both pretty funny reads. The joke he pulled on Davey Lopes is classic.

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  2. He was frisked by umpire Enrico Palozzo in the first Naked Gun.

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