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Old 06-11-2018, 08:52 PM   #32468
Merkle923
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 2,185
Ron Johnson 1982 and Rondin Johnson 1986

Ah, the Ron Johnsons ride again.

This has been confusing ever since first baseman Ron Johnson https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...ohnsro03.shtml was called up by the Royals in September, 1982. Four years later Kansas City promoted another September call-up, a second baseman named Rondin Johnson https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...ohnsro05.shtml

Ron went on to a 22-game career in Kansas City and Montreal and was indeed in camp with the '85 Tigers - and in fact the only Johnson in the Tiger system that year. He's clearly wearing a uniform reading "Johnson" in one of the just-posted Topps negatives. His son Chris spent parts of eight years in the majors, as recently as 2016 with the Marlins, often flashing power and promises of power. Ron Johnson went on to a long career as a minor league manager and big league coach.

Rondin had an 11-game career, all with the '86 Royals.

To ratchet this up a little more, neither of them got their own major league baseball card. One more problem: there's a 1988 minor league card of Rondin - in an Omaha Royals uniform - identified as "Ron Johnson." To make it worse still, the photo of "Ron Johnson" on his Baseball-Reference page is from a minor league card that shows the wrong player.

I think the 1985 Tiger negatives indeed show Ron Johnson 1982. Look at the two images on the left: particularly at the Tiger portrait, and the facial similarities and particularly the expression on the 1990 card showing him after he began his minor league coaching career.

Sorry for the profusion of cards here but I'll be damned if I add to the confusion by posting unlabeled images.
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