Indian Bob, half Cherokee, had speed and power. When the Athletics sold Al Simmons after the 1932 season and Lou Finney, tabbed as his replacement in left field, didn’t measure up, Johnson won the job. An A’s regular for a decade, Johnson hit .307 with a career-high 34 HR his second year and batted a peak .338 in 1939. For seven straight seasons, he drove in over 100 runs. He had a 26-game hitting streak in 1934. On June 16, 1934 Johnson went six-for-six with two homers and two doubles, and on August 29, 1937 he set a ML record with six RBI in one inning on a grand slam and a double. He got the only hit in three one-hitters, once with a home run off Lefty Gomez in 1937. But Johnson was one of the few players to have serious difficulties with Connie Mack; he felt he was underpaid, and eventually demanded to be traded. He went to the Senators in 1943, and then to the Red Sox, where he hit .324 in 1944, his seventh and final All-Star season. He then spent five more seasons in the minors. Bob’s brother Roy Johnson played from 1929-38 with four major league teams.
