In what I assumed would be a Thomas Wolfe reversal, I went to Wrigley Field, put out a hand and told Lance Johnson I was delighted that he had come home again.
“I never left,” he said, correcting me. “I never sold my house.”
And he revealed he has been spending the winters at his west suburban home.
Which helps explain why he said he was so pleased two weeks ago when the New York Mets sent him to the Cubs in the Brian McRae-Mel Rojas deal.
“It isn’t that I didn’t like New York,” Johnson said. “But I like Chicago a lot more.”
Johnson knows his cities. He was with the White Sox for six full seasons and parts of two others before he exercised his free agency at the end of the 1995 season and jumped to the Mets.
With the Mets, he had his usual Lance Johnson season. For the fifth time in the last six years, he led his league in triples. Better yet, he knocked out 227 hits, tops in the National League, becoming the first player to lead both leagues in hits. He topped the American League with 186 in ’95.
“That’s past tense,” Johnson said. It was obvious he wanted to change the subject and instead talk about here and now. Still, it has been a tough year for him. He was disabled for six weeks with shin splints and came back too early. He still hasn’t fully recovered.
But even at 85 to 90 percent, Johnson is an outstanding all-around player with a reputation for hustle.
“I don’t know him that well,” said Mark Grace, the veteran first baseman and the only other Cub who makes his home here year-round. “He has been with us only for a couple of weeks, but he seems like a guy you can win with.”
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Dave Clark, the Cubs’ utility outfielder, has known Johnson for 11 seasons, since 1987 when they were opponents in the Triple-A American Association.
“He beat me out for the MVP,” Clark recalled. “I was at Buffalo (then a Cleveland farm club) and he was with Louisville in the Cardinals’ organization. I thought I deserved it but they gave it to him. I didn’t have too shabby a year–.340, 30 home runs.”
Clark was asked what else he remembered about that season.
Clark laughed at the recollection.
“I just congratulated him,” he said. “Even then we knew he was going to be a good big-league ballplayer. You could see he was a winner.
“Good leadoff hitter who was always getting on base. He’s good for a ballclub. He has a good demeanor and knows the game inside out.”
Anything else?
Clark paused.
“Yes,” Clark replied. “There was something I didn’t know. I guess he has picked it up over the years.”
What was that?
“He helps the young guys. He’s a teacher. He shares his knowledge. And he picks up the young players. He encourages them. He’s a very positive person.”
Johnson, 34, a graduate of Triton College, has a career .293 big-league batting average. Above all, he is not a nattering nabob of negativism.
“It’s a tough game,” he said. “Every time I go to the plate, I’m thinking `base hit.’ “
Johnson’s acquisition could be a dilemma for Cubs manager Jim Riggleman. Doug Glanville is having a big year and probably is as good a defensive center-fielder as Johnson. Riggleman may continue playing Glanville in left, but if and when he moves him to center, Johnson could be used in a trade for an established starting pitcher.
Johnson, who insists he is capable of playing “another seven years,” says he would like to finish his career with the Cubs.
“But it doesn’t matter what I want,” he acknowledged. “It’s up to the organization. It’s a business. Right now I’m a Cub and proud to wear the uniform. Whatever happens, happens.”
The way Johnson sees it, the Cubs, though dead last in the NL Central, have the potential to be a contender.
“Everybody here plays hard,” he observed. “They have some good-looking young players. But they might need a few more veterans.”
Coach Billy Williams, the Cubs’ Hall of Famer, offered an expert’s opinion.
“Lance gets a lot of hits,” Williams said. “You can’t say that about too many players.”