This is the twenty-fourth in a series of examinations of baseball-related legends and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of all the previous baseball legends.

In honor of the opening of the 2010 baseball season, each legend installment the last two weeks (and the first two legends of this week) will be a baseball one, spotlighting legends from one of the eight playoff teams last year. Today the featured team is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Let’s begin!

BASEBALL LEGEND: One year after winning the American League batting title, an Angel was suspended indefinitely for “failure to give his best efforts to the winning of games”

STATUS: True

Alex Johnson might have had one of the most frustrating careers in Major League history that did not involve major physical injuries.

A highly touted hitting prospect in his first two years for the Philadelphia Phillies, Johnson was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals in a bold move following their 1965 championship season, trading two notable veterans, Dick Groat and Bil White for the talented youngster, who they promptly named as their cleanup hitter for the 1966 season. It appeared as though Johnson would settle in for an extended stay with the Cardinals, but that was not to be.

He struggled so much in 1966 that he was actually sent back to the minors. The same happened in 1967.

The Cardinals were frustrated by Johnson’s disappointing on-field performance and they REALLY did not like his attitude OFF of the field, so after the 1967 season (another World Championship for the Cardinals), they dealt Johnson to the Cincinnati Reds.

In Cincinnati, Johnson finally appeared to “put it together,” hitting over .300 both seasons and even developing some of the power that everyone expected from him from the get go, hitting 17 home runs in 1969.

The Reds, however, felt that what they needed to make the next step was to upgrade their pitching, and so they decided that they would deal from their strength, their offense, to upgrade the pitching staff. So they traded Johnson to the California Angels for a trio of pitchers, one of whom, Jim McGlothlin, had a strong season in 1970 as the Reds went on to the World Series, while another, Pedro Borbon, became a mainstay of the Big Red Machine bullpen, being one of the top setup guys when the Reds won back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.

Johnson played well for his new team, winning the American League batting title in 1970 in his first year with the Angels, hitting .323 with decent power. He made his first All Star Game and came in eighth in the Most Valuable Player voting.

However, his attitude problems followed him to Anaheim, as well. He was fined several times in 1970 for failing to run out ground balls and not trying hard enough to catch fly balls in the outfield. Off the field, he was also extremely temperamental, and was known to curse out reporters who tried to get close to him (although, strangely enough, he was also known to be a very sweet guy on different occasions). The Angels had a “kangaroo court,” where teammates would fine each other over various silly little violations (including not hustling). Johnson wrote out a check for $500 and just told them to apply that to whatever future violations he might incur.

As 1971 went on, Johnson was getting more and more fines, receiving nearly 30 fines by June!

Towards the end of May, Johnson was benched a game for not hustling. A few days later, he was benched “indefinitely” for not hustling (he pretty much refused to run out ground balls). But after a week (and some pressure from management), Manager Lefty Phillips brought Johnson back, thereby causing even more discord in the Angels clubhouse, as a number of veterans were pleased that Johnson’s actions were finally having consequences for him.

Johnson and his teammates were not fans of each other, but the craziest occurrence happened on June 13, when Johnson’s former best friend in baseball, Chico Ruiz (who came over from Cincinnati with Johnson in the 1970 trade) actually pulled a gun on Johnson after Johnson had berated him one time too many. The Angels covered the incident up, deciding instead to paint Johnson as delusional (General Manager Dick Walsh actually held a press conference to state that their was no evidence that Ruiz had a gun – something Walsh knew to be false at the time).

After again failing to run out of a ground ball, Johnson was finally suspended for good at the end of June, under the auspices of “failure to give his best efforts to the winning of games.”

After his 30 day suspension ended (the maximum suspension the Angels could give Johnson), Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and put Johnson on the “restricted list,” allowing his suspension to basically continue indefinitely.

As you might imagine, the media was not particularly fond of Johnson at this time, and he was getting creamed in the press all across the nation (you can imagine how well the “angry black man” was going over in 1970 America).

However, everyone was not against Johnson. In stepped Marvin Miller and the Major League Baseball Players Association to dispute Johnson’s suspension and the fines. They argued something that it’s really hard to believe no one brought up before – that Johnson seemed to be suffering from mental problems. Johnson was then examined by two psychiatrists, one chosen by the Union and one chosen by the Angels. BOTH determined that Johnson was suffering from emotional issues that kept him from giving his best. So it was ruled that Johnson’s problems were a disability the same as if he broke his leg, so his suspension was overturned and he was put on the disabled list for the rest of the 1971 season rather than the restricted list (so he continued to make his salary). Weirdly enough, the fines were not overturned, just the suspension – doesn’t exactly seem to logically follow, but whatever.

It was during these hearings that Walsh’s lies were discovered.

After the 1971 season, Johnson was traded to Cleveland. He did not go over well there, either, and he ended up being traded four times over the next five years, before his Major League career finally came to a close in 1976.

After playing a little bit in Mexico, he retired and went back home to Detroit and took over his father’s truck rental and leasing company. From runs batted in to refinancing in a few short years.

Johnson, naturally, is quite bitter about his days in baseball, but if there is one positive thing about his experiences is that it showed that black ballplayers would get the same protection from the Union as their white brethren, which is notable, I suppose!

For more on Johnson, read Mark Armour’s excellent write-up on Johnson’s history here.

BASEBALL LEGEND: One of the first stars for the Angels was a fellow who wrote a letter to the Angels General Manager personally asking to be picked up by the Angels.

STATUS: True

It’s interesting to note how often fate can play a hand in how a particular player’s career will play out.

In 1958, Albie Pearson made his debut for the Washington Senators.

The speedy Pearson was a revelation in center field and hitting leadoff for the Senators.

He won the American League Rookie of the Year for the 1958 season.

In the 1959 season, Pearson suffered a back injury.

That’s not good, of course, but teams are generally going to give a pretty wide berth to their popular players who just won the Rookie of the Year, so it wouldn’t normally matter all THAT much for Pearson to be injured.

However, that was not accounting for Bob Allison.

You see, Bob Allison made his debut in 1959, ALSO playing center field, and while Pearson was a scrappy hitter, Allison could flat out CRUSH the ball, knocking in thirty home runs in 1959 on the way to HIM becoming the Rookie of the Year!

Yes, somehow the Senators ended up with TWO center fielders winning Rookie of the Year in back to back seasons!

With Pearson now no longer a necessity (plus his injury being worrisome), the Senators dealt him to the Baltimore Orioles in the middle of the 1959 season.

Once there, Pearson’s injuries slowed him down, as well.

The next season, though, Pearson ruptured something in his back and missed the majority of the 1960 season. The Orioles ended up sending him back down to the minor leagues and it looked like Pearson’s career was pretty much over, washed up at 25.

But while fate can be a problem, sometimes you have to take your fate into your own hands, and that’s what Pearson did in the 1960 offseason. You see, the American League was expanding following the 1960 season, adding two new franchises, the Los Angeles Angels and a brand new Washington Senators franchise (the existing Senators took this opportunity to move to Minnesota and become the Twins, allowing the new franchise to take over from them in Washington – the new franchise soon moved themselves and became the Texas Rangers).

Pearson was born and raised in Los Angeles, and knowing that the Angels were going to be filling out their roster by drafting players from the other American League teams (and knowing, too, that he was extremely unlikely to be protected by the Orioles), Pearson wrote the following letter to Fred Haney, the newly appointed General Manager of the expansion Angels…

Mr. Haney:
I’m Albie Pearson. I was “Rookie of the Year” in the American League. I’ve been sent down to Rochester, but I want you to know my back is well and I can play. I want to come home and play in Los Angeles where I was born and raised. Please consider this letter as you make your draft.

Sincerely,
Albie Pearson

Isn’t that awesome?

Pearson’s words must have had their intended effect on Haney, as he decided to take a chance on Pearson, using the very last of his 28 expansion draft picks on the injured outfielder.

And sure enough, Pearson was healthy enough to start in right field for the Angels on Opening Day of 1961. In the first game, he batted third and scored the first run in Angels history after walking in front of Ted Kluszewski’s first inning home run.

Pearson was an extremely popular member of the Angels (being a local boy and and all, in addition to being a really nice guy)…

and he had his best years of his career with the Angels, including a career year in 1963 where he would make the All-Star team and come in 14th in the Most Valuable Player voting.

Somewhat sadly, though, Pearson’s back issues never went away and his done as a full-time player by the time he was 30, and done for good at 31.

After trying his hand at professional golf and disc jockeying, he ultimately became a popular radio evangelist, truly living up to the “Angels” moniker.

Thanks to Rob Goldman’s Once They Were Angels for the text of the letter! If you’re an Angels fan (or heck, a baseball fan period!), Goldman’s book is an absolute delight!

BASEBALL LEGEND: Bo Belinsky intentionally hit Hank Aaron after Aaron hit his 400th home run off of Belinsky, with Belinsky tipping his hat to the slugger both times.

STATUS: False

In 1962, Bo Belinsky was 25 years old, a rookie in the Major Leagues and pitching for the second-year Los Angeles Angels.

Belinsky won his first five games of the season, setting an Angels rookie record that stood until Jered Weaver won his first nine games in 2006.

But no Belinsky victory was as famous as his fourth game of the 1962 season, when Belinsky threw a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles – the very team that had left Belinsky available to be drafted away in the 1961 Rule V Draft!

So, as you might imagine, things were flying high for Belinsky – a young man with great fame and success, living in Los Angeles in the early 60s – what a life!

Belinsky dated a bevy of beauties, including Gilligan’s Island’s Tina Louise…

and was even engaged to blonde bombshell, Mamie Van Doran…

before ultimately marrying the 1965 Playmate of the Year, Jo Collins, in 1970…

But by then, Belinsky’s career was already in shambles, known more for his wasted talent than for anything else.

After his 5-0 start in 1962, Belinsky finished the season 10-11. In 1963, he pitched so poorly he was actually sent back to the minors for an extended stay before he rebounded with a strong 1964 on the field. Off the field, though, an altercation with veteran Los Angeles Times sportswriter Braven Dyer led to a suspension and later a trade to the Philadelphia Philles in the offseason.

After pitching nearly two seasons for the Phillies, Belinsky also pitched for the Houston Astros, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincanitti Reds before his career finished in 1970 at the age of 33.

The fun-loving and flamboyant Belinsky was still very interesting to the media (and to his credit, he was very good to the media), and in 1973, venerable baseball writer Maury Allen wrote a biography of Bo, Bo: Pitching and Wooing, which detailed all of Belinsky’s various exploits in great detail.

One story, in particular, stood out to me.

Here it is:

I’ll get in the Hall of Fame because I gave up some big home runs to some big guys. I think of that now with a guy like Hank Aaron. He’s driving on Babe Ruth’s 714 and I gave him number 400. He came around the bases and I tipped my hat to him and he smiled. The next time I faced him I drilled him in the ribs. I tipped my hat to him again.

That’s a great story, isn’t it?

It really captures the rapscallion nature of Belinsky to a tee.

But is it true?

It’s true enough that Belinsky did, indeed, give up Hank Aaron’s 400th home run, on April 20, 1966, when Belinsky was pitching mop-up duty in the late innings of a blowout victory by the Atlanta Braves over the Philadelphia Phillies.

But the other part?

Not so much.

Belinsky only pitched against the Braves one more time in 1966, two weeks later, and he did not face Aaron.

He next faced Hammerin’ Hank the next season while a member of the Houston Astros.

In that game, on June 17, 1967, Belinsky started against the Braves and did poorly, allowing three runs in the first (only two earned). However, he DID strike Aaron out when he faced him. He was removed with two outs in the second with Aaron coming up to the plate (I guess the Astros knew that Belinsky had given up two homers to Aaron in his career).

In their entire career against each other, Belinsky faced Aaron 13 times, walking him once, giving up three hits (two of them homers), striking him out five times and hitting him…never.

It’s still a great story, though!

Belinsky eventually cleaned up his act after he left baseball, becoming a spokesperson for the alcohol rehab program he entered in Hawaii (where he had played minor league baseball when the Angels sent him down in 1963) and lived a sober life until his death from cancer in 2001.

The first Angel to pitch a no-hitter will always be remembered, whether he drilled Aaron with a pitch or not!

Thanks once again to Maury Allen’s Bo: Pitching and Wooing (just last week I cited it! That’s quite a useful book!)

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

Tags: Albie Pearson, Alex Johnson, Anaheim Angels, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Bo Belinsky, Bob Allison, California Angels, Chico Ruiz, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Fred Haney, Hank Aaron, Houston Astros, Jo Collins, Los Angeles Angels, Mamie Van Doran, Maury Allen, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, No-Hitter, Philadelphia Phillies, Rookie of the Year Award, St. Louis Cardinals, Tina Louise, Washington Senators