Clashes with Nagashima spelled the end for Johnson in Japan

Second in a three-part series

CALIFORNIA — The following year Davey Johnson vowed to redeem himself. He trained hard over the winter and became one of the very few Americans ever to report for Japanese pro “voluntary training” in the arctic cold of January. He worked diligently in camp and won the starting second baseman’s job. In the first half of the season, he hit .281 with eight homers, playing with an injured nerve in his left thumb, which he had jammed sliding head first into a base.

Manager Nagashima still suffering from the humiliation of the previous year, would still remove Johnson for a pinch hitter if he went hitless in his first two at-bats and order him out for extra batting practice the next day, despite the bad hand.