1978 Profile: Cliff Johnson

"Powerful Cliff Johnson joined the Yankees in mid-season in 1977 and proved to be an excellent addition. Cliff slugged out a career high of 22 home runs, including 12 as a Yankee, and had one of the best home run/at-bat ratios in the major leagues.
His season highlight came at Toronto on June 30 when he tagged Blue Jay pitching for three home runs in one game, including two in one inning. Almost half of his Yankee hits have gone for extra bases.
Johnson has also proved to be an excellent pinch hitter. With the Yankees he hit .455 in that role, and in 1974 while with Houston he hit five pinch-hit home runs, falling one short of the major league record which has stood since 1932.
While known primarily as a hitter, Johnson is also versatile defensively and can fill in behind the plate, at first base and in the outfield. The Yankees are certainly glad to have him in pinstripes."

-The New York Yankees Official 1978 Yearbook

JUNE, 1977 YANKEE OF THE MONTH
"Although he spent only half the month of June with the Yankees, Cliff Johnson was a one-man wrecking crew. He arrived on June 15 after being acquired from the Houston Astros in a deal involving three minor leaguers, and proceeded to hit .308 with four homers, six runs batted in and five runs scored in the 12 games he played. Of his eight hits, six were for extra bases.
There was, of course, the memorable June 30 game at Toronto in which he hit three home runs, two of them in one inning. It was the first time since Bobby Murcer in 1973 that a Yankee hit three homers in one game. The last Yank to hit two in the same inning was Joe Pepitone in 1962."

-The New York Yankees Official 1978 Yearbook

"Cliff proved to be an excellent acquisition for the Yankees last season. The powerful slugger hit a career high 22 home runs, 12 as a Yankee, and had one of the best home run/at-bat ratios in the major leagues.
His season highlight was the three home runs at Toronto on June 30, with two of them coming in one inning. He became only the 12th Yankee to hit three in a game, the last being Bobby Murcer in 1973, and the third Yankee to hit two in one inning, the last being Joe Pepitone in 1962. Six of his twelve Yankee homers were hit off the Blue Jays, four of them off Jerry Garvin.
The Yankees were Cliff's first exposure to the American League. He was the number five pick by the Astros in the June 1966 Free Agent Draft. He came up with the Astros briefly in 1972 before going back to Denver in 1973, where he batted .302 with 33 homers and 117 RBIs and was named the American Association Player of the Year.
Twenty of Cliff's 42 hits with the Yankees last year were for extra bases. 33 of his 72 hits with the Astros in 1976 went for extra bases. He hit five pinch-hit home runs in 1974, which set a Houston record and fell one short of the major league record which has stood since 1932. Cliff has nine pinch-hit homers in his career. He was 5-for-11 (.455) as a pinch hitter for the Yankees last year, and also had a 12-game hitting streak.
Cliff's hobbies are fishing and music. He had off-season surgery for removal of bone chips in his right ankle."

-New York Yankees 1978 Media Guide