Chappie Johnson was a prototypical part-time backstop for over a decade. Never a star, usually useful, with raw numbers that look horrible until you remember his peak was smack dab in the middle of the deadball era. He struck out a lot, had a decent eye for the strike zone, and had excellent power for the era.
Johnson benefitted immensely from great seasons in 1899 and 1900, peaks to which he never returned. 1904 and 1906 were solid, but nowhere near those early years. We’ve also cut Chappie’s career off in 1912–his offensive production is so, so poor from 1907 on that we just don’t think he survives into his late 1930s. Johnson suffers from this, as 1913 and 1914 were, historically, among his best at the plate.
We filled in 1902, but the rest follows Johnson’s historical record.
Johnson was slow, although probably above average for a catcher. Defensively, he was excellent with an average arm and this has to speak to his longevity. He was excellent handling pitchers, which needs to show up somewhere, even though these projections don’t cover fielding metrics.
That is the most likely impact on future revisions: the more Chappie impacts the game defensively, the more his usage can increase, even to the point of surviving to his late-career offensive resurgence.
| Name | Chappie Johnson (Rat) |
| ID / Status | johnso025cha / Draft |
| Pos | C |
| DOB / i9s Career | 05/10/1877 / 1899 - 1914 |
| Birthplace | Bellaire, OH (USA) |
| Height / Weight | 5'7" / 160 |
| B / T | R / R |
Batting Projections
| Year | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 1899 | 182 | 60 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 0.330 | 0.411 | 0.407 | 0.817 |
| 1900 | 195 | 64 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 0.328 | 0.396 | 0.395 | 0.791 |
| 1901 | 160 | 33 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0.206 | 0.253 | 0.250 | 0.503 |
| 1902 | 298 | 68 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 27 | 9 | 4 | 0.232 | 0.282 | 0.289 | 0.571 |
| 1903 | 350 | 74 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 48 | 6 | 5 | 0.211 | 0.266 | 0.268 | 0.535 |
| 1904 | 391 | 103 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 54 | 14 | 6 | 0.263 | 0.308 | 0.317 | 0.625 |
| 1905 | 307 | 57 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 37 | 11 | 3 | 0.186 | 0.247 | 0.254 | 0.501 |
| 1906 | 302 | 76 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 29 | 45 | 16 | 4 | 0.252 | 0.317 | 0.321 | 0.638 |
| 1907 | 327 | 62 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 41 | 5 | 4 | 0.190 | 0.241 | 0.239 | 0.479 |
| 1908 | 363 | 60 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 53 | 4 | 3 | 0.165 | 0.215 | 0.229 | 0.444 |
| 1909 | 295 | 53 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 0.180 | 0.255 | 0.227 | 0.483 |
| 1910 | 381 | 70 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 49 | 12 | 5 | 0.184 | 0.247 | 0.220 | 0.467 |
| 1911 | 360 | 62 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 53 | 11 | 5 | 0.172 | 0.238 | 0.206 | 0.443 |
| 1912 | 156 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0.135 | 0.196 | 0.173 | 0.370 |