Chico Ruiz - Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson

Johnson had a reputation as a malcontent. Regardless, he and Ruiz were good friends. In fact, Ruiz was the godfather of Johnson's adopted daughter. Johnson won the American League batting crown their first season together in California, however, several bouts of "indifferent play" landed him in the middle of Angels manager Lefty Phillips' crosshairs. During Spring training 1971, Phillips fined Johnson $100 for loafing in an exhibition game, and removed him from an exhibition the following day for failing to run out a grounder. The trend continued into the regular season as Johnson was benched three times in May for indifferent play. On June 4, he was pulled in the first inning of a 10–1 loss to the Boston Red Sox when he failed to run all the way to first base on a routine ground ball.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Ruiz and Johnson also began to sour. Johnson would scream obscenities at Ruiz whenever they were near each other, and Ruiz had reported challenged Johnson to a fight on more than one occasion, regardless of the fact that he was much smaller.

Tensions on the club hit a climax when Johnson claimed that Ruiz pointed a gun at him while the two were in the clubhouse following a June 13 loss to the Washington Senators. Ruiz denied the claim, however, Angels GM Dick Walsh admitted under oath during Johnson's arbitration case over his suspension that the incident had indeed occurred. Shortly after the alleged incident, Ruiz was demoted to the Triple A Salt Lake City Angels.

After the season, the Angels cleaned house. Phillips and Walsh were both fired, Johnson was traded to the Cleveland Indians, and Ruiz was released. Shortly afterwards, he signed with the Kansas City Royals.