Alex Johnson's Deciding Vote On Avoiding Riot

http://donatelifeohio.org/

The riots in Baltimore that caused the game between the Orioles and Chicago White Sox to be played with no crowd prompted stories of April and June 1968.

Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis on April 4.

Opening Day was scheduled for April 8. President Lyndon Johnson declared April 9 a national day of mourning.  The Reds postponed the opener to April 10.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

Two months later on June 5, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy was shot to death in Los Angeles.

Reds' players Milt Pappas and Vada Pinson led a team vote to postpone the game against the St. Louis Cardinals

According to Jim Maloney, a pitcher on the '68 team, the vote was 12-12 and Alex Johnson needed to vote to break the tie. When told that he had the deciding vote, Johnson, who passed away this March said, "I will go along with the majority."

Manager Dave Bristol vowed to play with any nine players he could muster.

Order Amazon at right

Pete Rose and a few others followed the stern requests of Bristol and general manager Bob Howsam and the game started 45 minutes late.

Pappas and Pinson were both traded soon after.