Clean shaven
No more beard. No goatee. I’ve got a little scruff under my chin right now. That’s it. There’s nothing to it. I don’t feel like I’m struggling and need to shave to get hits or anything like that. I feel comfortable at the plate and feel good at the plate. In the past, I’ve stuck with it through the good times and bad times. I’m not a superstitious guy anyways. The beard doesn’t have much to do with that.
It grows pretty fast. By the time I get back to Chicago, I’ll have something so fans can say, “Hey, I know who that is,” rather than them getting a new player in center field.
Everyone was surprised when they saw it. I don’t know if I’ve seen myself without anything ever. I’ve always had a goatee or beard or something. This is the least amount I’ve had in a long time.
— Reed
Reed Between the Lines 
It’s your summer look! lol! Hey – congrats on having the #1 Players blog on the latest Leader’s List!
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
~Reed~
It’s probably a good thing you aren’t superstitious like that. I think Miles looks better without his beard and years younger. The Cubbies really struggled this series with the Cards. In their defense the Cardinals had some great pitching, but we just couldn’t seem to get the ball out of the infield and when we hit for homeruns, they were caught right by the wall. Like Fontenot’s in deep center. If you read this and can get a message to Fontenot, tell him that his fans still love him and know that he’ll come out of this slump. He looks so discouraged, it makes me want to do something to help, but I know I can’t it is just something all players go through and have to work through. The next series will be much better, have a safe travel boys and I’ll be watching you beat the Padres! Oh and I miss seeing you in the line-up so hopefully soon you’ll get a start.
~ Milli~
Hey Reed, I just want you to know how much I appreciate your approach to playing the game. I dont understand why you don’t get more opportunities to play. You’re a great guy, and a joy to watch
Looking like you did in Toronto for a while. I think I remember that? Maybe, you run down fly balls and steal bases better with that drastic change in aerodynamics? lol. I can relate Reed. Beards/goats are fun, but after a while I get tired of them too.
http://homerfoodandhistory.mlblogs.com/
Stumbled on your blog…..been to Wrigley a few times and appreciate the Cubbies as a ball fan, but as a true, Jays fan…gotta say “miss you in T.O. man”. Lind…good hitter, Snider…who knows? But, the hussle and the glove…hard to replace. Best wishes for the rest of the season. chris
http://www.baseballtourist.com
Stumbled on your blog…..been to Wrigley a few times and appreciate the Cubbies as a ball fan, but as a true, Jays fan…gotta say “miss you in T.O. man”. Lind…good hitter, Snider…who knows? But, the hussle and the glove…hard to replace. Best wishes for the rest of the season. chris
http://www.baseballtourist.com
Stumbled on your blog…..been to Wrigley a few times and appreciate the Cubbies as a ball fan, but as a true, Jays fan…gotta say “miss you in T.O. man”. Lind…good hitter, Snider…who knows? But, the hussle and the glove…hard to replace. Best wishes for the rest of the season. chris
http://www.baseballtourist.com
WOW! did not mean to post 3 times. sorry…server issues? chris
Reed:
Keep shaving! There’s no need to cover up such a gorgeous face! Hope to see you in the lineup more. Love watching you play!
Cindi
can you please take some groundballs at second base!!!!!!!! would love to see your bat in the lineup more often. i dont know if you have ever played there even in high school but your a ball player and i think you would be willing to take on the challenge to step up and be that guy that goes out there and rip the bulls horns right off his head! you are the man reed!! please go to lou and just ask him if you can take grounders and see how it goes from there….
Reed, I think Lou needs to listen to your fans. You have so much potential both at the plate and in the field. I asked earlier in the year “why is Fukudome in center? Reed should be there”. Your determination and perserverance certainly proves you to be one of the better players on the team and right now our team needs some help. So…go to Lou and ask him to listen to the fans! Looking forward to this weekend series in SD. We need to forget about St L and move forward 🙂 I love the fresh, new look! No need to cover that face anymore!
~Nancy
Reed,
Beard or no beard YOU ARE HOT!!! You deserve more playing time and I LOVE to watch you play (especially when you are robbing guys of their 1st career grand slam-I know it was several weeks ago but it was AWESOME!) Hope to see you tonight…I will definitely be watching for you 😉
LET’S GO REED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lisa
reed,
I have been a Cub Fan All my life, I have never ever seen a team with there heads so far up there backsides as I have seen these last 6 games!! Played A Ball 25 years ago and if we ever acked the way the Cubs ack, our playing days would have been over!!! I’m still upset at the offseason moves of the GM, why anybody would every break up that team still puzzles me. Well good luck with the rest of the season, hope we make it to October! Sorry, I have always had a hard time with sugarcoating my comments, a great ballplayer never gives up, even when the score is 100 to nothin, were done at one to nothin!! somebody step up!!!!!
Thank the Lord you shaved Reed. I like you better that way. Would really like you to have more playing time, perhaps letting the sleeping bats rest will be the way for you to get in the game. Can’t wait to see that.
Take good care man.
JP
Reed~~
First I like to say your my favorite Cub. The main reason I feel that way is good things happen when your in the game. I hope you get the At Bats you deserve in the near future. For me the full extension catch you made last season was the play of the year/century, regardless how everyone else felt it was the best play ever. I hope you stay a Cub the rest of your career.
John….
Enough of this losing already…. Tell Lou I entirely respect and trust the man… but seriously.. move Soriano back to 2nd and let Reed get more at bats… Dude reminds me of myself as a football player and basketball player.. I was always judged by how I looked, but I always seemed to make that tackle and cause a fumble, or steal the ball from the center, or make that last second shot.. A champion’s heart is buried deep out of sight.. and I can tell by how Reed Johnson plays that he will make a play to save that run or create one that will make the difference… but if you don’t put him in the game, how is going to do that ??… Now Soriano made a big stink about moving to OF and with Ramirez down and Bradley heating up, put Soriano back at 2nd, platoon 3rd and let Fukudome, Bradley, and Johnson form the fastest OF in the league for defensive purposes, and offensive.. I like Miles and Fontenot, but Johnson has a better bat than both of them and should be in the lineup.. Dude hustles and makes things happen… I can see it in him, and that’s why he is there right ??.. Best of Luck and Thanks for everything Cubs.. God Bless
try this lineup one time (not batting order)
1st Lee
2nd Platoon player who hits well against the SP
SS The Riot
3rd Soriano
LF Bradley
CF Johnson
RF Fukudome
C Soto
the 4 seats front row directly behind the cubs dugout next time in St Louis on free comped tickets as a good luck charm: Me and my family
I’ll tell you another thing too if you cubs ever want to be considered thee best team of the modern age.. I fugured out why Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and all the old great hitters were so much better than people now.. And they probably didn’t even know it or didn’t consider it.. but it was a workout they did growing up that today’s training techniques cannot duplicate that has been long forgotted except for one NFL linebacker who I heard talk about it….I am saving it for my own son should I have one to make him so much better than everyone else if he has a good eye, but I will teach ya’ll if you like… It’ll cost you… but one summer doing what I suggest and the the BA and HRs go up..guaranteed…and I’ll put that guarantee in writing…but it ain’t no sissy workout.. you get out what you put into it, but you’ll be doing the right workout and apply yourselves in the right way.. dunlapil@aol.com is my spam account I don’t check it and when I do there is 300 emails… so make the subject line in ALL caps and make sure it says CUBS so I read it if you are interested.. But, I know how to give any ball player the edge…
sorry about the type-o’s and calling the offseason summer… Summer was always my offseason.. I meant winter
Hmmmm. Ahhh, I dont know dunlapil. Is it, uhhh, maybe…bailing hay!!! You just lookin fer sum cheap labour you old farm devil you.
Im gonna say it first.
FIRE JIM HENDRY!!
hey, go easy on the buccos tonight. They say that if you get swept by the Pirates, you magically find 3 trillion dollars in your sock drawer.
http://eatsleepmlb.mlblogs.com
Wrong…. I am an economist and a global trader, I don’t micro manage anything… not a farm, or office, or small business… well I guess I micro manage my trades.. I do all of that from research to taxes, including making a 30% profit every month… but… on to the point of my blog posts… How would Babe Ruth bale hay while growing up in an Orphanage in Boston ??… Come on man… get your head on straight if your going to pop off with a guess… Now on to what I want to get paid.. I will help the cubs raise their BA by 0.20 points with only 2 months of working out and I can show them the workout in one day… so they can all go home and do it by themselves during the offseason, and what I want in return is to get my message blasted on Wrigley field…. which is: “Teach a 4 year elective in all high schools that covers stocks, small business ops, and touches on real estate if America is going to survive the onslaught of Global competition”….Our nation has a 10% unemployment rate… by teaching 10% of our nation to do what I do and make money without needing a job then that rate falls to 0% or minus and frees up jobs for others to work.. I am sick of writing politicians who are lawyers and not economists.. and the economists we got sound undivided and nothing good comes form their efforts.. it’s not organized and there is no real plan… or vision for the future.. how many street gang members would there be if they all knew how to trade stocks and make more than they could selling crack ?… all those young people understand how money works, they just don’t have the education they need to live a good life.. and that is what I wil charge and I will increase the cubs BA by 0.20 and HRs by 10% (provided the players do the routine with full heart)…. I can’t be responsible for laziness…
and if anyone else wants to attempt humor by discounting what I offer out of a sense of jealousy just let me say this… there are some people in this world who didn’t stop learning after the first 2 weeks on the job and started parking their fat ***** on a bar stool to forever claim they know everything and bad mouth anything they don’t…. so if I wanted to hear your little wise cracks I would be at the blue collar watering hole saying the same things you say… but instead I like to see if I can change what I would normally complain about… so go ahead… let’s hear it… whatI have to say could change things for the better, but your wise crack can rob me of that thunder by raising doubt… come on… The Cubs haven’t been losers for 100 years for nothing… We got to keep doing the same things we always did… Don’t bother supporting me and saying, “hell if it gets the cubs a world series win, why not” or ” I am about to sacrifice a herd of goats at this point, give it a try”…. No don’t pitch in and help… just run your mouth and try and prevent progress… It’s what your daddy taught you to do anyway, and the Cathloic church made him a Saint.. oops, now I am a wise *** too… sorry about that.. I am sure your daddy was a good man who wished you could have had a chance to learn how to trade stocks and live how you wanted to… without worrying about money and all the stress and assholiness that causes in everyday life…. but what do I know… except how to raise the Cubs BA and HRs and preserve the American way of life… you know.. not much… not a funny quip attacking someone else’s effort…
You know I think it’s good that you blogged about your face. I was watching the game and honestly had to look a couple times to make sure it was you! I’m new to this “fan” thing and to be completely truthful…I only started actively watching last season when I was deployed to Iraq. Ya’ll kept me going everyday. You have a fan for life!
~callie~
Missed you in the lineup; it’s good to see you out there again. You’ve had some plays that were bright spots in this stretch. Don’t know how much of the “umpire conspiracy theory” reporting is fact and not trumped up hoopla, but good job on whatever you did to calm MB down and make him refocus.
TL is awesome for standing up to the ump. That strike zone was atrocious last night. Guh!
Let’s get back to winning asap!
Glad you shaved the chin rug – thought maybe you were growing it for Ronnie to put on his head! Now I know you are not the superstitious type – but I think that the one last thing that needs to be done is Theriot needs to go back to the shorter, neater haircut. Then of course the bullpen needs to get it together! I have been writing you in on the All Star ballot and not voting for Bradley, because until lately I wasn’t seeing him as an All Star – remains to be proven over time. Wish we could get Mark DeRosa back – so many places we could have used him with injuries and illness! Not feeling the Freel….missing the Mark! Still a Cub fan – always have been, always will be – but sure would like to see the JOY in our team again! Maybe we need a pep ralley?!
And speaking of bull pens – I hear Kerry Wood is doing great in Cleveland…..another player we should have kept – though we seem to be pretty good at dealing away players when they are anything but through (case in point, Greg Maddux). Perhaps we need to get someone in the front office with a little better handle on the game? I think Jim Hendry has made some great deals – but this year he blew it when getting rid of Kerry and Mark. Is he a big enough man to try to correct those mistakes? I understand we could probably get Mark back – let’s trade Freel and just about anyone in our bullpen (except Gregg and Guzman) if that is what it takes to get him back!
Hey Reed, I was at the game yesterday and am going to be there the next 2 games. whats going on with this team?! since when does Lou start guys like Freel when we are going into a 7 game losing streak?! Does he even want to give us a chance to win ball games?! I really enjoy watching guys like you, not the big superstars but the type of guys that can surpise you every once in awhile. I think you are probably a down to earth guy that just wants the best for his team. Good luck tonight. I will probably be in center field again shouting for you. Try to smile and have fun out there. I know its hard when all the “fans” are telling you that you suck. Keep your head up, after all they wish they could get paid millions to play for the beloved cubs.
Reed, thanks for committing yourself to write a blog for the fans to let them experience the clubhouse atmosphere. I love the way you play the game and from what I’ve read, your work ethic is second to none. Baseball needs more dedicated players like yourself that really play for the love of the game.
Regarding your look, I favor the pointed goatee over the others but no matter what you sport, it looks great. You have a great personality that matches your exterior and it’s a major reason why the fans like you apart from your amazing skills on the field. Keep up the good work!
With respect and admiration,
Johanna.
dear reed johnson.
you are an inspiration to us all, if you can remember back to the rich harden\chad goudin trade, you shaved off your goatee and grew a foo manchu mustache for a couple of days. that made me proud, I loved that gosh darn stach. Could you do that again? please? it was the greatest mustache any cub ever had. seriously. love random fan.
Reed-
you are a modern day Chuck Norris or even a truer version of the Dos Equis guy. Grow a mustache and all your wildest dreams will come true. See you at my mustache/kickball party on 7/25
Hi Reed,
You are my favorite player. You put other high paid Cub players to shame with your hustle and winning attitude. If they all hustled and played with your heart, the Cubs would be running away with the division. It is inexcuseable that these players are allowed to stay in the line-up while you sit the bench. Hope the management sees the “light” and you are playing daily. Keep up the good work.
I don’t know; I like the clean shaven look (meaning including scruff), and I like the goatee/beard idea. But the colonel sanders thing that in spring training kind of left your chin, curved down a little, and really had a life of its own? Not so much babe!! No worries; you’re hot no matter but less may in fact be more…..
Reed,
Next time you see Kevin Gregg tell him that he throws too many strikes. He needs to waste some pithes and not let the hitters dig in on him. Also tell him he needs to change speeds more.
Dunlapil sounds like a lot of hot air. I wouldn’t do anything he suggests. As for Lou being a good manager, he led them to the div. championship the last couple years. Hendry has done a good jo. Get off his back.