36 points higher and slugging 74 points higher. His 36 home runs overall were the most in National League history by a switch-hitter, breaking Ripper Collins' 53-year-old record. In 1988, Johnson did not nearly live up to his stellar 1987 season, but still showed decent home run power. He reverted to hitting much better from the left side with a .183 average and .338 slugging from the right side. A mid-season injury to his right shoulder contributed to his poor offense. One bright spot was September 8, 1988, when he had the only five-hit game of his career, going 5-for-5 with a three-run home run and four RBIs in a Wrigley Field victory. While Johnson was struggling to stay above .230, the Mets tried out 21-year-old third-base prospect, Gregg Jefferies, who blazed through September. After 13 games, Jefferies, who was also a switch hitter, had a batting average of .462 and a fantastic slugging percentage of .962 with five home runs, a four-hit game and four three-hit games. Despite Johnson's mediocre season, the Mets easily coasted to a division win but Johnson went 1-for-18 with six strikeouts in the 1988 NLCS. With the heavily favored Mets down 3–2 in the series, he was benched for Games 6 and 7 in favor of Jefferies. Johnson pinch-hit in Game 7 and struck out for the final out of the Mets disappointing season. 1988–1989: Trade rumors With Johnson and Jefferies competing for the third base job, the 1988–89 off-season was filled with trade rumors. The logjam was cleared when second baseman Wally Backman was traded to the Minnesota Twins making Jefferies the Mets' regular second baseman in 1989. Johnson was moved from sixth or seventh in the lineup to third, in front of star slugger Darryl Strawberry, who had led the N.L. in home runs and slugging in 1988. The Mets were rewarded for not trading Johnson when he surpassed most of his numbers from 1987. Johnson had a torrid June when he hit eleven home runs, 24 RBIs and logged a slugging percentage of .770 earning him his first National League Player of the Month award. In the All-Star voting, third baseman Mike Schmidt was elected to start for the N.L. but that posed a problem: Schmidt had already retired six weeks before the game. As a result, Johnson was chosen to start for his first All-Star Game. In his first All-Star