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Arthur Henry Johnson (July 16, 1919 – April 27, 2008) was an American left-handed
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
who played for the
Boston Bees The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...
/
Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...
from 1940 through 1942. Listed at , , Johnson also batted left-handed. Although he threw and batted left handed, he was ambidextrous. Whenever he was asked to give someone his autograph, he always obliged, but wrote with his right hand.


Biography

Born in
Winchester, Massachusetts Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income, wealt ...
, Johnson began his minor league career with Erie of the
Middle Atlantic League The Middle Atlantic League (or Mid-Atlantic League) was a lower-level circuit in American minor league baseball that played during the second quarter of the 20th century. History The Middle Atlantic League played from 1925 through 1951, with t ...
in 1938. That year, in 14 games, he won 2 and lost 6. In 1939, he was with Evansville of the Three-I League. In 12 games, he won all four of his decisions, earning a promotion to Hartford the next year. 1940 was his best year in baseball. In 33 games with Hartford of the Eastern League, Johnson won 17 and lost 11, with 27 complete games. This earned him a promotion to the major league Boston Bees at the end of the regular minor league season. Johnson made his major league debut on September 22, 1940, against the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
, pitching the 6th and 7th inning for Boston.
Mel Ott Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958), nicknamed "Master Melvin", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from through . He batted left-handed an ...
played third base that day for the Giants; Ott came up to bat against him and he hit Ott with a pitch, knocking him to the ground. Ott stared at Johnson as he trotted off to first base. Johnson was a member of the Boston Braves (the team name was changed that year) for the entire season of 1941. On April 30, in a game against the
Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
, he got his first major league base hit. On May 17, he pitched in relief and was credited with his first major league win against the
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
. The game went 12 innings and he pitched the last 2 innings of the game, and the game was won by a
Babe Dahlgren Ellsworth Tenney "Babe" Dahlgren (June 15, 1912 – September 4, 1996) was an American professional baseball infielder. He played twelve seasons in Major League Baseball from 1935 to 1946 for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Boston Braves, ...
home run in the 12th inning. On May 30, he pitched a nifty five hit complete game win against the
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
. In this game he went one for four at the plate, scored his first run in the major leagues and got his first major league RBI. A few days later, on June 4, he pitched another complete game, scattering 9 hits, and knocked the Cardinals out of first place. On June 21, he won again, this time in relief against the Chicago Cubs. The toughest day that Johnson had in the majors occurred on August 20, when he pitched against the Cardinals. In the opening game of a doubleheader which the Cardinals eventually won, he faced veteran captain and center fielder of the Cardinals, Terry Moore. With a 2-1 count, he got wild and hit Moore with a pitch behind the left ear. Moore dropped to the ground and lay unconscious at the plate until an ambulance arrived and took Moore to the hospital. Johnson had tears in his eyes in the clubhouse, after the game. Moore was out for a few weeks and was affected by this beaning for the rest of his life. Around 1990, with both men long retired, he and Moore were reunited at a baseball players convention and spoke about the incident. Moore told him that he always had headaches after the beaning. In the book "One Day in Mudville", which was written by Johnson's friend Rip Pallotta, he spoke about this beaning. "It scares you. Because, you know, you weren't throwing at him. I hollered the minute I let the ball go. I knew it was going to come awful close and I hollered 'look out!' He froze. He absolutely froze in place. He never ducked, he just froze. He never tried to get out of the way. I don't know why he froze, but he did. I had two strikes on him. I was trying to brush him back, but I certainly wasn't throwing at him. I met him some years later in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1990 and he said he was still getting migraine headaches." Johnson was hurt for most of the 1942 season, appearing on only 4 games. The injury started in spring training. He pitched a game and manager
Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York ...
asked him if he wanted to come out. Johnson told him that he wanted to stay in for just one more inning. With one pitch, he felt something pop in his shoulder. That was the beginning of an injury from which he never recovered. From 1943 to 1945 during World War II, Johnson went on to serve in the
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
in the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
as a gunner's mate aboard the aircraft carrier ; he received the
Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
after suffering shrapnel wounds to his knees when a
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
crashed into the deck. After the war Johnson tried to return but got into only one game in the minor leagues. He then retired from baseball and began his career in the insurance business. In a three-season major league career, Johnson posted a 7–16 record with 71
strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
s and a 3.68
earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
in 49 appearances, including 19 starts, six
complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...
s, one save, and 195
innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...
. Johnson married Loretta Gaffney in May 1942; they had been high school classmates, both being named the most athletic members of their 1938 senior class. He was recognized as one of the oldest living MLB players until his death in
Holden, Massachusetts Holden is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1741, and the Town Square (Center, Common) was donated by John Hancock, former Governor of Massachusetts. The population was 19,905 at the 2020 census. H ...
on April 27, 2008; widely believed to have been 91, after his death he was reported to have actually been three years younger.


References


External links


Baseball in Wartime
*"One Day in Mudville" by Rip Pallotta. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Art 1919 births 2008 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Bees players Boston Braves players United States Navy sailors United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Winchester, Massachusetts Baseball players from Middlesex County, Massachusetts