Joshua Johnson (January 25, 1914 – August 12, 1999), nicknamed "Brute", was an American

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

who played between 1934 and 1940. A native of Evergreen, Alabama, Johnson attended

Pennsylvania State College The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

. He broke into the Negro leagues in 1934 with the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cumb ...

, and played for the Grays, the

Cincinnati Tigers The Cincinnati Tigers were a professional Negro league baseball team that was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founding The club was founded in 1934 in sports, 1934 by DeHart Hubbard, who was the first African American to win an individual Olympic Ga ...

, and the

New York Black Yankees The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and ...

. Johnson served in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and died in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

in 1999 at age 85.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
1914 births 1999 deaths Cincinnati Tigers players Homestead Grays players New York Black Yankees players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball catchers {{Negro-league-baseball-catcher-stub