Ronny George Johnson (born November 8, 1962) is an American-Australian former professional baseball player and Olympic competitor. Listed at and during his professional career, he threw and batted right-handed. He is an inductee of the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame.

Biography

Johnson played high school baseball in Canyon Country, California, as a pitcher and right fielder. In 1981, Johnson played college baseball for Pierce Junior College in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, where he pitched in 11 games (six starts), recording a 2–5 win–loss record with a 4.05 earned run average (ERA) and one save. He also appeared in 24 games as a designated hitter, accruing a .265 batting average with five home runs and 20 runs batted in (RBIs). He was selected in the second round of the January 1982 winter MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. He signed with the Blue Jays organization in May 1982. Johnson played in Minor League Baseball from 1982 to 1985, for farm teams of the Blue Jays and Texas Rangers. He pitched in 65 games (27 starts) compiling a 13–15 record with 4.52 ERA while striking out 159 batters in 229

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 ...

. He did not play above the Single-A level. Johnson subsequently played professional baseball in Australia from 1989 to 1999. He competed for the Australia national baseball team in the

1998 Baseball World Cup The 1998 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 33rd international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, held in Italy. At age 37, Johnson competed at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

for Australia, appearing in six games as a first baseman, designated hitter, and

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

. During the Olympic baseball tournament, the Australian team compiled a 2–5 record, finishing seventh in the field of eight teams. Johnson was inducted to the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ronny 1962 births Living people Baseball players from San Jose, California LAPC Brahma Bulls baseball players Medicine Hat Blue Jays players Florence Blue Jays players Burlington Rangers players Daytona Beach Admirals players Olympic baseball players for Australia Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics