Roy Johnson (October 1, 1895 – January 10, 1986) was an American right-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 ...
and longtime
coach 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), ...
. He also was the interim
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
of the
Chicago Cubs for one game in
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
. He was nicknamed "Hardrock" as a
minor league manager because his teams played in a tough, uncompromising way.
Early life and career
Johnson was born in
Madill, Oklahoma
Madill is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named in honor of George Alexander Madill, an attorney for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The population at the 2010 census was 3,770, an increas ...
. He entered pro baseball in 1915, and, in his only big league season, the war-shortened
1918 campaign, he compiled a 1–5
win–loss mark (
.167) and a 3.42
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 ten
games and 50
innings pitched for the
Philadelphia Athletics. He returned to the minor leagues as a pitcher thereafter and became a manager with
Bisbee of the Class D
Arizona–Texas League
The Arizona–Texas League was a Class D level American minor league baseball league that existed for nine seasons, from 1931–32, 1937–41, 1947–50 and 1952-54. In 1951, the Arizona-Texas loop merged with the Sunset League (based primarily ...
in 1929.
In
1935, Johnson was promoted to a coaching position with the Cubs by manager
Charlie Grimm
Charles John Grimm (August 28, 1898 – November 15, 1983), nicknamed "Jolly Cholly", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman, most notably for the Chicago Cubs; he was als ...
. He was associated with the Cubs for the remainder of his career as a coach (1935–39; 1944–53), minor league pilot, and scout. The Cubs won three
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
pennants (, and ) during Johnson's 15 total years as a coach.
On May 3, 1944, with the Cubs having lost nine of their first ten National League games, he served as interim manager for one game, between
Jimmie Wilson and Grimm's second term; Chicago lost to the
Cincinnati Reds, 10–4, their tenth defeat in a row.
Johnson died at age 90 in
Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nick ...
.
References
*J.G. Taylor Spink, ed., ''The Baseball Register.'' St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1949.
*''The Baseball Encyclopedia'', Macmillan Books, 10th edition.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Roy
1895 births
1986 deaths
Baseball players from Oklahoma
Bisbee Bees players
Chicago Cubs coaches
Chicago Cubs managers
Chicago Cubs scouts
Danville Veterans players
Kansas City Blues (baseball) players
Major League Baseball first base coaches
Major League Baseball pitchers
McAlester Miners players
Minor league baseball managers
Oklahoma City Indians players
People from Madill, Oklahoma
Philadelphia Athletics players
Terrell Terrors players
Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players