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