George Howard "Chief" Johnson (March 20, 1886 – June 11, 1922) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He played three seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB), from 1913 to 1915, for the Cincinnati Reds of the National League and Kansas City Packers of the Federal League. He surrendered the first home run in the history of Wrigley Field, to Art Wilson on April 23, 1914. Johnson was of Ho-Chunk, French and Irish ancestry. He identified as Ho-Chunk and was depicted in the media as a Native American. A 1913 feature by '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' reported his full name as George Washington Murphy Johnson. Johnson was shot to death in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, on June 11, 1922, at the age of 36. He had been in town to host a medicine show and had gotten into an argument during a dice game. The shooter, despite having confessed to police and being identified by witnesses, was eventually acquitted of first degree murder.

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1886 births 1922 deaths Baseball players from Nebraska Cincinnati Reds players Deaths by firearm in Iowa Ho-Chunk people Kansas City Packers players 20th-century American sportsmen Lincoln Railsplitters players Major League Baseball pitchers Nebraska people of French descent San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Sioux City Packers players St. Joseph Drummers players Vernon Tigers players 20th-century Native American people Native American baseball players Native American people from Nebraska {{US-baseball-pitcher-1880s-stub