Ronald David Johnson (March 23, 1956 – January 26, 2021) was an American

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 ...

player, coach and

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. From 2012 through 2018, he managed the

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's loc ...

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

, Triple-A

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

affiliate of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

. His 2018 season with Norfolk was his 14th season as a Triple-A manager; Johnson formerly helmed the

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

of the International League (2005–09), and the

Omaha Royals Omaha ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 41st-most-populous city, Omaha had a popu ...

(1998) and Omaha Golden Spikes (1999) of the Triple-A

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. Johnson was a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

during his brief

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) playing career from 1982 to 1984. He threw and batted right-handed, and was listed at tall and . Johnson was also a former

first base coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

of MLB in 2010 and 2011.

Playing career

Johnson was a native of

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. When in high school, he turned down football scholarships to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, and instead chose to play baseball at Fresno State. Johnson was originally drafted by the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

in the 13th round of the

1976 Major League Baseball draft The 1976 Major League Baseball draft took place prior to the 1976 MLB season. The draft saw the Houston Astros select Floyd Bannister first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1976 Major League Baseba ...

, but did not sign. He was named to the 1978 College Baseball All-America Team by the

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest Amateur baseball in the United States, amateur baseball Manager (baseball), coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coach ...

. He graduated from Fresno State before being drafted by the

in the 24th round, with the 595th overall pick, in the

1978 MLB draft The 1978 Major League Baseball draft was held June 6–8, 1978, consisting of 48 rounds, during which a total of 779 players were selected by 26 Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations. The first overall selection was Bob Horner, drafted by t ...

. He made his major league debut with the Royals on September 12, 1982. On December 15, 1983, the Royals traded Johnson to the

for Tom Dixon. 1985 Nashville Ron Johnson

Johnson played in 22 major league games over parts of three seasons, batting .261 with 12

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

, including two doubles and two

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

. He played 830 games in the minor leagues, most of them at the Triple-A level.

Coaching and managerial career

Kansas City Royals

Shortly after his playing days ended in 1985, Johnson became a coach in the Royals' minor league system. He served as a coach within the Kansas City organization for six seasons, before becoming a manager. Johnson made his managerial debut with the Baseball City Royals (Class A) of the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

in 1992. He managed the Memphis Chicks for one season in 1994 leading them to a 75 win season. He won Texas League Manager of the Year honors in 1995, after guiding the

Wichita Wranglers The Wichita Wranglers were a minor league baseball team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team, which played in the Texas League, was the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres from 1987 to 1994 and the Kansas City Royals fro ...

( Double-A) to the playoffs. Three years later, he reached Triple-A as manager of the

, and in 1999 he led that club to a first-place finish in the

. In total, Johnson posted six winning seasons in his eight years managing in the Royals' organization.

Boston Red Sox

Johnson joined the

organization in 2000 as manager of the Sarasota Red Sox (Class A) of the Florida State League. In 2002, Johnson was promoted to Double-A as manager of the

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the D ...

of the Eastern League. When the Red Sox switched Double-A affiliations to the

Portland Sea Dogs The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red ...

in 2003, he moved with them and was manager of the Sea Dogs for the next two seasons. His 2003 club went 72–70 and missed the Eastern League playoffs by just a game and a half. In 2004, Johnson once again had Portland near .500 for much of the year before finishing at 69–73 and in a tie for 4th-place in the Eastern League Northern Division. From 2005 to 2009, Johnson served as manager for Boston's Triple-A affiliate, the

. On November 23, 2009, Johnson was appointed as first base coach for the major league Red Sox. He held the post for two seasons, but on October 5, 2011, Johnson was fired from the Red Sox staff following the departure of manager

Terry Francona Terrence Jon Francona (born April 22, 1959), nicknamed "Tito", is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously managed the Cleveland Indians/G ...

Baltimore Orioles

Johnson was next appointed manager of the

, Triple-A affiliate of the

, and led them to back-to-back winning seasons in 2012 and 2013. In 2015, he managed the Tides to a division title and was named the International League Manager of the Year. The 2018 campaign marked his seventh consecutive year as Norfolk's manager, and he holds the franchise record for games won as a manager (491). During the year, Johnson was named the winner of the Orioles' Cal Ripken Sr. Player Development Award, but at the close of the season, he was released by the Baltimore organization as it underwent a significant front-office transition amid the departures of

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Dan Duquette and manager

Buck Showalter William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III (born May 23, 1956) is an American professional baseball manager. He served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2003–2006), Baltimore Oriol ...

. Johnson's minor league managerial record was 1,752–1,770 (.497) over 25 seasons.

Personal life

Johnson and his wife, Daphne, had five children. His son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

was drafted in the 37th round by the Red Sox in June 2003 but instead opted for college; and was later drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. Primarily a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

, Chris Johnson spent a dozen years in professional baseball, including all or parts of eight seasons (2009–16) in the majors with five teams. He had a breakout season in 2013 with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, finishing second in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

batting race at .321. He also led the Braves in doubles (34) and finished second on the club in

(165). Chris spent part of the 2017 season reunited with his father as a member of the Triple-A Tides in the Baltimore organization. Johnson took an emergency leave from his coaching duties with the Red Sox on August 1, 2010, after his youngest daughter was seriously injured when hit by a car while horse riding. He missed the rest of the season but was able to return to the Red Sox at the outset of

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 2011. Johnson died as a result of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on January 26, 2021, at the age of 64.

References

External links

Triple-A Norfolk Tides manager Ron Johnson chats with Jim Hunter
via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ron Memphis Chicks (Southern League) managers 1956 births 2021 deaths All-American college baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from Long Beach, California Boston Red Sox coaches Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players California State University, Fresno alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee Fort Myers Royals players Fresno State Bulldogs baseball players Fullerton College alumni Fullerton Hornets baseball players Gulf Coast Royals players Indianapolis Indians players Jacksonville Suns players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball first basemen Montreal Expos players Nashville Sounds players Norfolk Tides managers Omaha Royals players Pawtucket Red Sox managers Portland Sea Dogs managers Trenton Thunder managers West Palm Beach Tropics players