Roy Cleveland Johnson (February 23, 1903 – September 10, 1973) was an American

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

and

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

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 ...

who played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

(1929–32),

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 ...

(1932–35),

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(1936–37) and

Boston Bees The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). Then in 1966 they were relocated to Atlanta, whe ...

(1937–38). A native of

Pryor, Oklahoma Pryor Creek or Pryor''Oklahoma Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 1st Edition, 1998, p. 36 is a city in and county seat of Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 9,444 as of the 2020 census. Originally named ''Coo-Y-Yah'', Chero ...

, who grew up in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, he was the elder brother of "Indian Bob" Johnson, also a major league outfielder. The Johnson brothers were one-quarter

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

Playing career

Roy Johnson batted left-handed and threw right-handed; he stood tall and weighed . Unlike his younger brother, who slugged 288

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

in his 13-year MLB career, Roy was basically a contact, line-drive hitter. He also was a fine defensive outfielder with a strong throwing arm. His pro career began in 1926, when he

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

.369 in the Class C Utah-Idaho League, earning him a call-up to the top-level San Francisco Seals of the

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 ...

. Then, in 1927 and 1928, he teamed with

Earl Averill Howard Earl Averill (May 21, 1902 – August 16, 1983) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1929 to 1941, including 11 seasons for the Cleveland Indians. He was a six-tim ...

and Smead Jolley to give the Seals one of its most feared hitting-outfields in

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 ...

history. On October 19, 1928, the independently-operated Seals traded Johnson to the Detroit Tigers, launching his decade-long

MLB 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 ...

career, where he would be a four-time .300 hitter, and six times finish in the Top 10 among

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

(AL) leaders in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s. In his debut, Johnson became the first

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

in major league history to get 200

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 ...

in a season (201) and also led the AL with 45 doubles and 640

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

s while hitting .314 with a career-high 128 runs. Defensively however, he led all outfielders in the AL committing 31 errors. In , he led the AL with 19

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

and stole 33 bases. Traded by Detroit to the Red Sox in the midseason of , Johnson enjoyed three productive years with Boston, hitting .313 with 95

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 ...

during , however defensively, he again led the AL for the second time in his MLB career by committing 25 errors as an outfielder. Johnson followed with career-highs .320 and 119 RBI in , and .315 in . After that, he became a part-time outfielder with the Yankees, with whom he appeared in the

1936 World Series The 1936 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1936 season. The 33rd edition of the World Series, it matched the New York Yankees against the New York Giants, with the Yankees winning in six games to earn thei ...

as a

pinch runner In baseball or softball, a pinch runner is a player substituted into a game for the purpose of base running. Description A pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been s ...

and

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on ''The Good Wife'' by Robert King (writer), Robert and Michelle King. Prod ...

in his only

plate appearance In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...

. Johnson became a world champion when the Yanks defeated the rival

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in six games. One month into the season, the Yankees lost two in a row to the Tigers. Johnson thought that manager

Joe McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age 48 in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the mo ...

was brooding over the losses and snapped, "What's the guy expect to do, win every day?" In a horrible stroke of luck, McCarthy happened to overhear him. Almost as soon as he returned to the team hotel, McCarthy called

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 ...

Ed Barrow Edward Grant Barrow (May 10, 1868 – December 15, 1953) was an American manager and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He served as the field manager of the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. He served as business manager (de fac ...

and demanded that Johnson be waived immediately. Barrow obliged;

Tommy Henrich Thomas David Henrich (February 20, 1913 – December 1, 2009), nicknamed "the Clutch" and "Old Reliable", was an Americans, American professional baseball player of German American, German descent. He played his entire Major League Baseball c ...

took his spot on the roster. The Boston Bees of 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 ...

claimed Johnson off waivers, and Johnson played 92 games as a Bee through April 27, , when he was sent to the minors. He would never play in the majors again. In his ten-season career covering 1,155 games, Johnson posted a .296

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(1,292-for-4,359) with 716 runs, 275 doubles, 83

, 58

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s, 555 RBI, 135

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...

, 489 walks, .369

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and .437

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. He recorded a .938

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

at all three outfield positions. Roy Johnson died in Tacoma at the age of 70 on September 10, 1973.

Records

Johnson holds the following

records: * Most runs by rookie—128 (1929) * Most doubles by rookie—45 (1929)

Honors

Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame
(member since 1960)
State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame
(member since 1978)

References

External links

Baseball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Roy 1903 births 1973 deaths American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent Baltimore Orioles (International League) players 20th-century American sportsmen Baseball players from Oklahoma Boston Bees players Boston Red Sox players Detroit Tigers players Idaho Falls Spuds players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Native American baseball players New York Yankees players People from Pryor Creek, Oklahoma San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Seattle Rainiers players Baseball players from Tacoma, Washington Syracuse Chiefs players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players

Playing career

Records

Honors

See also

References

External links