American baseball player and manager
Baseball player
Timothy Evald Johnson
(born July 22, 1949) is a former
professional baseball
player and
manager
. A shortstop and utility infielder in
Major League Baseball
from 1973 to 1979, he became better known as manager of the
Toronto Blue Jays
.
Playing career
[
edit
]
After signing with the
Los Angeles Dodgers
in 1967 as a free agent, Johnson was traded to the
Milwaukee Brewers
for
Rick Auerbach
just as the 1973 season began while still a minor leaguer. Johnson played every day for the 1973 Brewers at
shortstop
, but lost his starting job next season to
Robin Yount
, thus forcing him to settle in as a utility infielder. He was traded to the
Toronto Blue Jays
during the 1978 season where he retired a year later with a lifetime .223
batting average
in 516 career games.
Scouting, coaching and managerial career
[
edit
]
After retiring as a player, Johnson spent the next 20 years as a scout, coach or minor league manager for the Dodgers,
Montreal Expos
,
Boston Red Sox
and
Chicago Cubs
.
1998 Toronto Blue Jays season
[
edit
]
The Blue Jays named Johnson as their manager for the 1998 season following the firing of
Cito Gaston
and the interim management of
pitching coach
Mel Queen
. Johnson beat out several higher-profile candidates, most notably
Davey Johnson
(no relation),
Larry Bowa
, and
Buck Martinez
.
Queen remained on as pitching coach under Johnson and the two reportedly feuded extensively, despite Johnson's reputation as a good communicator. Johnson also had rumoured differences with several of his players, including
Pat Hentgen
,
Ed Sprague
, and
Cy Young Award
winner
Roger Clemens
.
Despite this lack of chemistry, Johnson guided the 1998 Blue Jays to a respectable third-place finish in the AL East with an 88?74 record, just four games out of a tie for the wild card. It was the team's first winning season since they won two
World Series
in a row in 1992 and 1993.
Vietnam War stories controversy
[
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]
This success was partly attributed to the stories Johnson would tell his players about his battle experiences in the
Vietnam War
. For example, he told Hentgen a story about his war experiences to get him to accept a different place in the pitching rotation.
[1]
However, in late November 1998, Johnson told several Toronto newspapers all of these stories were completely made up. In truth, Johnson had been in the
Marine Corps Reserve
throughout the war, and trained mortarmen at
Camp Pendleton
, California, while playing in the Dodgers' farm system. He'd also claimed for over 20 years he had been an All-American high school basketball player, and turned down a scholarship to attend
UCLA
.
[2]
During the 1998 baseball winter meetings, Johnson said admitting the truth was like having "a 50,000 pound weight" taken off his shoulders. He said he had lied because he felt guilty about going to spring training with the Dodgers while many of his friends fought in the war. He entered therapy, and called several of his players to apologize for lying.
[3]
Departure from the Blue Jays
[
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]
The Blue Jays were initially willing to stand by Johnson and let him return for
1999
. During
spring training
, he apologized to the entire team, and later said that he did not seem to detect a credibility problem. However, the next month brought a steady diet of questions about Johnson's credibility, as well as outside attacks (Sprague, for instance, called Johnson a "liar" and a "backstabber").
[4]
Finally, on March 17, less than a month before opening day, Blue Jays general manager
Gord Ash
fired Johnson and replaced him with
Jim Fregosi
. Ash said Johnson's presence had become so much of a distraction he felt he would have to fire Johnson "if not now ... 30 or 45 days from now." He decided he had to act in order to save the season.
[5]
After Johnson's one season at the helm, the Blue Jays failed to achieve an equal or better record than Johnson's 88?74 mark until
2015
.
[6]
To date, it is Johnson's last job in Major League Baseball.
Managerial record
[
edit
]
Team
|
Year
|
Regular season
|
Postseason
|
Games
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Win %
|
Finish
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Win %
|
Result
|
TOR
|
1998
|
162
|
88
|
74
|
.543
|
3rd in AL East
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
Total
[7]
|
162
|
88
|
74
|
.543
|
|
0
|
0
|
?
|
|
After MLB
[
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]
Following his dismissal from the Blue Jays, Johnson spent seven seasons as manager in the
Mexican League
, with the
Diablos Rojos del Mexico
in 1999-2002,
Yaquis de Obregon
in 2002-2003 and then with the
Aguilas de Mexicali
in 2004-2005.
In 2003, Johnson became manager of the
Lincoln Saltdogs
of the
Northern League
. In 2006, the Lincoln team joined the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. On September 25, 2008, Johnson resigned after six years. His career record as the Saltdogs' manager was 315?255.
On December 16, 2008, Johnson was announced as the inaugural manager of the
Golden Baseball League
incarnation of the
Tucson Toros
.
[8]
On November 12, 2010, Johnson was announced as the second manager of the
Lake County Fielders
of the
North American League
.
[9]
On July 9, 2011, Johnson resigned from his Lake County Fielders Managerial Position
[10]
Johnson later became field manager with the
El Paso Diablos
in 2012,
[11]
but the team folded in 2013.
Johnson coached in the Arizona Winter League as of 2017 and spent time in the California Winter League from 2010?2014 as an instructor and coach. He also coached the
Algodoneros de San Luis
of the
Liga Norte de Mexico
later in 2017, before he was promoted to manager of the
Pericos de Puebla
of the
Mexican League
on June 4, 2017.
[12]
Taking over about halfway through the season, Johnson led the Pericos to their second straight championship appearance.
Johnson was named manager of the
Tigres de Quintana Roo
of the Mexican League for the 2018 season.
[13]
Johnson was announced as manager for the
Piratas de Campeche
of the Mexican League for the 2019 season.
[14]
However, he was fired 33 games into the season on May 13 after a 10-23 start to the season.
He was hired by the
Bravos de Leon
of the Mexican League for the 2020 season. The team posted a 29-37 record and did not make the playoffs. Johnson was dismissed by the team following the season.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Diamos, Jason (December 15, 1998). "Jays' Manager Is Hounded by War Tales".
New York Times
.
- ^
Neyer, Rob
(2006).
Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders
. New York City: Fireside.
ISBN
0-7432-8491-7
.
- ^
"Johnson apologizes for Vietnam tales"
.
CNN
. December 17, 1998
. Retrieved
May 25,
2010
.
- ^
"Tee to Green: Strange sports firings"
.
Fox News
. July 4, 2013
. Retrieved
June 27,
2019
.
- ^
Chass, Murray (March 18, 1999).
"False War Tales Lead Jays to Drop Johnson"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
July 20,
2007
.
- ^
"Toronto Blue Jays"
.
Baseball Reference
. Sports Reference
. Retrieved
September 28,
2015
.
- ^
"Tim Johnson"
.
Baseball Reference
. Sports Reference
. Retrieved
September 29,
2015
.
- ^
"Former Blue Jays manager to lead Toros"
.
Arizona Daily Star
. Lee Enterprises. December 16, 2008
. Retrieved
December 16,
2008
.
- ^
"Fielders Tab Ex-Brewer as New Skipper"
.
Lake County Fielders
. Lake County Fielders. November 12, 2010. Archived from
the original
on July 10, 2012
. Retrieved
November 12,
2010
.
- ^
"Fielders trade nine players, release 14 others"
. Chicago Sun Times. July 11, 2011
. Retrieved
July 18,
2011
.
- ^
"Tim Johnson New Manager Of El Paso Diablos"
.
independentbaseball.net
. 9 June 2012
. Retrieved
June 27,
2019
.
- ^
"Tim Johnson, Nuevo Manager de Los Pericos de Puebla"
[Tim Johnson, New Manager of Los Pericos de Puebla].
pericosdepuebla.com
(in Spanish). June 4, 2017. Archived from
the original
on January 17, 2018
. Retrieved
June 27,
2019
.
- ^
"JOHNSON, MANAGER FELINO ? Puro Beisbol"
.
www.purobeisbol.mx
. Archived from
the original
on 17 January 2018
. Retrieved
17 January
2022
.
- ^
https://www.facebook.com/112106045491859/posts/1933120560057056?sfns=1
[
user-generated source
]
External links
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]
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Iowa Oaks (1969?1981)
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Iowa Cubs (1982?present)
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