Howard Michael Johnson (born November 29, 1960), nicknamed "HoJo", is an American former professional baseball third baseman, shortstop and outfielder. He played for the Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1982 to 1995. He has also coached in MLB for the Mets and Seattle Mariners.
Johnson made his MLB debut with the Tigers in 1982 and was a part of the 1984 World Series champions. The Tigers traded Johnson to the Mets after the season and he won a second World Series title in 1986. Johnson was a two-time All-Star with the Mets, in 1989 and 1991, and led the National League in home runs and runs batted in in 1991. After playing for the Mets through the 1993 season, Johnson finished his career with the Rockies in 1994 and the Cubs in 1995.
Johnson is third on the Mets' all-time lists for home runs, runs batted in, doubles, and stolen bases. He was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame.
Early life Johnson was born on November 29, 1960, in Clearwater, Florida, to Bill and Sue Johnson. He was the oldest of three children. He was named for his grandfather, Raymond Howard Johnson. His family went to Howard Johnson's every Sunday after church, where he was never charged for lunch.
Bill coached Howard in Little League Baseball and taught him to become a switch hitter when he was three or four years old.
Johnson attended Clearwater High School and played on their baseball team. He had a .375 batting average in his junior year, but it declined to .275 in his senior year. As a pitcher, Johnson had a 0.91 earned run average and 110 strikeouts in 91 innings pitched in his senior year. The New York Yankees selected Johnson in the 23rd round of the 1978 MLB draft, but they did not offer him a signing bonus and he instead attended St. Petersburg Junior College and played college baseball as a pitcher and a position player.
Baseball career
1979–1983: Transition from minor leagues to major leagues The Detroit Tigers selected Johnson in the first round, with the 12th overall selection, of MLB's secondary draft in January 1979. He signed with the Tigers, who converted him into an infielder. He played for the Lakeland Tigers of the Class A Florida State League in 1979 and 1980. The Tigers promoted him to the Birmingham Barons of the Class AA Southern League, where he hit 22 home runs.
Johnson began the 1982 season with the Evansville Triplets of the Class AAA American Association. He was promoted to the major leagues. Johnson finished the season with a .316 batting average in the major leagues. He began the 1983 season in the major leagues with the Tigers, but was demoted to Evansville in May. He returned to the Tigers later in the year.
1984: Detroit Tigers and a first championship In 1984, Johnson was back with the Tigers and was made the left side of a platoon with Tom Brookens. Johnson started fairly well but had a poor second half.Howard Johnson 1984 regular season batting splits – Retrosheet. He finished the regular season with a .248 batting average, 12 home runs, and 50 runs batted in (RBIs) and in 355 at bats. The Tigers led the division for the entire season to reach the 1984 MLB postseason, but Johnson did not play in the 1984 American League Championship Series as manager Sparky Anderson preferred to use more experienced players. Brookens, Marty Castillo, and Darrell Evans split time at third. In the 1984 World Series, the Tigers used Johnson as a pinch hitter once; he reached base on an error by second baseman Alan Wiggins as the Tigers eased through the postseason en route to the world championship.
1985–1986: New York Mets and a second championship
The Tigers traded Johnson to the New York Mets for Walt Terrell at the Winter Meetings on December 7, 1984. Three days later, the Mets traded third baseman Hubie Brooks to the Montreal Expos as part of a trade for catcher Gary Carter.
Johnson's inability to hit well from the right side resulted in him being platooned by the Mets in 1985, this time with Ray Knight. Both started terribly and neither reached .200 until early July. Johnson hit below average all season, while Knight was even worse. The Mets, as they had in 1984, narrowly missed the postseason in 1985.
1986 was the year of the Mets and both Johnson and Knight started very well. The Mets' problems shifted from third base to shortstop as Rafael Santana struggled to keep his average above .150 most of the season. Johnson was a capable shortstop defensively and picked up extra playing time moving between short and third but his hitting started declining in May. Between his mediocre hitting, continued lack of power, and an injury that wiped out three weeks in June, Johnson played in only 88 games in the regular season. When he returned from the June injury, Johnson went on a home run tear including two in his first game back and, within six weeks, his slugging percentage jumped from .376 to .510. One of Johnson's home runs occurred in a legendary game on July 22, 1986, against the Cincinnati Reds. When a 10th-inning bench-clearing fight ended, three Mets players were out of the game and they were forced to spend the rest of the game with a pitcher in the outfield and two pitchers in the batting lineup. When one of the pitchers, Jesse Orosco, drew a walk in the 14th inning, Johnson followed with a three-run home run that led to a Mets win. Johnson faded down the stretch and was virtually shut out of the postseason, going 0-for-7 in four games. His only start was Game 2 of the 1986 World Series, when he went 0-for-4 in a crucial Mets loss that put them in an 0–2 hole. His only other at bat in the series was in Game 6, when he struck out in the ninth inning. Nevertheless, at age 25, Johnson already had his second World Series ring.
1987: Breakout season Knight became a free agent after the 1986 World Series and left the Mets. Johnson, given sole ownership of the third base position, began a three-month power surge in mid-May. In 10 games, he hit five home runs, including a pair of three-run shots, with 13 RBIs. In an 11-game span a month later, he hit another six home runs with 10 RBIs. In seven games around the all-star break, he hit another six home runs and seven RBIs, raising his slugging percentage over .520. With his 22nd home run of the season in mid-July, the previously light-hitting Johnson took over the team home run lead from Darryl Strawberry while hitting from the seventh spot in the batting order. He ended July with six RBIs in seven games along with a four-hit game, and then started August with a grand slam. In a 13-game span in late July and early August, he had at least one RBI in all but one game and amassed 17 RBIs overall. Three games in mid-August brought another three home runs and seven RBIs. Johnson was accused of using a corked bat in July by Astros manager Hal Lanier and in August by Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog. Six of his bats were confiscated by umpires and X-rayed; all were found to be legal.
Johnson's power surge was complemented by a surge in speed. Although he had 31 stolen bases in five previous seasons, on September 11, 1987, Johnson stole his 30th base to join the 30–30 club for the first time. Johnson became the first switch-hitter to join the club, and he and Strawberry became the only teammates to achieve 30–30 status in the same season. Another grand slam in September brought Johnson's home run total to 36, just four shy of his entire career before 1987. Unfortunately for the Mets, as Johnson's power faded, so did their run at the postseason and the defending champions missed the playoffs. The entire league took notice of Johnson's unexpected rise in 1987 and he received 42 points in the voting for National League MVP. His home run and RBI totals were second only to Strawberry on the team and his home runs were seventh-best in the entire majors. His right-handed hitting was substantially better than his left-handed hitting with numbers better in almost every category including a batting average 36 points higher and slugging 74 points higher. His 36 home runs overall were the most in National League history by a switch-hitter, breaking Ripper Collins' 53-year-old record.
In 1988, Johnson received a raise from $297,500 to $695,000. He reverted to hitting much better from the left side with a .183 average and .338 slugging from the right side. A mid-season injury to his right shoulder contributed to his poor offense. One bright spot was September 8, 1988, when he had the only five-hit game of his career, going 5-for-5 with a three-run home run and four RBIs in a Wrigley Field victory. While Johnson was struggling to stay above .230, the Mets tried out 21-year-old third-base prospect, Gregg Jefferies, who blazed through September. After 13 games, Jefferies, who was also a switch hitter, had a batting average of .462 and a fantastic slugging percentage of .962 with five home runs, a four-hit game and four three-hit games. Despite Johnson's mediocre season, the Mets easily coasted to a division win but Johnson went 1-for-18 with six strikeouts in the 1988 NLCS. With the heavily favored Mets down 3–2 in the series, he was benched for Games 6 and 7 in favor of Jefferies. Johnson pinch-hit in Game 7 and struck out for the final out of the Mets disappointing season.
1988–1989: Trade rumors With Johnson and Jefferies competing for the third base job, the 1988–89 off-season was filled with trade rumors. The logjam was cleared when second baseman Wally Backman was traded to the Minnesota Twins making Jefferies the Mets' regular second baseman in 1989. Johnson was moved from sixth or seventh in the lineup to third, in front of star slugger Darryl Strawberry, who had led the N.L. in home runs and slugging in 1988. Johnson batted .340 with 11 home runs in June, earning him his first National League Player of the Month Award. On July 9, the Mets announced that they signed Johnson to a three-year contract extension worth $6.1 million, making him their second-highest paid player behind Dwight Gooden.
Mike Schmidt was elected to start at third base for the N.L. but he retired six weeks before the game. As a result, Johnson was chosen to start for his first All-Star Game. In his first All-Star at bat, he drove in the second run of the game in which the N.L. lost 5–3. Johnson played well in the second half but an overall team slowdown knocked the Mets out of the playoffs. With his 30th home run on August 20, 1989, Johnson joined Bobby Bonds and Willie Mays as the only multi-year members of the 30–30 club. The only other infielders in major league history who had had multiple 30–30 seasons as of 2011 were Ian Kinsler, Alfonso Soriano, and Jeff Bagwell. Johnson ended the 1989 season with 36 home runs, tying his career-high and his own N.L. record for switch hitters. He also broke the 100-RBI mark for the first time, finishing with 101. Only Kevin Mitchell's career year stopped Johnson from winning both the home run and slugging titles in the N.L. like his teammate Strawberry had done in 1987. Johnson also stole 41 bases, a career high, and scored 104 runs which tied for first in the N.L. He received 153 points in voting for N.L. MVP, finishing fifth. Both his on-base percentage and slugging from 1989 were career highs.