Jeff Johnson (baseball)

William Jeffrey Johnson (born August 4, 1966) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played with the New York Yankees for his entire Major League career. Born in Durham, North Carolina, Johnson attended South Granville High School, then University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he played college baseball. He was only one of nine people from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to have played Major League Baseball.[1] On June 1, 1988, Johnson was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 6th round (157th overall pick) of the 1988 amateur draft.[2][3] He was listed at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) in height, and 200 lb. in weight. During his three-year Major League Baseball career, Johnson batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He is currently the pitching coach for the West Virginia Power.

Jeff Johnson
Pitcher
Born: (1966-08-04) August 4, 1966 (age 57)
Durham, North Carolina, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Left
MLB debut
June 5, 1991, for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
June 12, 1993, for the New York Yankees
MLB statistics
Win–loss record8–16
Earned run average6.52
Strikeouts76
Teams

Major League Baseball career edit

Jeff Johnson made his major league debut on June 5, 1991 at age 24 with the New York Yankees. On that day, the Toronto Blue Jays were playing against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, with 21,213 people attending the game.[4] Johnson was the starting pitcher for the game.[4] He pitched until the seventh inning, then he was replaced by Eric Plunk.[4] Plunk finished the game. Unfortunately, at the end of the game, the New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 4–1.[4]

The New York Times published an article on March 20, 1992, mentioning that Johnson had been bothered by rumors he had heard about the New York Yankees pursuing different pitchers.[5] Johnson played his final major league baseball game on June 12, 1993. On September 17, 1993, Johnson was released by the New York Yankees.[2] He then signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians on February 14, 1994, though he never pitched for them.[2] At the end of his career, Johnson had pitched a total of 182.1 innings. He also earned a career earned run average (ERA) of 6.52, with 8 wins and 16 losses, along with 76 strikeouts.

References edit

  1. ^ "MLB players who attended University of North Carolina at Charlotte". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  2. ^ a b c "Transactions". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  3. ^ "Jeff Johnson Stats". baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  4. ^ a b c d "The Toronto Blue Jays against the New York Yankees on June 5, 1991". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  5. ^ Jack Curry (March 1992). "BASEBALL; Jeff Johnson Bothered by Rumor and Bad Impressions". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-29.

External links edit