Howard Johnson
Howard Michael "HoJo" Johnson (born November 29, 1960, in Clearwater, FL) was the hitting coach during the 1996 season for the Butte Copper Kings, Tampa Bay's Advanced-Rookie affiliate in the Pioneer League.
Professional Career
Best known for his days as an All-Star third baseman for the New York Mets, Johnson began his professional career as a pitcher in the Detroit Tigers system. He also played for the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs in a Major League career that spanned 1982 to 1995.
Career with Tampa Bay
In May, 1996, Tampa Bay announced Johnson's signing to their coaching staff and his assignment to Butte.[1] He presided over a Copper Kings team that had a collective .309 batting average, .380 on-base percentage and .444 slugging percentage and scored more than 7 runs per game.
Johnson had been assigned to the same position with the Devil Rays' new Class-A South Atlantic League affiliate, the Charleston RiverDogs for the 1997 season.[2] However, a month later he left the organization to pursue a comeback as a player by signing a minor league contract with the Mets.[3] Before the beginning of the regular season, Johnson ended his comeback attempt after a poor showing in Spring Training (4 hits, including 1 home run, in 31 at-bats).[4]
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
Howard Johnson on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ Topkin, Marc (June 6, 1996). "Rays add HoJo as a coach". St. Petersburg Times: p. 1C.
- ↑ "Transactions - Baseball - Major League Baseball". The New York Times. January 10, 1997. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/10/sports/transactions-101923.html. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- ↑ "HoJo back with New York Mets". The Gainseville Sun: p. 2C. February 11, 1997. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F8JWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r-oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1610,2602139.
- ↑ Associated Press (March 27, 1997). "HoJo ends comeback attempt with Mets". Toledo Blade. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IrtAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BAQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6695%2C9486954.
