For the 19th century baseball player, see Lou Johnson (pitcher).

Louis Brown Johnson (born September 22, 1934 in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

), nicknamed "Sweet Lou" and "Slick", is a former Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 outfielder

Outfielder

Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

. From 1962 through 1969, Johnson played for the 1962 Milwaukee Braves

1962 Milwaukee Braves season

- Offseason :* October 10, 1961: Merritt Ranew was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1961 MLB expansion draft.* November 8, 1961: Ellis Burton and Lou Jackson were acquired by the Braves from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of a minor league working agreement.* November 28,...

, was back in the minor league for '63 and '64, then played for the Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

 (1965–67), 1968 Chicago Cubs

1968 Chicago Cubs season

- Offseason :* November 28, 1967: Ramón Hernández was drafted by the Cubs from the Atlanta Braves in the 1967 rule 5 draft.* November 30, 1967: Paul Popovich and Jim Williams were traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Lou Johnson....

, 1968 Cleveland Indians

1968 Cleveland Indians season

- Offseason :* October 17, 1967: Jim King was released by the Indians.* October 26, 1967: Marv Staehle was sent to the Indians by the Chicago White Sox to complete an earlier deal made on July 29, 1967.* November 28, 1967: Darrell Sutherland was drafted by the Indians from the New York Mets in the...

, and the 1969 California Angels

1969 California Angels season

The California Angels season was a season in American baseball. In the first season following the split of the American League into two divisions, the Angels finished third in the newly-established American League West with a record of 71 wins and 91 losses....

. Johnson both batted and threw right-handed.

A star in basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 as well as baseball in high school, Johnson dreamt of playing basketball at the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 under the legendary coach Adolph Rupp

Adolph Rupp

Adolph Frederick Rupp was one of the most successful coaches in the history of American college basketball. Rupp is fourth in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching...

. However, at the time, members of the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (of which Kentucky is an affiliate) weren't recruiting black athletes. Some colleges didn't even allow black students to enroll.

Johnson was signed up by the New York Yankees

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

 as an amateur free agent

Free agent

In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....

 in 1953

1953 in baseball

-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Brooklyn Dodgers *All-Star Game, July 14 at Crosley Field: National League, 5-1-Other champions:*Caribbean World Series: Cangrejeros de Santurce *College World Series: Michigan...

. After moving around from team to team in the minor leagues

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 for about a decade. Then, he played in 61 games for the 1962 Milwaukee Braves

1962 Milwaukee Braves season

- Offseason :* October 10, 1961: Merritt Ranew was drafted from the Braves by the Houston Colt .45s in the 1961 MLB expansion draft.* November 8, 1961: Ellis Burton and Lou Jackson were acquired by the Braves from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of a minor league working agreement.* November 28,...

. However, after that, the Braves traded Johnson to the Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

 system, which sent him back to the minor leagues for the 1963 and '64 seasons, and then traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

 for the pitcher Larry Sherry

Larry Sherry

Lawrence Sherry was an American right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers...

.

Then Johnson finally made it into the major leagues for a stretch beginning in with the Dodgers. A broken ankle in early May sidelined Tommy Davis

Tommy Davis

Herman Thomas Davis, Jr. is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder and third baseman. He played from 1959-1976 for ten different teams, but he is best known for his years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. During an 18-year baseball career, Davis batted .294 with 153 home runs, 2,121...

, their regular left fielder, for the remainder of the season. Johnson filled in for Davis, playing in 130 games for the Dodgers that season, scoring 57 runs, knocking in 58 runs, and batting 0.260. In that season, Johnson also scored the only run in Sandy Koufax

Sandy Koufax

Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...

's perfect game

Perfect game

A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...

 victory when he walked

Base on balls

A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...

, went to second base on a sacrifice bunt, stolen [third base, and then scored on a throwing error

Error

The word error entails different meanings and usages relative to how it is conceptually applied. The concrete meaning of the Latin word "error" is "wandering" or "straying". Unlike an illusion, an error or a mistake can sometimes be dispelled through knowledge...

 by the Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

. The Dodgers made it to the 1965 World Series

1965 World Series

The 1965 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the American League champion Minnesota Twins, who had won their first pennant since 1933 when the team was known as the Washington Senators...

 versus the Minnesota Twins

1965 Minnesota Twins season

The Minnesota Twins won the 1965 American League pennant with a 102-60 record. It was the team's first pennant since moving to Minnesota, and the 102 wins was a team record.- Regular season :...

, and in this Series, Johnson had eight hits, including two home run

Home run

In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...

s, the second one being the game-winning one in the decisive seventh game.

Then, 1966 was Johnson's high-water season in the major leagues. With Tommy Davis back in left field, and Willie Davis in center field, Johnson played mostly in right field. Frequently batting third in the order, right ahead of the dangerous hitter Tommy Davis, Johnson set career highs by playing in 152 games, getting 526 at-bats, 143 hits, 17 home runs, scoring 71 runs, and batting in 73. Johnson's batting average that season was .272, and the Dodgers made it to the World Series once again.

This was also Koufax's last year in baseball before retiring because of his damaged and getting-worse left arm. In this World Series, the Dodgers' offense hit rock-bottom, with the teams getting shut out three times, and only scoring two runs in the four games. Johnson finished the series with just four hits in 15 at-bats.

From this point on, Johnson's major league career rapidly wound down, as he played in just 104 games for the Dodgers in 1967, a combined 127 for the Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 and the Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

 in 1968, and just 67 for the California Angels in 1969, with a very low .203 batting average. In 1970, at the age of just 35, Johnson was out of professional baseball for good.

In his approximately four-year-long Major League career, Johnson posted a 0.258 overall average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 with 48 home runs and 232 RBI

Run batted in

Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...

 in 677 games played

Games played

Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,...

.

Today, Sweet Lou is an integral part of the Dodgers’ Community Relations efforts and a member of the Dodgers Speakers’ Bureau, while remaining active with various charities in Southern California and nationally, as well. Johnson serves as a member of the advisory board of the Baseball Assistance Team

Baseball Assistance Team

The Baseball Assistance Team is a 501 non-profit affiliated with Major League Baseball. The organization's stated goal is to "help members of the baseball family who have come on hard times and are in need of assistance," and is guided by the principles of teamwork, caring, and sharing...

, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro League players through financial and medical difficulties.

External links

• Baseball Library - profile