- Tim Johnson (baseball)
Timothy Evald Johnson (born
July 22 ,1949 inGrand Forks ,North Dakota ) is a former player and manager inMajor League Baseball . A shortstop and utility infielder, he became better known as a manager when he was caught lying about his service in theVietnam War .Playing career
After signing with the
Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967 as a free agent, Johnson was traded to theMilwaukee Brewers forRick Auerbach prior to the 1973 season while still a minor leaguer. Johnson played everyday for the 1973 Brewers atshortstop , but lost his starting job next season toRobin Yount , thus forcing him to settle in as a utility infielder. He was traded to theToronto Blue Jays during the 1978 season where he retired a year later with a lifetime .223batting average in 516 career games.Scouting, coaching and managerial career
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 andChicago Cubs .1998 Toronto Blue Jays season
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 notablyDavey Johnson (no relation),Larry Bowa ,Paul Molitor andBuck 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 , andCy Young Award winnerRoger Clemens , all of whom left the team after the 1998 season.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 by|1992 and by|1993.Vietnam War stories controversy
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. [cite news |first=Jason |last=Diamos |title=Jays' Manager Is Hounded by War Tales |url= |work=New York Times |publisher=New York Times Company |date=December 15, 1998 |accessdate=2007-07-20 ]
However, in late November, Johnson told several Toronto newspapers that all of these stories were completely made up. In truth, Johnson had been in the Marine Corps reserves throughout the war, and trained mortarmen at
Camp Pendleton while playing in the Dodgers' farm system. He'd also claimed for over 20 years that he'd been an All-American high school basketball player, and turned down a scholarship to attendUCLA . [cite book |last=Neyer |first=Rob |authorlink=Rob Neyer |coauthors= |title=Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders |year=2006 |publisher=Fireside |location=New York City |isbn=0743284917 ]During the 1998 baseball winter meetings, Johnson said that admitting the truth was like having "a 50,000 pound weight" taken off his shoulders. He said he'd 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. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/news/1998/12/17/johnson_vietnam/ CNN/SI - Baseball MLB - Jays' Johnson apologizes for Vietnam tales - Thursday December 17, 1998 02:08 PM ] ]
Departure from the Blue Jays
The Blue Jays were initially willing to stand by Johnson and let him return for by|1999. At
spring training , he apologized to the entire team, and later said that he didn't 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")Fact|date=June 2008. Finally, onMarch 17 --less than a month before opening day--Blue Jays general managerGord Ash fired Johnson and replaced him withJim Fregosi . Ash said that Johnson's presence had become so much of a distraction that he felt he would have to fire Johnson "if not now ... 30 or 45 days from now." He decided that he had to act in order to save the season. [cite news |first=Murray |last=Chass |title=False War Tales Lead Jays to Drop Johnson |url= |work=New York Times |publisher=New York Times Company |date=March 18, 1999 |accessdate=2007-07-20 ]Managerial record
After MLB
Following his dismissal from the Blue Jays, Johnson spent four seasons as manager in the
Mexican League , with theMexico City Diablos Rojos in 1999-2002,Obregon Yaquis in 2002-03 and then with theMexicali Aguilas in 2004-05.In 2004, Johnson became manager of the
Lincoln Saltdogs of the Northern League. In 2006, the Lincoln team joined the American Association. On September 24th, 2008, Tim Johnson resigned from his duties as manager of theLincoln Saltdogs .References
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