(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Jay Johnstone...
(1945 - 2020) |
 Longtime Major League-outfielder and 'Naked Gun'-batter Jay Johnstone passed away
Nederlands
 GRANADA HILLS (Los Angeles), California (USA) -
Former Major League-outfielder Jay Johnstone, who played for nine different teams in 20 Major League-seasons, passed away on Saturday (September 26) at age 74 due to complications from the coronavirus (COVID-19).
It has also been reported that Johnstone suffered from dementia in recent years.
Jay Johnstone is also known as being the batter in the hilarious baseball-scene in the comedy-movie The Naked Gun.
John William Johnstone, Jr. was born on November 20, 1945 in Manchester, Connecticut.
Johnstone went on to play on the Major League for California Angels (1966-1970), Chicago White Sox (1971-1972), Oakland Athletics (1973), Philadelphia Phillies (1974-1978), New York Yankees (1978-1979), San Diego Padres (1979), Los Angeles Dodgers (1980-1982; 1985) and Chicago Cubs (1982-1984).
While attending Edgewood High School, Johnstone was signed by Los Angeles Angels in 1963.
After playing in the Minor League since 1963 (Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A), Johstone made his Major League-debut in 1966 playing for California Angels (which had become the new name of the team in September 1965).
In his first big league-season, the outfielder played in 61 games and batted .264.
Johstone played in five seasons for California for whom he was a regular in 1969, playing in 148 games.
On July 3, 1970, Clyde Wright threw a No-Hitter for California against Oakland Athletics and it was Johnstone who saved the game.
In the seventh inning, Reggie Jackson drove the ball into deep centerfield.
There, Johnstone made a running catch just in front of the wall.
In November 1970, Johnstone was traded to Chicago White Sox.
In his two seasons with the ChiSox, he batted .260 and .188.
After being released in early March 1973, he was signed later that month by Oakland Athletics.
He played one season for the A's, appearing in only 23 games and batting .107 (three basehits).
Early January 1974, his contract was purchased by St. Louis Cardinals, who then released him 2½ months later.
A week later, Johnstone signed with Philadelphia Phillies.
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| ...The covers of the books Jay Johnstone wrote... |
Johnstone was a regular player for Philadelphia for almost five seasons.
He batted .329 in 1975 and .318 in 1976 when he played in 122 and 129 games respectively.
In June 1978, Philadelphia traded Johnstone to New York Yankees with Bobby Brown in exchange for pitcher Rawly Eastwick.
In the remainder of the 1978 season, he played in 36 games for New York with whom he then played in the World Series.
New York defeated Los Angeles Dodgers to win the title.
In the first part of the 1979 season, Johnstone played in 23 games.
In June of that year, he was traded again, this time to San Diego Padres for whom he then played in 75 games and batted .294.
After the season, he became a Free Agent, then signed shortly thereafter with Los Angeles Dodgers.
In his first season with Los Angeles (1980), the outfielder played in 109 games and batted .307 with two homeruns.
In 1981, Johnstone again won the World Series, this time with Los Angeles.
During the Series against New York Yankees, Johnstone hit a pinch-hit 2-run homerun for Los Angeles in Game 4.
That helped the team to turn a 6-3 deficit into an 8-7 victory.
With the win, the Series was now tied at 2-2.
Thereafter, Los Angeles won the next two games to win the title.
In May 1982, the Dodgers released Johnstone, who then signed shortly thereafter with Chicago Cubs.
After having played in 86 games for Chicago in 1983 and appearing in 52 games the following year, Johnston was released again in September 1984.
He found a new home the following February when he again signed with Los Angeles Dodgers.
In the 1985 season, Johnstone played in only 17 games for the Dodgers, recorded two basehits and batted .133.
After the 1985 season, Johnstone was released and retired.
In his long 20-year career, Jay Johnstone played in 1.748 games.
He batted .267 with 1.254 basehits, including 102 homeruns.
The outfielder scored 578 runs and batted in 531.
After his playing career, Jay Johnstone was the radio color commentator for New York Yankees-games in 1989 and 1990 and for Philadelphia Phillies in 1992-1993.
...Part of the hilarious baseball-scene from 'Naked Gun' (1988)...
...Jay Johnstone is the batter, Leslie Nielsen the HP Umpire... |
Throughout his career, Johnstone was known for his good sense of humor and his pranks in the clubhouse.
He loved to have fun at the games.
Amongst his recorded pranks are setting cleats of teammates on fire or nailing cleats to the floor.
He also locked Dodger-Manager Tom Lasorda in his office during Spring Training and dressed up as groundskeeper with teammate Jerry Reuss to drag the field of Dodger Stadium during a game.
Many of his his pranks can be read in the books Temporary Insanity, Over the Edge (1885) and Some of My Best Friends Are Crazy (1990), which he co-authored with Rick Talley.
He also became known for his role as batter for Seattle Mariners in the comedy-movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988).
The film starred the legendary Leslie Nielsen as Police Lieutenant Frank Drebin.
Also starring were Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy and O.J. Simpson.
Player Reggie Jackson also plays a part in the movie, which was directed by David Zucker.
While at Anaheim Stadium, Drebin (Nielsen) takes over as Home Plate Umpire to search for a weapon.
What follows is one of the most hilarious and funniest movie-moments ever.
Los Angeles Dodgers tweeted the following message:
,,The Dodgers are saddened by the passing of former Dodger Jay Johnstone and offer their deepest condolences to his family and friends''.
New York Yankees also placed a tweet:
,,We are saddened to learn of the passing of Jay Johnstone.
The Yankees organization extends its deepest condolences to Jay's family and friends.
He will be missed''.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family of Jay Johnstone and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(September 29)
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