Dan Johnson (baseball)

Dan Johnson

Johnson with the Yokohama BayStars

Free agent

First baseman / Pitcher

Born: August 10, 1979 (age 37)
Coon Rapids, Minnesota

Batted: Left

Threw: Right

Professional debut

MLB: May 27, 2005, for the Oakland Athletics

NPB: 2009, for the Yokohama BayStars

Last appearance

NPB: 2009, for the Yokohama BayStars

MLB: July 28, 2015, for the St. Louis Cardinals

MLB statistics

Batting average

.234

Home runs

Runs batted in

203

NPB statistics

Batting average

.215

Home runs

Runs batted in

Teams

Daniel Ryan "Dan" Johnson (born August 10, 1979) is an American professional baseball first baseman and pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in most of ten seasons in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball, but has never held a Major League starting job for an entire season. He is perhaps best known for hitting a dramatic two-out, two-strike home run for the Tampa Bay Rays in the bottom of the ninth inning of the last game of the 2011 season, also known as Wild Card Wednesday. That home run tied the game, which the Rays eventually won, sending them to the playoffs. His clutch hitting for the Rays, along with his red hair and beard, earned him the nickname "The Great Pumpkin".

Also within his extensive Minor League Baseball career that began in 2001, Johnson has won a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in two different Triple-A leagues. He won the Pacific Coast League MVP in 2004 and the International League MVP in 2010.

In 2016, Johnson signed with the Rays organization, entering spring training as a knuckleball pitcher.

Johnson graduated from Blaine High School, in Blaine, Minnesota in 1997. He then attended Butler University for his freshman year, when he was named All-Conference in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. He transferred to a junior college, and finally ended up at the University of Nebraska, where he helped the Cornhuskers make a College World Series appearance, and earned All-American honors.

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Wikipedia