Fred Johnson

Career Batting Stats G AB H R HR RBI SB AVG SLG OBP OPS OPS+ 27 39 6 2 0 3 0 .154 .154 .154 .308 40.7

Full Bio
Only the pitiful St. Louis Browns would give a 44-year old pitcher a chance, but considering that their team ERA in 1938 was an astronomical 5.80, one can understand why they were so desperate. Johnson was purchased to replace Jim Walkup in the Browns' rotation. Walkup, who lived up to his surname by surrendering nearly twice as many free passes as strikeouts, was 0-10 at the time. “Well, I guess I can improve on that,” Johnson quipped.

Unfortunately, Johnson fared little better in '38, posting a 5.61 ERA in six starts and 17 games overall for the Browns. He did manage to win three games and earned another chance in 1939. But after just five games in '39, Johnson was released, having been rocked for 10 earned runs in 14 innings. His big league career was over, but he was not done pitching.

The real story of Fred "Cactus" Johnson has nothing to do with those two mediocre years with the Browns in 1938-1939, but with his odyssey as one of the most prolific hurlers in minor league history.

Born on March 10, 1894, in Tolar, Texas, to parents Rex Johnson and Fannie (Dunn) Johnson, Frederick Edward Johnson grew into a tall, wiry teenager who was gifted at athletics. In 1920, at the age of 26, he made his professional debut for Cisco of the West texas League. When the team failed to draw fans, the owner turned to a novel approach to shave expenses: he cut most of his ballplayers. “We got down to only 10 players," Johnson said, "and a scrawny kid and I did all the pitching. I pitched 35 games in 47 days and sometimes worked two straight. My arm didn’t hurt, but it was numb almost all the time.” Johnson went 8-9 for Cisco and surrendered 181 hits in 164 innings. Throughout his career he would allow his ahre of hits, but displayed remarkable control. His philosophy was to let the batters get themselves out.

The following season, Cisco folded in mid-schedule, and the remaining players were incorporated onto the Abilene ballclub. Johnson paced the team with 12 victories and walked just 37 batters in more than 215 innings. Nine more wins and fine control earned him a promotion to San Antonio of the Texas League in 1922. In San Antonio, the lanky right-hander won five of his eight starts and posted a 2.63 ERA. Late in the year, John McGraw's bird dogs in the area recommended him, and "Muggsy" bought his contract. Johnson spent the last month of the 1922 campaign with the Giants, mostly on the bench. At the tail end of the season, with the pennant clinched, Johnson pitched the first half of two doubleheaders. On September 27, in his debut, he lost 5-3, to the Phillies; and on October 1, he was shutout, 3-0 by the Braves. He had hurled two complete game losses, allowing three homers and eight earned runs, while fanning eight and walking just one. That performance earned him a seat for the World Series, where he watched his new teammates dismantle the Yankees in five games.

In 1923, the 29-year old Johnson broke camp with the Giants. But his chances of pitching frequently were limited. “A young fellow didn’t have a ghost of a chance of breaking into that select group,” Johnson said of the Giant staff that included Art Nehf, Jack Bentley, and other established hurlers.

Johnson started two games for the Gaints in the first part of the 1923 season, earning a win against Burleigh Grimes of the Dodgers, and a no-decision in his other start. He also recorded one victory out of the bullpen for a 2-0 mark with 4.24 ERA in 17 innings. But McGraw had little use for a spot starter, and Johnson was released to San Antonio. Back in the Texas League, Johnson struggled to a 6-7 mark with a 7.00 ERA in 81 innings. He latched on with Waco in '23, pitching in five games, before landing with Toledo in the American Association. He saw a lot of action with the Mud Hens, pitching in 19 games in just six weeks, winning four and losing 11.

Johnson remained in a Toledo uniform from 1924 through much of 1926. At this time, as he later said, he began to rely more on his breaking pitches, essentially abandoning his fastball, which was probably average at best. Because of this tactic, despite success in the minors, scouts paid little attention to Johnson. He gained a reputation as a slow-tosser.

In 1924 and 1925, Johnson was used mostly out of the bullpen for Toledo, as younger pitchers were given the starting assignments in most cases. These years began a stretch where Johnson's ERA settled into a consistent range. His yearly ERA figures from 1924-1927, were 4.78, 4.71, 4.73, and 4.31. In 1926, after nearly three years as a Mud Hen, Johnson was sold to Nashville of the Southern Association. He was immediately inserted into the starting rotation and won nine games for Nashville. Thew following season he garnered 17 victories for Nashville, pitching with his usual results: lots of hits, few walks, few strikeouts, and pitching often. Johnson's durability grew legendary. He believed that pitching often made his arm stronger, and on days after he had started a game, Johnson would insist on throwing at least an hour of batting practice.

In 1928, the 34-year old pitched for Memphis, also of the Southern Association. He logged 18 wins that season, with a fine 3.49 ERA in 250 innings. Nearing his mid-30s, Johnson was reaching his prime. Splitting time between Mobile and New Orleans in 1929, he went 13-11 with a 3.54 ERA. Despite his steady performance and rubber arm, bog league scouts ignored Johnson. Major league teams at the wrong end of the standings were starved for arms, but "the old warhorse" was not on their horizon.

The 1930 campaign began a five-year stretch for Johnson with New Orleans. That year, he went 16-8, and followed it with a 21-12 mark in 1931, leading the Southern Association in victories, and posting a nifty 3.32 ERA. In 1932, at the age of 38, Johnson led the loop in innings pitched (with 299), and the following year he again paced the league in victories, with 21, while also winning the ERA title, at 3.03 in 288 innings. In 1933 he walked just 48 batters in those 288 frames of work. He was at his peak as a pitcher, using a variety of breaking pitches from several different arm angles. His freakish deliveries baffled batters.

Johnson's favorite, and most famous pitch, was the "butterfly ball." The butterfly ball was most likely a slow slider. A photo of his grip for the butterfly ball makes it look very much like a slider grip. Given that Johnson was known to throw the ball with little velocity, it's safe to assume it was a slow, dipping, slider, which tailed away from left-handers and in on righties.

In his final season with New Orleans, Johnson, by this time a huge fan favorite in that southern minor league city, went 20-5 with a 3.89 ERA, with just 45 bases on balls in more than 250 innings on the slab. But his time in New Orleans was over, and his contract was purchased by Fort Worth in 1935. He toiled for two years in Fort Worth, posting losing records for a bad team. In his first season there, in 1935, he recorded a 2.87 ERA but but still went 9-14. In 1937, now 43 years old, the gray-haired Johnson returned to the Toledo Mud Hens, winning nine and losing seven. He was with Toledo in 1938, with a 12-4 record in 23 games, when the Browns came calling.

When Johnson debuted with the Browns he was 44 years old and had been in professional baseball for nearly two decades. His parts of two seasons with the lowly Browns were not the end of his pro career, however. After his release in '39, he went back to Toledo, where he pitched in 19 games, posting a 1-6 mark with a 4.27 ERA. He pitched for the Mud Hens again in 1940, and also hurled for Shreveport in the Texas League and Memphis, once again. Finally, in 1941, at the age of 47, Johnson finished his professional career in the short-lived Cotton States League and with a short stint on Little Rock, where he tossed his final three innings.

"Cactus" had hurled more than 4,200 innings in the minor leagues, notching 252 wins against 218 defeats. With his five big league wins added to the total, he had accumulated 257 victories, a figure matched by few in professional ranks. Had he been given a cnahce as a fourth or fifth starter or a mop-up reliever when he was with the Giants in the 1920s, or had another team bought his contract in the 1920s, he may have enjoyed a long ML career. Admittedly, he was an average big league pitcher, at best, but his durability and consistency were amazing.

In 1939 he told the Detroit News: “Since I broke in with Cisco, Texas, in 1920, I’ve been on the shelf only 16 days. That happened when I was with Memphis in the Southern League.” The rest of his career, which spanned 22 seasons and 15 teams in nine different leagues, Fred Johnson was ready to pitch every day.

Born
Frederick Edward Johnson was born on March 10, 1894, in Tolar, TX.

Died
June 14, 1973, Kerrville, TX

Batted:  Right
Threw:  Right

Major League Debut
9 27,

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1922
Jim Bottomley
Gabby Hartnett
Ossie Bluege
Travis Jackson
Sparky Adams
George Grantham
Fats Fothergill
Fred Haney
Andy High

Nicknames
Deacon,Cactus

He apparently didn't earn "cactus" because of a prickly personality - he was, by all accounts, well liked. It probably has to do with his being from Texas.

Similar Players
His career pattern is extremely unique. As a pitcher he might have been sort of like a right-handed Jamie Moyer.

Best Strength as a Player
His unorthodox pitches, which included his "butterfly pitch," which was probably a slider.

Largest Weakness as a Player
Velocity and flashiness.

Learn More about Fred Johnson
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