Art Johnson (pitcher)

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Arthur Henry Johnson (July 16, 1919 – April 27, 2008^[1]) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Bees & Braves from 1940 through 1942. Listed at 6'2", 185 lb., Johnson also batted left-handed.

Born in Winchester, Massachusetts, he began his minor league career with Erie of the Middle Atlantic League in 1938. That year, in 14 games, he won 2 and lost 6. In 1939, he was with Evansville of the Three-I League. In 12 games, he won all four of his decisions, earning a promotion to Hartford the next year. 1940 was his best year in baseball. In 33 games with Hartford of the Eastern League, Johnson won 17 and lost 11, with 27 complete games. This earned him a promotion to the major league Boston Bees at the end of the regular minor league season.

In a three-season major league career, Johnson posted a 7-16 record with 71 strikeouts and a 3.68 earned run average in 49 appearances, including 19 starts, six complete games, one save, and 195⅔ innings pitched.

Johnson went on to serve in the Navy during World War II in the Pacific as a gunner's mate aboard the aircarft carrier USS Langley; he received the Purple Heart after suffering shrapnel wounds to his knees when a Japanese kamikaze crashed into the deck.

Johnson married Loretta Gaffney in May 1942; they had been high school classmates, both being named the most athletic members of their 1938 senior class. He was recognized as one of the oldest living MLB players until his death in Holden, Massachusetts on April 27, 2008; widely believed to have been 91,^[2] after his death he was reported to have actually been three years younger.