Charles Johnson (baseball)

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Charles Edward Johnson, Jr. (born July 20, 1971 in Fort Pierce, Florida) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He bats and throws right-handed.

Johnson had previously played for the Florida Marlins (1994-1998, 2001-2002), Los Angeles Dodgers (1998), Baltimore Orioles (1999-2000), Chicago White Sox (2000), Colorado Rockies (2003-2004), and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2005). Johnson was also a member of the Boston Red Sox organization for less than a day.

Johnson graduated from Fort Pierce Westwood High School in Fort Pierce, Florida, in 1989 and attended the University of Miami before being drafted by the Florida Marlins in the first round of the 1992 amateur draft.

Known as "C.J.", Charles Johnson was an outstanding defensive catcher, having won four consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He was also known for having a great arm and prevented many baserunners from stealing bases. He caught a no-hitter thrown by Al Leiter in the 1996 season. In the 1997 season with the Florida Marlins, Johnson played in 123 games without committing a single error, a Major League record. That same season, he caught a no-hitter thrown by pitcher Kevin Brown. Also in 1997, Johnson helped the Marlins win the World Series. He also caught AJ Burnett's no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in his return to the Marlins. The only Marlins no-hitter C.J. did not catch for Florida was in 2006 when Anibal Sanchez threw a no hitter in Dolphin Stadium against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

On March 30, 2005, the Rockies traded Johnson and pitcher Chris Narveson to the Red Sox for pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim and cash.[1] On June 13, 2005, Johnson was released by the Devil Rays, and opted to retire soon afterwards. He now lives in Miami with his wife, Rhonda, and their two sons, Brandon and Beau.

In a 12-season career, Johnson is a .245 hitter with 167 home runs and 570 RBI in 1188 games. He and Kevin Millar (currently playing for the Baltimore Orioles) are the only players in the Portland Sea Dogs Hall of Fame as of 2006.

[edit] See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube