Johnson was born in Horace, Nebraska, and graduated from Harvard, Nebraska, High School in 1944. He was signed by the St. Louis Browns as an amateur free agent in 1949 and made his Major League debut with the Browns on April 20, 1952. A reserve catcher during his six-year Major League career (1952; 1957–58; 1960–62), Johnson also played for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles, who released him on June 12, 1962, ending his playing career. He was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg) and threw and batted right-handed. In 134 MLB games played, he batted .234 lifetime, with his 75 hits including six doubles, one triple and two home runs.\n', '

Johnson\'s playing career was interrupted by an eleven-month stint as an MLB coach with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960–61. After playing in eight games, with three plate appearances, for the 1960 Cardinals, he was released as a player on August 5 and added to the coaching staff of manager Solly Hemus, then reappointed for 1961. When the Redbirds fired Hemus on July 6, 1961, Johnson was released along with him. Three days later, he signed a player\'s contract with the last-place Philadelphia Phillies and caught 21 games for them in five weeks before being sold to the pennant-contending Cincinnati Reds on August 14.\n', '

The Reds were then 2½ games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, but over the final six weeks of the season they overtook the Dodgers to win the National League championship by four full contests. Johnson appeared in 20 games (including 17 as the club\'s starting catcher, with the Reds going 8–9). In limited duty, he batted .315 with 17 hits, including his second and last big-league home run, hit off the Dodgers\' Johnny Podres on August 16. He appeared in the 1961 World Series against his former team, the Yankees, and had two singles in four at bats (both of them off Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Ford) as the Reds lost to the slugging Yanks of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, four games to one. He started Games 1 and 4, both of them Cincinnati defeats.\n', '

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