Clearwater’s Johnson Shares Memories of World Series Journey

Howard Johnson knows firsthand the euphoria of MLB postseason success.

With the American and National League Championship Series ongoing, four teams are vying for the final two spots, all with hopes of continuing their 2023 seasons with World Series play.

For some, playing on baseball’s grandest of stages in autumn will be a repeated experience. For others, such as rookies playing deep into October (and possibly early November), childhood fantasies will come alive.

For Pinellas Country native and Clearwater High School alum Howard Johnson, twice during his 14-year MLB career, the victory of the game’s ultimate prize was his to share.

As a member of the 1984 Detroit Tigers, a club that won the American League Eastern Division by 15 games (the Tigers won their division wire-to-wire, by opening their season 9-0 and being 35-5 after 40 games), the club reached the World Series by sweeping the Kansas City Royals in a best of five series.

Fast forward two seasons later, after being traded by Detroit to the New York Mets prior to the 1985 season, Johnson contributed as a slugging third baseman to a club that posted a 108-54 record.

The Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game Fall Classic, featuring a miraculous comeback in Game 6.

Johnson, who played college ball at St. Petersburg College (then-junior college) and was the Tigers’ top amateur draft selection in 1979, was 2-for-2 in World Series play.

Some of the game’s greatest players, such as the late Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, never experienced the pageantry and competitiveness of being with one of the two final teams playing in October. Johnson knows what clubhouse celebrations are like, with champagne being sprayed about, as a status of prestige and baseball superiority.

So, how do ballplayers who play their games daily in front of thousands handle the increased pressures of performing on a World Series stage?

“In the postseason, you must have tunnel vision. With my family, they had to understand that dad was very busy and that I had to be at the field earlier than usual,” Johnson said earlier this week during a phone conversation.

“You must set parameters early on and focus on your game. In the postseason, everything slows down. You think deeper about the game, on what could happen. There’s nothing like a playoff series. It’s such a show.”

In listening to Johnson recall his career highlights of the fall, two things are clear. Details of events from decades ago remain fresh and are every bit as exciting as when the final out was made both at Tiger Stadium and Shea Stadium.

Also, with all his personal success from playing in 1,531 MLB games for four clubs (Johnson’s final season came in 1995 with the Chicago Cubs), there isn’t a hint of aloofness about him. In fact, when discussing his baseball experiences, Johnson comes off as a fan who appreciated having the best seat in the house for World Series play.

Given the pressures of playing before thousands in the stadiums and millions watching on TV, Johnson remembers the most important ingredient to his good fortune as a professional athlete – to have fun.

Enjoying playing the regular season schedule of 162 games with his teammates, Johnson stresses that come postseason, you must take the ensuing games one at a time.

“It’s easier to stay in the times, by looking at each series a game at a time,” says Johnson who fully expected to be traded by the Tigers after the 1984 season, which was his first full season in Detroit.

For Johnson, memories of World Series winnings linger for a “long time”.

First, Johnson maps out, you are celebrating with your winning team in the clubhouse. There is “party time” in the city for which you play. Then, when returning to the city where you live, according to Johnson, locally there is a celebration mainly with your family.

Then, it’s spring training time; you’re the reigning champions. You are with the team everyone wants to beat.

Going from a Tigers’ team that earned a 104-58 record, managed by a future hall of famer in Anderson, and two teammates destined for Cooperstown immortality in Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, to a new ballclub, in a new league, could have put the brakes on Johnson’s confidence. But it didn’t.

“I was excited to be traded to the Mets,” explained Johnson. Within two seasons with New York’s club in Queens, a second World Series ring was sized for him.

Whereas Johnson’s participation in the 1984 World Series was limited, a fact the infielder knew ahead of time as Anderson said he was going to go with his veterans in the series with the San Diego Padres, his disappointment in playing time didn’t override his being part of a special club.

“I played for two great teams,” Johnson says. “I wasn’t a pivotal player, but I was part of them. Sometimes you try so hard, maybe too hard. Baseball is a game of give and take. If you take more than you give, you could lose your thought process.”

Johnson continues to watch postseason play. Up until the 2019 season, Johnson had been coaching in pro ball for the Texas Rangers organization. Johnson has had a hand in developing some of the players currently on the Rangers’ roster. Now, the two-time all-star and winner of as many Silver Slugger Awards is enjoying the game on a more personal level. Coaching kids; having their eyes and ears on the diamond is greatly fulfilling.

With all his professional accolades collected as an MLB player who led the National League in home runs (38) and RBIs (117) in the 1991 season, for Johnson, the baseball bug bit him hard as he watched the Philadelphia Phillies during spring training sessions at what was then Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater.

The stadium is located off of Seminole Street, just three miles from his high school. Johnson tells of his routine in seeing some of the game’s greats preparing for their season ahead.

“Back then, our high school had two sessions. Juniors and seniors attended classes 7:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. I’d be able to go over (Jack Russell Stadium) to a lot of games. It was a blast,” Johnson remembers. I’d watch Schmidt (Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt) hit and listen to Harry Kalas call the Phillies’ games on radio.”

Johnson tells of his father suggesting that to be good, you should hang around with the best, and study them. Much of what the future New York Mets Hall of Famer (Class of 2023) observed at Phillies spring training remained with him and was incorporated into his MLB career.

For an athlete like Johnson who experienced the highest of highs in two of MLB’s most storied markets, in listening to him recount his most public accomplishments, it’s both amazing and refreshing to know how much of a ‘regular guy’ he remains. Clearly, a product of outstanding parenting and will to exceed only the elite master.