Johnnie Tyler

John Anthony Tyler
(Ty Ty or Katz)

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut September 16, 1934
• Final Game September 29, 1935
• Born July 30, 1906 in Mount Pleasant, PA USA
• Died July 11, 1972 in Mount Pleasant, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Johnnie Tyler was an outfielder 14 years (1931-1945), all in the minors except for two cups of coffee in 1934 and 1935, losing one year to the Military. Tyler was born on Monday, July 30, 1906, in Mount Pleasant, PA. He broke into Organized Baseball in 1931 at age 24 with Scottdale in the Middle Atlantic League. He played for Scottdale (1931); Greensboro in the Piedmont League (1932); Charleston in the Middle Atlantic League (1932-1933); Wilkes-Barre in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1933); and Harrisburg in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1933-1934).

Tyler was 28 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 16, 1934, with the Boston Braves. He played for Scranton in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1935) and ended the season back in Boston where he played his final MLB game on September 29, 1935 at age 29. In his two cups of coffee he had 17 hits, 7 runs, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 12 RBI and 0 stolen bases at (.321/.379/.509) in 16 games.

He returned to the minors in 1936 with the Knoxville Smokies in the Southern Association (1936); the Buffalo Bisons in the International League (IL) (1937-1939); the Toronto Maple Leafs (IL) (1940-1941); Memphis in the Southern Association (1941); San Antonio in the Texas League (1941); Williamsport in the Eastern League (1942); Toronto (1942); and Knoxville (1942).

Tyler served in the U.S. Army during World War II (BN). He played for the Syracuse Chiefs (IL) (1944-1945); ending his baseball playing career at age 39. In 1931, his best year in the minors, he had 20 home runs and 107 RBI at .325. Overall in the minors, he had 108 home runs and 807 RBI.

He died at age 70 in Mount Pleasant, PA on July 11, 1972 and is buried at Transfiguration Cemetery in Mount Pleasant.

Sources

Principal sources for Johnnie Tyler include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; The Texas League in Baseball, 1888-1958 by Marshall D. Wright; The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 by Marshall D. Wright; The International League: Year-by-year Statistics, 1884-1953 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Johnnie Tyler at the SABR Bio Project
• Johnnie Tyler at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)