Johnny Watson

John Thomas Watson

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 175 lb.
• School Marshall College
• Debut September 26, 1930
• Final Game September 28, 1930
• Born January 16, 1908 in Tazewell, VA USA
• Died April 29, 1965 in Huntington, WV USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Johnny Watson was a shortstop 18 years (1937-1956), four in college (1927-1930); eight in the minors (1930-1937) and a cup of coffee in 1930. He was born on Thursday, January 16, 1908, in Tazewell, VA. He graduated from High School in 1927 at age 19 and then attended Marshall University (1927-1930). He broke into Organized Baseball at age 22 in 1930 with Hartford in the Eastern Lesague.

Watson was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 26, 1930, with the Detroit Tigers. He had 3 hits, 1 run, 2 doubles, 0 triples, 0 home runs, 3 RBI and 0 stolen bases at (.250/.308/.417) in 4 games. He played his final game in MLB on September 28, 1930 at age 22.

He returned to the minors with Wheeling in the Middle Atlantic League (1931); Clarksburg in the Middle Atlantic League (1932); York and Harrisburg in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1932); Reading in the New York-Pennsylvania League (1933); and Huntington in the Mountain States League (1937); ending his baseball career at age 29.

In 1931, his best year in the minors, he had 3 home runs and 34 RBI at (.306). Overall in the minors, he had 6 home runs and 77 RBI.

Watson was the coach of Marshall University in 1943 (1-6 record).

Watson served in the U.S. Navy during World War II (BN). He worked 28 years for the Veteran's Administration in Huntington, WV as an administration officer, training specialist and, finally, as a vocational rehabilitation specialist. He died at his desk at age 57 at a VA Hospital in Huntington from a heart attack on April 29, 1965 and is buried at Woodmere Memorial Park in Huntington.

Sources

Principal sources for Johnny Watson 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) ; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

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