Johnny Damon

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Johnny Damon

New York Yankees — No. 18
Center field
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
August 12, 1995 for the Kansas City Royals
Selected MLB statistics (through October 2, 2006)
Batting average	.289
Home Runs	154
Runs scored	1188
Stolen bases	306
Teams
Kansas City Royals (1995-2000) Oakland Athletics (2001) Boston Red Sox (2002-2005) New York Yankees (2006-)

Johnny David Damon (born November 5, 1973 in Fort Riley, Kansas) is a Major League Baseball outfielder who plays center field for the New York Yankees.

Through 2006, in the 2000s he was 3rd among all major leaguers in runs (588), and 7th in hits (912) and stolen bases (153).

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 2.1 Minor leagues 2.2 Royals 2.3 Athletics 2.4 Red Sox 2.5 New York Yankees 2.6 World Baseball Classic 2.7 Playoffs 2.8 Career Statistics 2.9 Awards 3 Hairstyle 4 Exercise routine 5 Book 6 Personal 7 Notable non-baseball appearances 7.1 Boston Red Sox 7.2 New York Yankees 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Early life

His mother, Yome, is Thai and his father, Jimmy, is white. They met while his father was serving as a staff sergeant in the United States Army. Johnny was born on an Army base and spent much of his early childhood as an "Army brat," moving to several bases before his father left the Army and settled the family in the Orlando area. ^[1]r Damon was a quiet kid, largely because of a stuttering problem. “My thoughts just raced ahead of my tongue,” says Damon. “I’d sing songs as therapy, and I got better, but I just kept quiet most of the time.” [1]

Damon's attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida when during his senior year in 1992 he was rated the top schoolboy prospect in the country by Baseball America, was named to USA Today's High School All-America team, and was the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year.

[edit] Playing career

Damon was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the first round of the 1992 amateur draft out of Orlando's Dr. Phillips High School, where he had been teammates with A. J. Pierzynski; he was the 35th pick overall.

A straight-A student in high school, he walked away from a baseball scholarship at the University of Florida to sign with the Royals for $300,000.

[edit] Minor leagues

In 1992 Damon hit .349 with a .568 slugging percentage in his first minor league season, in the Gulf Coast League.

In 1993 he stole 59 bases in the Midwest League.

In 1994 he had 44 stolen bases and a .399 on base percentage in the Carolina League.

In 1995 he was hitting .343 with 16 home runs, nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts, and a .434 on base percentage for Wichita in the Texas League, where he was voted MVP, when the Royals called him up.

[edit] Royals

He played for the Royals from 1995 to 2000.

In 1995 he was the 8th youngest player in the league (21).

In 1996 he was 6th in the AL in stolen bases (25) and 10th in sacrifice hits (10).

In 1997 he was 3rd in the league in triples (8).

In 1997 he was 2rd in the league in triples (10).

In 1999 he was 2nd in the league in triples (9), 6th in the league in stolen bases (36), and 9th in doubles (39).

In 2000 Damon led the AL in runs (136) and stolen bases (46), was 2nd in hits (214), 3rd in triples (10) and sacrifice flies (12), and 10th in batting (.327).

[edit] Athletics

Damon spent 2001 with the Oakland Athletics.

In 2001 he was 3rd in the league in at bats (644) and 7th in runs (108).

[edit] Red Sox

He spent 2002-05 with the Boston Red Sox.

In 2002 Damon led the league in triples (11).

On June 27, 2003, Damon joined a very exclusive group of Major League Baseball players by recording 3 base hits in the first inning of a game against the Florida Marlins. [2]

In 2004 he was 2nd in the league in runs (123). Damon began to re-establish himself among the premier lead-off hitters and center fielders in the game. In arguably his best season as a Major Leaguer, Damon batted .304 with 20 home runs and 94 RBIs, and showed improved patience at the plate. According to Damon's autobiography, he was only the 4th leadoff batter in the history of Major League Baseball to ever drive in more than 90 runs in a season.Johnny rocks on and off the feild and is a pole modle to many somewhat because of his speed.

Through his 4-year career as a Red Sox (2002-05), Johnny Damon appeared in 597 games (all of them as the center fielder, except for 7 as a designated hitter). [3] Of his 2476 at bats in a Boston uniform, 2259 of them were as the leadoff hitter. Damon batted 2nd in the lineup for 156 at bats in 2002, accounting for nearly all of the rest except for various pinch hitting appearances. Damon did start two games as the Red Sox' # 3 hitter in 2004. In 2005, his final season with the Red Sox, Damon had 624 at bats, and all but 3 were as the leadoff hitter.[4]

[edit] New York Yankees

On December 20, 2005, Damon signed a 4-year, $52 million dollar contract with the New York Yankees.

His signing with the Yankees led to Damon be vilified by many Red Sox fans, because of his past loyalties to the city. Some fans called him "Johnny Demon" or "Judas Damon," and one held up a sign saying: "Johnny, you really are an Idiot." The Loren & Wally Show of WROR took to calling him "Juan Damón." Damon is the 3rd star Red Sox player in 12 years to "switch sides" and sign a contract with the Yankees, following in the footsteps of Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens (though Clemens signed with the Toronto Blue Jays in between stints with the Red Sox and Yankees) who were also booed by Red Sox fans after they switched over. Damon was even quoted as saying "There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they're going to come after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need."^[2] He joined the Yankees months later. Yankee fans countered with the suggestion that, by letting one of the key figures in the breaking of the Curse of the Bambino go to the Yankees, Red Sox management created a new "curse," the Curse of the Caveman, even though, as a Yankee, Damon's former "caveman look" is gone.

As the Yankees have a strict dress code forbidding long hair and facial hair below the upper lip, Damon had his hair and beard cut on December 22.

During the first Yankee-Red Sox game of the 2006 season on May 1, Johnny Damon was booed by Fenway fans. HE went 0-for-4. A minority of fans cheered Damon when he tipped his hat to his old team's dugout and to the rest of Fenway.^[3] Reflecting on his return to Fenway, Damon remarked "I love Boston and I always will. I'll always have terrific memories and great fans here. Those fans [that booed] are just the kind of people who wish they were in my spot -- they really do. They've got no class, but that only speaks for a few of them.^[4]

In a 5-game series at Fenway Park, Damon went 3-for-6 in each of the first 3 games, including a doubleheader on Friday August 18, and a game on Saturday August 19. Damon hit 2 home runs, drove in 8 runs, and scored 8 runs in the first 3 games as the Yankees won them by a combined score of 39-20.

In 2006 Damon was 3rd in runs (115) and 9th in stolen bases (25) in the AL, while hitting 24 home runs -- his career high. He was only one of 4 players in the major leagues to hit at least 24 home runs and steal at least 24 bases (along with Soriano (46/41), Rollins (25/36), and Byrnes (26/25).

[edit] World Baseball Classic

Damon went 1-7 and scored a run during the World Baseball Classic as part of the United States team, and missed some time in 2nd round games due to tendonitis in his left (throwing) shoulder.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Playoffs

During the 2004 ALCS, Damon was in a slump. He redeemed himself in Game 7 on October 20 by hitting 2 home runs, including a grand slam in the 2nd inning, to help the Boston Red Sox become the first team in major league history (and just the third in the history of North American pro sports) to overcome a 3-0 postseason series deficit, in a 10-3 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 7.

In the postseason, Damon hit .283 with 4 home runs and 13 RBI in 2001 and 2003-05.

[edit] Career Statistics

Johnny Damon (Updated as of October 2, 2006)

	Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA
Career	1704	6770	1188	1958	361	85	154	780	306	.289

[edit] Awards

• 1993 - Midwest League All-Star OF
• 1994 - Carolina League All-Star OF
• 1994 - KC Royals Minor League Player of the Year
• 1995 - Baseball America 1st team Minor League All-Star OF
• 1995 - Texas League Most Valuable Player
• 1995 - KC Royals Minor League Player of the Year
• 1995 - AA All-Star OF
• 1995 - AA Player of the Year
• 1995 - Texas League All-Star OF
• 2000 - KC Royals Player of the Year
• 2002 - All-Star
• 2005 - Baseball America 2nd-Team All-Star OF
• 2005 - All-Star

[edit] Hairstyle

Damon gained some notoriety for the prominent beard and long, uncut hairstyle he brought with him to spring training in the 2004 season, contrasting with his previously clean-cut appearance. His long hair and beard actually came from an unlikely cause - his head on collision with Damian Jackson in Game 5 of the 2003 American League Division Series. Damon laid on the field unconscious for approximately five minutes. When he came to, Damon was completely disoriented, believing that he was still playing for his old team, the Oakland Athletics. For several weeks thereafter, Damon continued to be very disoriented, as even today, Damon has a "spotty" recollection of Game 3 of the 2003 Championship Series against arch rivals the New York Yankees.^{[citation needed]} For the entire offseason after this injury, Damon suffered extremely painful headaches, which he said came every afternoon around two o'clock.^{[citation needed]} The headaches came to disrupt his life so much that he stopped shaving and having his hair cut. So by the beginning of the 2004 season, he had an uncharacteristic big bushy beard and shoulder length hair. His new look, probably coupled with the runaway success of the recently-released Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ, inspired fans and sportswriters to draw good-natured comparisons between his appearance and that of Jesus. (Some people also drew comparisons to the late Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, and to Charles Manson.)

On April 21, 2004, Johnny shaved his beard in a charity event sponsored by the Gillette razor company. The proceeds from the event went to benefit literacy programs in conjunction with the Boston Public Library. He regrew the beard and it remained for the rest of the season.

[edit] Exercise routine

As a part of his exercise routine, Johnny admits to pursuing cars from one end of his block to the other on foot. "I live on a street (in the Orlando area) where the speed limit is 25 miles an hour and the police enforce it. At night, I'd wait out there and when a car came by I would race the car home, so I think I can go at least 25 miles an hour. I scared some of the people, seeing a caveman racing after cars," said Damon in a Providence newspaper article early in 2004. (Such speeds have been achieved by only a handful of world class sprinters.)

He has also said: "I do naked pull-ups" moments before game time in the team's locker room. [5]

[edit] Book

In 2005, Damon wrote Idiot: Beating "The Curse" and Enjoying the Game of Life with Peter Golenbock, and also appeared on Late Night With Conan O'Brien in April during a series against the Yankees. On June 7, he appeared on the hit Bravo TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy with 4 of his Red Sox teammates (Jason Varitek, Kevin Millar, Doug Mirabelli, Tim Wakefield).

[edit] Personal

Damon was once married to his high school sweetheart Angela Vannice by the time he was 19, from 1992-2002, and they have twins together, Madelyn and Jackson, born April 22, 1999.^[5] Damon admitted in his book that he began cheating on her before they split up.

Damon has been married to Michelle Mangan since December 30, 2004.^[6] The couple are expecting their first child together in late 2006. [6] It will be Damon's third child and Mangan's first.

[edit] Notable non-baseball appearances

[edit] Boston Red Sox

• Appeared on MTV Cribs after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series [7]
• Made a cameo appearance during "Weekend Update" on the October 30, 2004 episode of Saturday Night Live in which he joined Seth Meyers in jubilant celebration of the Red Sox World Series victory.
• Appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. (First aired on April 5, 2005)
• Appeared in the movie Fever Pitch alongside catcher/captain Jason Varitek and right fielder Trot Nixon.
• Appeared on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy with some fellow Red Sox. [8]
• Made a cameo appearance on TNA Wrestling Match in Orlando, Florida on December 11, 2005 when Damon gave the home plate to Chicago White Sox Catcher A. J. Pierzynski in order to hit Simon Diamond to win the match.

[edit] New York Yankees

• Appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman alongside with comedian Billy Crystal. Yankees' Manager Joe Torre made a cameo appearance by pitching to both Damon and Crystal. (First aired on April 10, 2006)
• Appeared on Martha (First aired on April 26, 2006)
• Appeared on Live With Regis and Kelly.
• Appeared on Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith (First aired on March 6, 2006)

[edit] See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Johnny Damon at ESPN.com
• Johnny Damon at The Internet Movie Database

Preceded by: Albert Belle

American League Player of the Month July, 2000

Succeeded by: Glenallen Hill