Reading about people will Billy Johnson is one of the thrills of going through former Carthage resident John Hall's regular KOM League reports. Hall was a batboy for the Carthage minor league team in the KOM League in the early 1950s, and has made a second career over the last several years of chronicling his youthful heroes and keeping the spirit of the minor leagues alive.
Today, he told his readers about Johnson, who played a secondary role in one of the great stories of baseball history. It was Johnson whom the legendary Tom Greenwade was scouting when he was distracted by another player in the same game...Mickey Mantle. Johnson later signed a minor league contract but never reached the majors.
Hall reported today that Johnson is suffering from lung cancer. Hall writes:
Over the past few years it has been a source of joy to have gotten to know Julia (Johnson's wife) and Billy. They attended a KOM League reunion in Carthage when the late Dave Newkirk convinced a number of his Air Force baseball team, from the early 1950's, to join him for that reunion. The Johnsons attended and seemed to enjoy the event. In 2005, when the Mantle book was released, the Johnsons again attended and spent three unforgettable days with former Mantle teammates from Commerce High, the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids, the Independence Yankees (KOM League) and the Joplin Miners (Western Association."
Many of the readership of these Flash Reports know Johnson and a card or letter at this time would be appreciated, I'm sure. I'm enclosing the address. The family would also appreciate your prayers. I don't have the address for offering up prayers but I'll leave that to the individual reader to figure out...just don't forget to do it.
Cards to Billy Johnson can be addressed to:
Mr. Billy Johnson
304 Poplar
Pataskala, Ohio 43062
2 comments:
The only thing more fun than writing those articles about the history of the KOM League is seeing them repeated in the Turner Report. John Hall
Thanks for what you do, John!
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