Jay Johnstone Marquee

b. November 20, 1945 · California Angels 1966–1970, Chicago White Sox 1971–1972, Oakland Athletics 1973, Philadelphia Phillies 1974–1978, New York Yankees 1978–1979, San Diego Padres 1979, Los Angeles Dodgers 1980–1982, 1985, Chicago Cubs 1982–1984

He nailed teammates' shoes to the floor, wore a gorilla mask in the outfield, locked Tommy Lasorda in his office and sold hot dogs in the Wrigley Field bleachers in uniform during a rain delay. He wrote three books about it afterward and they sold well.

He also hit .329 for Philadelphia in 1976 and .318 in 1977 as a platoon outfielder, and he hit a two-run pinch home run in the fourth game of the 1981 World Series that started the comeback Los Angeles won the Series with. Twenty seasons gave him 1,254 hits, 215 doubles, 102 home runs and a .267 average.

He was on five clubs that reached the postseason and won World Series rings with the 1978 Yankees and the 1981 Dodgers. He died in September 2020, at seventy-four, of complications from COVID-19 while in a nursing home with dementia. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Player of the Week	1	1976

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1966	CAL	61	254	35	67	12	4	3	17	11	36	3	.264
1967	CAL	79	230	18	48	7	1	2	10	5	37	3	.209
1968	CAL	41	115	11	30	4	1	0	3	7	15	2	.261
1969	CAL	148	540	64	146	20	5	10	59	38	75	3	.270
1970	CAL	119	320	34	76	10	5	11	39	24	53	1	.237
1971	CHW	124	388	53	101	14	1	16	40	38	50	10	.260
1972	CHW	113	261	27	49	9	0	4	17	25	42	2	.188
1973	OAK	23	28	1	3	1	0	0	3	2	4	0	.107
1974	PHI	64	200	30	59	10	4	6	30	24	28	5	.295
1975	PHI	122	350	50	115	19	2	7	54	42	39	7	.329
1976	PHI	129	440	62	140	38	4	5	53	41	39	5	.318
1977	PHI	112	363	64	103	18	4	15	59	38	38	3	.284
1978	NYY/PHI	71	121	9	27	2	0	1	10	10	19	0	.223
1979	NYY/SDP	98	249	17	69	9	2	1	39	20	28	2	.277
1980	LAD	109	251	31	77	15	2	2	20	24	29	3	.307
1981	LAD	61	83	8	17	3	0	3	6	7	13	0	.205
1982	CHC/LAD	119	282	40	68	14	1	10	45	45	43	0	.241
1983	CHC	86	140	16	36	7	0	6	22	20	24	1	.257
1984	CHC	52	73	8	21	2	2	0	3	7	18	0	.288
1985	LAD	17	15	0	2	1	0	0	2	1	2	0	.133
Career	—	1748	4703	578	1254	215	38	102	531	429	632	50	.267

On this day & linked events

1945

Born November 20, 1945

Manchester, CT, USA

2020

Died September 26, 2020

1966

Major-league debut: Jay Johnstone

Jay Johnstone made a major-league debut on July 30, 1966.

1985

Final major-league game: Jay Johnstone

Jay Johnstone played a final major-league game on October 6, 1985.

Image: Los Angeles Dodgers, public domain