Earl Johnson

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1940-1951)

Earl Johnson was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1940 to 1951 for the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers, a span of 12 seasons. Across 179 career appearances, he went 40-32 with a 4.30 ERA and 250 strikeouts. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 279.3.

W (Wins):
Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):
Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):
For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):
Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated

W–L 40–32
ERA 4.30
WHIP 1.52
SO 250
Pitcher PIV 279.3
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
L / L
Height / Weight
6'3" / 190 lb
Born
4/2/1919 in Redmond, WA, USA
Died
12/3/1994 in Seattle, WA, USA
MLB Debut
1940-07-20
Last Game
1951-06-03

Full name: Earl Douglas Johnson

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Career Pitching Statistics

Earl Johnson — Career Pitching Statistics
W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
40 32 179 50 13 3 17 546.1 556 261 24 272 250 4.30 279.3

Career ERA 4.30 vs. league average 4.03 across their career seasons — 6.6% worse than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Earl Johnson Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1940 BOS AL 6 2 17 10 2 0 0 70.1 69 32 39 26 4.09 4.21 (+3%) 357.8
1941 BOS AL 4 5 17 12 4 0 0 93.2 90 47 51 46 4.52 3.94 (-15%) -400.5
1946 BOS AL 5 4 29 5 0 0 3 80.0 78 33 39 40 3.71 3.59 (-3%) -691.0
1947 BOS AL 12 11 45 17 6 3 8 142.1 129 47 62 65 2.97 3.97 (+25%) 736.0
1948 BOS AL 10 4 35 3 1 0 5 91.1 98 46 42 45 4.53 4.10 (-10%) -138.9
1949 BOS AL 3 6 19 3 0 0 0 49.1 65 41 29 20 7.48 4.12 (-82%) 183.8
1950 BOS AL 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 13.2 18 11 8 6 7.24 4.36 (-66%) 232.0
1951 DET AL 0 0 6 0 0 0 1 5.2 9 4 2 2 6.35 — 0.0
Career · 8 seasons 40 32 179 50 13 3 17 546.1 556 261 272 250 4.30 — 279

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Earl Johnson — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
181 171 15 32 3 0 0 13 0 9 53 .187 .228 .205 .432 0

Career AVG .187 vs. league average .263 across their career seasons — 28.8% below league average.

Career OBP .228 vs. league average .337 across their career seasons — 32.4% below league average.

Career SLG .205 vs. league average .380 across their career seasons — 46.2% below league average.

Career OPS .432 vs. league average .717 across their career seasons — 39.7% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Earl Johnson — Season-by-Season Batting
Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1940 BOS AL 18 27 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 .074 — — — — 0.0
1941 BOS AL 17 34 4 10 0 0 0 2 0 2 8 .294 — — — — 0.0
1946 BOS AL 29 22 4 5 2 0 0 4 0 4 9 .227 — — — — 0.0
1947 BOS AL 46 44 1 12 1 0 0 4 0 1 10 .273 — — — — 0.0
1948 BOS AL 35 31 2 3 0 0 0 3 0 1 9 .097 — — — — 0.0
1949 BOS AL 19 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 .000 — — — — 0.0
1950 BOS AL 11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1951 DET AL 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 8 seasons 181 171 15 32 3 0 0 13 0 9 53 .187 — — — — 0

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Earl Johnson — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Playoff Batting by Year

Earl Johnson — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1946 WS BOS 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

Earl Johnson — Playoff Career Pitching
W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1 0 3 0 0 3.1 1 1 2 1 2.70

Playoff Pitching by Year

Earl Johnson — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1946 WS BOS 1 0 3 0 0 3.1 1 1 2 1 2.70

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (360 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Earl Johnson — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home867591705.227
Away959661508.156

Pitching — Home / Away

Earl Johnson — Pitching — Home / Away
SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home86243.12551161401224.29
Away93303.03011461331304.34

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Earl Johnson — Last 10 Games — Pitching
DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1951-06-03 DETMIN — 0.0211100
1951-05-27 DETSLA — 1.2100010
1951-05-17 DETMIN — 1.0222000
1951-05-08 DETNYY — 0.2100000
1951-05-06 DETNYY — 2.0322110
1951-04-21 DETCHW SV 0.1000000
1950-06-30 BOSNYY — 1.1300000
1950-06-21 BOSCHW — 0.2000000
1950-06-15 BOSCLE — 1.0000000
1950-06-14 BOSCLE — 1.0211110

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Earl Johnson — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
P 179 0 24 126 4 13

Season-by-Season Fielding

Earl Johnson — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1940 BOS P 17 0 2 19 0 1
1941 BOS P 17 0 3 27 0 3
1946 BOS P 29 0 5 12 1 1
1947 BOS P 45 0 4 31 2 5
1948 BOS P 35 0 6 25 0 2
1949 BOS P 19 0 3 5 1 0
1950 BOS P 11 0 0 6 0 0
1951 DET P 6 0 1 1 0 1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Earl Johnson — Career Games by Position
Position Games
Pitcher 179

College History

Earl Johnson — College History
School Name City State Years Attended
St. Mary's College of California Moraga CA 1939

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Earl Johnson (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Renie Martin
    24-35, 4.27 ERA
  2. 74
    Jumbo Brown
    33-31, 4.07 ERA
  3. 74
    Bryan Clark
    20-23, 4.15 ERA
  4. 71
    Hank Behrman
    24-17, 4.40 ERA
  5. 69
    Joe Sullivan
    30-37, 4.01 ERA
  6. 68
    Bob Savage
    16-27, 4.32 ERA

Earl Johnson: the record in brief

The profile opens with Earl Johnson's first major league game on July 20, 1940; the last one listed came on June 3, 1951. Johnson played for the Boston Red Sox (1940 to 1950) and the Detroit Tigers (1951). Johnson played primarily as a pitcher and both batted and threw left-handed. The bio adds a birth date on April 2, 1919, in Redmond, WA, USA and a listed size of 190 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame. The bio records the death on December 3, 1994, in Seattle, WA, USA. Earl Johnson was the playing name; the full given name is Earl Douglas.

Johnson went 40-32 with a 4.30 ERA in 179 games, 50 of them starts. Johnson had 250 strikeouts, 13 complete games, and 17 saves. The league ERA over Johnson's seasons was 4.03, so the 4.30 figure ran 6.6% worse than average. Johnson won 12 games in 1947, the most of any season listed.

Frequently Asked Questions about Earl Johnson

What years did Earl Johnson play?
Earl Johnson played in Major League Baseball from 1940 to 1951.
Was Earl Johnson a pitcher?
Yes. Earl Johnson pitched in the major leagues, recording 40 wins and 250 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Earl Johnson hit?
Earl Johnson hit 0 career home runs with 32 hits.
What was Earl Johnson's career batting average?
Earl Johnson batted .187 over his career, with 32 hits in 171 at bats.
How many RBI did Earl Johnson have?
Earl Johnson drove in 13 runs in his career.
What was Earl Johnson's career ERA?
Earl Johnson finished with a 4.30 career ERA, going 40-32 with 250 strikeouts.