What years did Jay Johnstone play?

Jay Johnstone played in Major League Baseball from 1966 to 1985.

Was Jay Johnstone a pitcher?

No. Jay Johnstone was a position player (Outfielder).

How many home runs did Jay Johnstone hit?

Jay Johnstone hit 102 career home runs with 1254 hits.

What was Jay Johnstone's career batting average?

Jay Johnstone batted .267 over his career, with 1,254 hits in 4,703 at bats.

How many RBI did Jay Johnstone have?

Jay Johnstone drove in 531 runs in his career.

Is Jay Johnstone in the Hall of Fame?

No. Jay Johnstone has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Jay Johnstone

Outfielder · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1966-1985)

Jay Johnstone was an outfielder who played in Major League Baseball from 1966 to 1985 for 8 teams, including the California Angels, a span of 20 seasons. In 1,748 career games, he hit .267 with 1,254 hits, 102 home runs, and 531 RBI. His career PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of offensive impact — is 4,151.

AVG (Batting Average):: Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):: Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):: Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):: On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated October 12, 2026

AVG .267

HR 102

RBI 531

H 1,254

OPS .722

PIV 4,151

Position: Outfielder
Bats / Throws: L / R
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 175 lb
Born: 11/20/1945 in Manchester, CT, USA
Died: 9/26/2020 in Granada Hills, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1966-07-30
Last Game: 1985-10-06

Full name: John William Johnstone

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Career Batting Statistics

Jay Johnstone — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,748	4,703	578	1,254	215	38	102	531	50	429	632	.267	.329	.394	.722	4,151

Career AVG .267 vs. league average .255 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .329 vs. league average .321 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career SLG .394 vs. league average .377 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OPS .722 vs. league average .698 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jay Johnstone Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1966	CAL	AL	61	254	35	67	12	4	3	17	3	11	36	.264	.248 (+6%)	.309 (-4%)	.376 (avg)	.685 (-2%)	-109.7
1967	CAL	AL	79	230	18	48	7	1	2	10	3	5	37	.209	.242 (-14%)	.306 (-26%)	.357 (-23%)	.663 (-25%)	-878.2
1968	CAL	AL	41	115	11	30	4	1	0	3	2	7	15	.261	.236 (+10%)	.298 (+2%)	.340 (-8%)	.638 (-4%)	-58.8
1969	CAL	AL	148	540	64	146	20	5	10	59	3	38	75	.270	.248 (+9%)	.320 (avg)	.369 (+3%)	.689 (+2%)	93.1
1970	CAL	AL	119	320	34	76	10	5	11	39	1	24	53	.237	.253 (-6%)	.325 (-11%)	.385 (+5%)	.711 (-3%)	-228.1
1971	CHA	AL	124	388	53	101	14	1	16	40	10	38	50	.260	.249 (+4%)	.316 (+4%)	.365 (+16%)	.682 (+11%)	759.7
1972	CHA	AL	113	261	27	49	9	0	4	17	2	25	42	.188	.243 (-23%)	.310 (-17%)	.353 (-24%)	.664 (-21%)	-784.7
1973	OAK	AL	23	28	1	3	1	0	0	3	0	2	4	.107	—	—	—	—	0.0
1974	PHI	NL	64	200	30	59	10	4	6	30	5	24	28	.295	.256 (+15%)	.324 (+14%)	.369 (+29%)	.693 (+22%)	751.5
1975	PHI	NL	122	350	50	115	19	2	7	54	7	42	39	.329	.257 (+28%)	.327 (+21%)	.374 (+21%)	.701 (+21%)	1506.0
1976	PHI	NL	129	440	62	140	38	4	5	53	5	41	39	.318	.255 (+25%)	.320 (+17%)	.360 (+27%)	.681 (+22%)	1734.3
1977	PHI	NL	112	363	64	103	18	4	15	59	3	38	38	.284	.264 (+7%)	.329 (+6%)	.401 (+20%)	.730 (+13%)	878.8
1978	PHI	NL	35	56	3	10	2	0	0	4	0	6	9	.179	.257 (-31%)	.323 (-20%)	.378 (-43%)	.702 (-33%)	-273.8
1978	NYA	AL	36	65	6	17	0	0	1	6	0	4	10	.262	.257 (+1%)	.323 (+2%)	.378 (-19%)	.702 (-9%)	-273.8
1979	NYA	AL	23	48	7	10	1	0	1	7	1	2	7	.208	—	—	—	—	-208.8
1979	SDN	NL	75	201	10	59	8	2	0	32	1	18	21	.294	.265 (+11%)	.329 (+6%)	.397 (-11%)	.727 (-4%)	-208.8
1980	LAN	NL	109	251	31	77	15	2	2	20	3	24	29	.307	.264 (+16%)	.326 (+14%)	.387 (+5%)	.714 (+9%)	494.0
1981	LAN	NL	61	83	8	17	3	0	3	6	0	7	13	.205	.255 (-20%)	.320 (-17%)	.368 (-5%)	.688 (-11%)	-141.5
1982	LAN	NL	21	13	1	1	1	0	0	2	0	5	2	.077	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	CHN	NL	98	269	39	67	13	1	10	43	0	40	41	.249	.261 (-5%)	.324 (+6%)	.388 (+7%)	.712 (+7%)	0.0
1983	CHN	NL	86	140	16	36	7	0	6	22	1	20	24	.257	.260 (-1%)	.324 (+11%)	.389 (+12%)	.714 (+12%)	367.1
1984	CHN	NL	52	73	8	21	2	2	0	3	0	7	18	.288	.259 (+11%)	.322 (+8%)	.384 (-4%)	.707 (+2%)	30.6
1985	LAN	NL	17	15	0	2	1	0	0	2	0	1	2	.133	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 23 seasons			1,748	4,703	578	1,254	215	38	102	531	50	429	632	.267	—	—	—	—	3,449

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

Jay Johnstone — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
14	21	2	10	1	1	1	5	1	1	.476

Playoff Batting by Year

Jay Johnstone — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1985	NLCS	LAN	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1981	NLCS	LAN	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1981	NWDIV	LAN	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1981	WS	LAN	3	3	1	2	0	0	1	3	0	0	.667
1978	WS	NYA	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1977	NLCS	PHI	2	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200
1976	NLCS	PHI	3	9	1	7	1	1	0	2	1	0	.778

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1747 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Jay Johnstone — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	881	2353	296	642	56	294	.273
Away	866	2346	282	612	46	237	.261

Last 10 Games — Batting

Jay Johnstone — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	H	RBI	BB	SO
1985-10-06	LAD	CIN	L	1	0	0	0	0
1985-10-04	LAD	CIN	L	1	0	0	0	0
1985-09-20	LAD	SFG	L	1	0	0	0	0
1985-09-16	LAD	SDP	L	1	0	0	0	0
1985-09-09	LAD	ATL	W	1	0	0	0	1
1985-09-08	LAD	NYN	L	0	0	0	1	0
1985-09-02	LAD	WSN	W	1	1	1	0	0
1985-09-01	LAD	PHI	L	0	0	0	0	0
1985-07-04	LAD	STL	L	1	0	0	0	0
1985-06-28	LAD	ATL	L	1	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Jay Johnstone — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	57	45	370	30	8	38
2B	2	2	0	0	0	0
OF	1308	1087	2373	100	53	18

Season-by-Season Fielding

Jay Johnstone — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1966	CAL	OF	61	61	114	2	3	1
1967	CAL	OF	63	49	141	3	4	0
1968	CAL	OF	29	26	58	4	1	1
1969	CAL	OF	144	141	331	12	6	4
1970	CAL	OF	100	78	200	7	4	3
1971	CHA	OF	119	102	232	9	8	1
1972	CHA	OF	97	56	154	5	2	1
1973	OAK	2B	2	2	0	0	0	0
1973	OAK	OF	7	0	7	0	0	0
1974	PHI	OF	59	56	88	4	3	1
1975	PHI	OF	101	91	152	10	4	3
1976	PHI	1B	6	3	27	2	3	1
1976	PHI	OF	122	113	266	8	5	1
1977	PHI	1B	19	17	131	6	1	16
1977	PHI	OF	91	73	163	9	0	1
1978	PHI	1B	8	8	73	7	1	9
1978	PHI	OF	7	3	4	0	0	0
1978	NYA	OF	22	12	31	0	0	0
1979	NYA	OF	19	9	32	0	0	0
1979	SDN	1B	22	17	125	14	3	10
1979	SDN	OF	45	32	60	4	1	0
1980	LAN	OF	61	58	100	9	4	0
1981	LAN	1B	2	0	14	1	0	2
1981	LAN	OF	16	9	19	3	1	0
1982	CHN	OF	86	77	154	8	3	0
1983	CHN	OF	44	32	55	3	4	1
1984	CHN	OF	15	9	12	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Jay Johnstone Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
First Base	57
Left Field	260
Center Field	520
Right Field	577
Designated Hitter	12

Awards & Honors

Jay Johnstone — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1976	Player of the Week	Week of 1976-08-20

Salary History

Jay Johnstone — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1985	LAN	NL	$150,000
Total Career Earnings			$150,000

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Jay Johnstone (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Jay Johnstone: the record in brief

July 30, 1966 and October 6, 1985 bracket Jay Johnstone's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. By club, Johnstone's seasons break down as the California Angels (1966 through 1970), the Chicago White Sox (1971 to 1972), the Oakland Athletics (1973), the Philadelphia Phillies (1974 through 1978), the New York Yankees (1978 to 1979), the San Diego Padres (1979), the Los Angeles Dodgers (1980 through 1985), and the Chicago Cubs (1982 through 1984). Johnstone is listed as an outfielder at 6'1" and 175 pounds. Johnstone threw right-handed and batted left-handed, per the bio block. Johnstone was born on November 20, 1945, in Manchester, CT, USA. Johnstone's death is recorded on September 26, 2020, in Granada Hills, CA, USA. The given name on file is John William Johnstone.

The batting record for Johnstone: 1,748 games, 1,254 hits in 4,703 at bats, and a .267 average; the totals also include 102 homers, 531 runs batted in, and 50 stolen bases. Reaching base at a .329 clip and slugging .394, Johnstone finished with a .722 OPS.

Frequently Asked Questions about Jay Johnstone

What years did Jay Johnstone play?: Jay Johnstone played in Major League Baseball from 1966 to 1985.
Was Jay Johnstone a pitcher?: No. Jay Johnstone was a position player (Outfielder).
How many home runs did Jay Johnstone hit?: Jay Johnstone hit 102 career home runs with 1254 hits.
What was Jay Johnstone's career batting average?: Jay Johnstone batted .267 over his career, with 1,254 hits in 4,703 at bats.
How many RBI did Jay Johnstone have?: Jay Johnstone drove in 531 runs in his career.
Is Jay Johnstone in the Hall of Fame?: No. Jay Johnstone has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.