Manchester Native, 20-Year MLB Veteran Jay Johnstone Dies

MANCHESTER, CT — Jay Johnstone, a Manchester native who was called "one of the premier flakes in big-league history" in his biography by a member of the Society For Baseball Research (SABR), died Saturday at a nursing home in California. He was 74.

His daughter told ESPN he had been suffering from dementia for several years, and he died of complications from the coronavirus.

Johnstone was born in Manchester in 1945, and his family moved to California when he was 3. He made his Major League Baseball debut with the California Angels at age 20 in 1966, becoming one of just four natives of the Silk City to reach the big leagues (the others were Manchester Sports Hall of Fame inductees Herman Bronkie, Moe Morhardt and Tom Kelley).

He played in 1,748 regular season games with the Angels, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. He was a member of two World Series championship teams: the 1978 Yankees and 1981 Dodgers.

Johnstone finished his career in 1985, having compiled a .267 batting average with 102 home runs. He also played in 14 postseason contests, amassing a .476 average, including .667 in World Series action.

During his career, Johnstone became noted for his love of playing pranks on teammates, managers and coaches. His first roommate in the big leagues was considered one of the zaniest characters in the game's history: fellow Connecticut native Jimmy Piersall.

Following his playing days, Johnstone authored three books, hosted several sports programs on ESPN, broadcast Yankees and Phillies games, and helped formed an independent professional league in New Mexico, Louisiana and Texas. In 2010, he became spokesman for Hope4Heroes, a nonprofit organization which aids military veterans.

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