Kelly Johnson recalls first experience in majors

What do Charlie Sheen, a punk band called “Less than Jake” and the Tuscan countryside have in common? They’re all answers to personality questions posed to Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson, giving insight into his musical tastes, his favorite travel spots and his first day in the big leagues.

Q. What’s your favorite movie?

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Rich Addicks/raddicks@ajc.com

Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson hit .287 with 12 home runs and 69 RBI last year.

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A. Dazed and Confused.

Q. What actor would play you?

A. The only actor I’ve ever had anyone tell me I look like is Charlie Sheen. He did play Wild Thing in “Major League” and he’s got some baseball experience, so I’ll stick with that.

Q. What kind of music do you like?

A. It’s whatever’s on the radio now, but when I was in high school, I would have not talked to somebody that liked what was on the radio. It’s changed a lot. It’s a lot of work to like the bands that are a little more obscure. I don’t really feel like doing that anymore. All the punk and ska bands, you’ve got to hunt them down to find out what you like, whereas you can throw the radio on and listen to some music.

Q. Who were your favorites, back in the day?

A. Mad Caddies were my favorite probably. Less than Jake. One that was a little more famous was the Toadies, then they broke up and became the Burden Brothers.

Q. What was your welcome-to-the-big-leagues moment?

A. The first day was everything that the big leagues to me is. It was a Sunday day game. It was against the Phillies, a big division team, and it was a travel day. It was arriving early, seeing your name in the lineup before anyone else is even there. You don’t know what time you’re supposed to get there, so you’re there way too early. I was hitting third, and that was a complete shock. You’re starting, facing the other team’s ace at the time, Brett Myers. I had my first RBI in my first AB. I got deeked on a fly ball when I stole a base by Jimmy Rollins, and I got doubled up. Then after the game having to talk to the media and was late on the bus. And having to get dressed up and get on the plane for the first time — it all happened in one day.

Q. Getting a pay bump in your first year eligible for arbitration, was there anything special you wanted to do?

A. No. The way things are, even though baseball is doing OK, I’m not going to go out and spend anything. Save. We took a trip to Italy. We do the trips in the offseasons, so the traveling we treat that as a gift to ourselves. We’ll probably do another one in the next offseason. We’ll be house-hunting, but more out of necessity than want. We’re in a townhouse. We want the privacy in a house.

Q. What do you and your wife, Lauren, enjoy most about Italy?

A. We enjoyed Rome a lot. Every place we went was a little different. People are nice. Food is unbelievable. Everything is fresh. Obviously the wine is great. It’s got a little bit of everything. They’ve got coastline, they’ve got mountains, they’ve got snow. And they’ve got the art history, tradition and culture. So you really don’t have to go that far to get anything you want.

Q. What was something unexpected on the trip that turned out fun?

A. I’d been before but never rented a car. When you get in a different country and you drive, that’s a little bit unexpected. It’s still cool. You’re just driving a car. But for some reason, you get in another car in another country, something about that [is different]. Looking around, the roads you’re driving on, how old they are. We drove through Tuscany, [seeing] the untouched landscape, just seeing all the trees and vineyards and hills, all the towns are up on hills there. They had to be so they don’t get raided.

Q. Where might you go next?

A. We’ve talked about England, London. We’ve talked about Germany. One day I want to do Australia and New Zealand, so I might run that one by to see if that flies, but that’s a long flight.”