FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chris Johnson was scheduled to have Friday off like the rest of the Braves regular infielders, but that wasn't going to happen with the team playing the Red Sox in his hometown of Fort Myers, in a ballpark on the same street where he grew up.
“All the things that my mom has done for me, if she asks me to be on the trip then I’ve got to do my best to be on the trip,” Johnson said before the game. “It’ll be fun.”
With about 20 family members in the crowd, including his mother and five of his brothers and sisters, Johnson played 6-1/2 innings and went 1-for-3 with a single in a 4-1 Braves loss.
Johnson grew up on Daniels Parkway, only about five minutes from where three-year-old JetBlue Park at Fenway South is now situated. He graduated from Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, and his father, Ron, was a third-base coach for the Red Sox in 2010-2011.
Ron Johnson now manages the Orioles’ Triple-A Norfolk affiliate, and Braves pitcher Freddy Garcia said it was the amiable manager who made spending more than half a season in Triple-A tolerable for the 37-year-old veteran in 2013.
It was Chris Johnson’s first time playing in Fort Myers since being traded to the Braves in January 2013 and leading the National League batting race for much of last season. He finished second with a .321 average.
“It feels good, but I’ve got to keep working,” Johnson said. “When you do good things in the game, people kind of expect it now. So I’ve got to work that much harder.”
A Fort Myers reporter asked if he got recognized much around Atlanta after being a big contributor to their NL East championship team.
“We have an amazing market in Atlanta,” Johnson said. “They know everybody on the team. If you’re on the team, even some of the bench guys, they know who you are. So it’s pretty cool to go around and have people say hello and stuff like that….
“Coming from where I came from – we had some rough years in Houston – it’s definitely a lot of fun and something I don’t take for granted, being on a good ballclub.”
