THE MANY TRANSACTIONS OF KELLY JOHNSON
June 2000: Taken by Braves in first round (38th pick) of amateur draft.
December 2009: Signed as free agent with Arizona.
August 2011: Traded by Arizona to Toronto.
January 2012: Signed as free agent with Toronto.
February 2013: Signed as free agent with Tampa Bay.
December 2013: Signed as free agent with Yankees.
July 2014: Traded by Yankees to Boston.
August 2014: Traded by Boston to Baltimore.
January 2015: Signs as free agent with Braves.
July 2015: Traded by Braves to Mets.
January 2016: Signs as free agent with Braves.
When Kelly Johnson was a wee lad, he learned the value of hoarding. Going through a closet at home one long-ago day he discovered treasure. It was a box belonging to his grandfather, where ol’ granddad had stowed artifacts from his time as a college hockey player.
Pretty exotic stuff for a kid from Austin, Texas.
So, he, too, squirrels away the accessories of his own far-flung sporting life.
What began as a simple, promising baseball career has evolved into one of the great game-used jersey collections of our time.
“Yes, I do have a pretty good one,” said the man who has drawn checks from eight major league teams. “And I keep all of them. Everywhere I go, I try to keep all of it — jerseys, helmets, caps. I just know one day my kids are going to dig through boxes and get into it, or their kids are. So I keep ’em.”
Johnson is back where he started his tour of the bigs, back with the team that drafted him in the first round of 2000, where at 34 he might once again be that Lego player who can be snapped into just about any position on the field and not look out of place.
This time he’s on a one-year, $2 million rental plan. It’s his third stint with the Braves (he was back briefly last season before being traded/reprieved to the World Series-bound Mets), which makes Johnson an all-time Braves boomerang player. He is the habit this team can’t break.
More than his career .251 average or 145 home runs, more even than the versatility that has allowed him to play everywhere except center field, pitcher or catcher, it has been Johnson’s Gulliver-like travels that have marked his decade-plus in baseball as unique.
He can’t think of a current ballpark in which he hasn’t played. He has dressed in home clubhouses in America and Canada. Played for both New York franchises. He once did a complete tour of the American League East in a little more than two years.
Contrary to what you might think, a man who has spent so much time on the move, in temporary headquarters doesn’t hate hotels. In fact, he said, “I love hotels. Even my kids love hotels. If we’re at home too long, they’re itching to go somewhere, go to a hotel.”
And, to burst another preconception, all that relocating hasn’t been a horrible hardship as far as spending quality time with his three sons. They’re still small. They’re portable. And, he said, “We get to see our families a lot more than people think.”
As Johnson suited up for a workout last week, Chipper Jones made his first appearance this season in the Braves clubhouse. Which prompted the question: Are you envious at all of someone who was able to play out a long career on just one team, a feat even rarer than a regularly scheduled doubleheader?
“Yes,” Johnson answered. “That should be a goal for everyone. I wish more guys would shoot for that. I’m of a belief, if you have a good thing going, why would you go anywhere else? In any sport. Why not stay put and continue to enjoy it?”
That may seem a contrary opinion for someone whose baseball card reads like a road atlas. Especially for someone who has maintained a constant affection for one team no matter what, but could never manage to put down roots with it even as he made his offseason home in Atlanta — “The Braves are family. I have a genuine love for wanting to see the organization succeed whether I’m a part of it or not,” he said.
But choice is not always an option in his chosen career. Like take the past eight months. The Mets needed depth on their bench and were willing to trade a few prospects to get it. The Braves were all about prospects. So Johnson was shipped to New York, where he was able to experience his first World Series firsthand. Then, as a free agent with plenty of valuable experience to lend a young, rebuilding team, Johnson returned to the Braves yet again.
His role here will be to fill in wherever, however he’s needed. His ability, and willingness, to play so many positions has been the key to his professional sustainability.
As a model for the young ’uns in the field, Johnson is not the type to go all Dear Abby on them. He’s not the font of all advice, more apt to try to get his point across by example.
Still, when asked what he’d most like to tell any baby Brave — hey, he was once of those, part of a 2005 team that had 18 rookies pass through the at one time or another (including Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur) — Johnson sounds like a something of a wise old owl.
“Success in this game ends up being very boring because it’s very routine,” he said. “You want (success) to be fast and easy, and it’s not. You want it to last long, and it doesn’t. The only way you can genuinely have it is to be boring and do what you’re supposed to do and play the game for the right reasons.”
If want to get under that easygoing exterior, look at the many travels of Johnson and pin upon him the title of journeyman. No, that doesn’t play with him at all. Journeymen bounce between the minors and the big city. Journeymen extend their careers in Japan or Mexico. Journeymen are insecure. None of that fits Johnson.
Journeymen feel rejected. Johnson feels proud.
“I wouldn’t necessarily trade what I’ve done for anything,” he said, “even for some sort of security.
“Because I never looked at it like I was never going to be in the big leagues. Whether it’s a six-year contract or going year to year, I figured I’d still be a big leaguer for six more years.”
And what happens if the Braves find themselves going nowhere this season and another team comes sniffing around for some veteran bench help? Another trade, another address, another set of game-worn souvenirs. It’s not far-fetched.
The scenario draws a shrug.
“Can’t do anything about it,” Johnson said. “If I knew I was going to get traded somewhere, I’d just hope I could predict I’d go to a team playing in a World Series.”
