Two-time World Series champion Jay Johnstone died Saturday from complications caused by the coronavirus.
Johnstone, 74, won his first title with the New York Yankees in 1978 and followed that up with another ring in 1981 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat, yes, the Yankees.
Johnstone’s MLB career spanned 20 seasons with the Yankees, Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Oakland A’s and San Diego Padres. He was a lifetime .267 hitter with 102 home runs.
But Johnstone’s contribution went beyond the boxscore, with the Associated Press calling him “baseball’s merry prankster.”
Johnstone possessed a sense of humor that he used to keep his teammates loose with pranks. He would nail their cleats to the floor or set them on fire. He cut out the crotch area of Rick Sutcliffe’s underwear. Johnstone once replaced the celebrity photos in the office of Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda with pictures of himself, Jerry Reuss and Don Stanhouse. He locked Lasorda in his office during spring training.
Another time, Johnstone and Reuss dressed up as groundskeepers to drag the infield during a game. Returning to the dugout, they were fined on the spot by Lasorda, who then asked Johnstone to pinch hit. He responded with a home run.
“Jay came back and wanted to know if he could get a discount on the fine,” Monday recalled.
His daughter said Johnstone’s pranks didn’t end at the ballpark. She recalled rubber snakes in their pool and spiders by the bathtub. She said her friends loved being around her father because “he always made us laugh.”
“He wanted to find the humor in life no matter how serious things got,” she said. “That was his motto to everything, bring a smile to people’s faces. Everyone loved him.”
After retiring, Johnstone briefly worked as a radio color commentator for the Yankees and Phillies. During an interview with Yankee players Deion Sanders and Mel Hall, he got them to uncover a restaurant bread basket containing a snake, startling both players who jumped out of their seats.
Johnstone also suffered from dementia in recent years and died in a nursing home in Granada Hills, Calif. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Mary Jayne Johnstone; his daughter Mary Jayne Sarah Johnstone; sister Sandy Clairmont; and son-in-law Ryan Dudasik.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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