Art Johnson ( 1940s pitcher ) Arthur Henry Johnson ( July 16 , 1919 – April 27 , 2008 ) was an American left - handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Bees & Braves from through . Listed at 6 ' 2 " , 185 lb . , Johnson also batted left - handed . Biography . Born in Winchester , Massachusetts , he began his minor league career with Erie of the Middle Atlantic League in 1938 . That year , in 14 games , he won 2 and lost 6 . In 1939 , he was with Evansville of the Three - I League . In 12 games , he won all four of his decisions , earning a promotion to Hartford the next year . 1940 was his best year in baseball . In 33 games with Hartford of the Eastern League , Johnson won 17 and lost 11 , with 27 complete games . This earned him a promotion to the major league Boston Bees at the end of the regular minor league season . He made his major league debut on September 22 , 1940 . The game was against the New York Giants , and Mel Ott played third base that day for the Giants . Art pitched the 6th and 7th inning for Boston . Mel Ott came up to bat against Johnson and Art hit Ott with a pitch , knocking him to the ground . Ott stared at Art Johnson as he trotted off to first base . Art was a member of the Boston Braves ( the team name was changed that year ) for the entire season of 1941 . On April 30 , in a game against the Chicago Cubs , Art got his first major league base hit . On May 17 , he pitched in relief and was credited with his first major league win against the St . Louis Cardinals . The game went 12 innings and Art pitched the last 2 and 2 / 3 innings of the game , and the game was won by a Babe Dahlgren home run in the 12th inning . On May 30 , Art pitched a nifty five hit complete game win against the Philadelphia Phillies . In this game he went one for four at the plate , scored his first run in the major leagues and got his first major league RBI . A few days later , on June 4 , Art pitched another complete game , scattering 9 hits , and knocked the St . Louis Cardinals out of first place . On June 21 , he won again , this time in relief against the Chicago Cubs . The toughest day that Art had in the majors occurred on August 20 , when Art pitched against the St . Louis Cardinals . In the opening game of a doubleheader which the Cardinals eventually won , Art faced veteran captain and center fielder of the Cardinals , Terry Moore . With a 2 - 1 count , Art got wild and hit Moore with a pitch behind the left ear . Moore dropped to the ground and lay unconscious at the plate until an ambulance arrived and took Moore to the hospital . Art Johnson had tears in his eyes in the clubhouse , after the game . Moore was out for a few weeks and was affected by this beaning for the rest of his life . Around 1990 , with both men long retired , Art and Terry were reunited at a baseball players convention and spoke about the incident . Terry told Art that he always had headaches after the beaning . In the book " One Day in Mudville " , which was written by Arts good friend Rip Pallotta , he spoke about this beaning . " It scares you . Because , you know , you weren ' t throwing at him . I hollered the minute I let the ball go . I knew it was going to come awful close and I hollered ' look out ! ' He froze . He absolutely froze in place . He never ducked , he just froze . He never tried to get out of the way . I don ' t know why he froze , but he did . I had two strikes on him . I was trying to brush him back , but I certainly wasn ' t throwing at him . I met him some years later in St . Petersburg , Florida in 1990 and he said he was still getting migraine headaches . " Art was hurt for most of the 1942 season , appearing on only 4 games . The injury started in spring training . He pitched a game and manager Casey Stengel asked Art if he wanted to come out . Art told him that he wanted to stay in for just one more inning . With one pitch , Art felt something pop in his shoulder . That was the beginning of an injury which Art never recovered from . He spent the next three years in the Navy , tried to return in 1946 , but got into only one game in the minor leagues . He then retired from baseball and began his career in the insurance business . In a three - season major league career , Johnson posted a 7 - 16 record with 71 strikeouts and a 3 . 68 earned run average in 49 appearances , including 19 starts , six complete game s , one save , and 195⅔ innings pitched . Johnson went on to serve in the Navy during World War II in the Pacific as a gunner ' s mate aboard the aircraft carrier USS " Langley " ; he received the Purple Heart after suffering shrapnel wounds to his knees when a Japanese kamikaze crashed into the deck . Johnson married Loretta Gaffney in May 1942 ; they had been high school classmates , both being named the most athletic members of their 1938 senior class . He was recognized as one of the oldest living MLB players until his death in Holden , Massachusetts on April 27 , 2008 ; widely believed to have been 91 , after his death he was reported to have actually been three years younger .