[1] In all or parts of 13 seasons, he pitched for the Kansas City Athletics (1958–61), Cincinnati Reds (1961), Houston Colt .45/Astros (1962–65), Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1965–69), New York Yankees (1969), Chicago Cubs (1969), and Montreal Expos (1970).

Johnson also attended the University of South Carolina for a year and then joined a minor league baseball affiliate of the Philadelphia Athletics.

[1] Johnson spent almost a decade in the organization of the Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics before establishing himself as a starting pitcher in the major leagues.

Ten weeks later, on July 21, Toronto traded Johnson to the Cincinnati Reds, a surprise pennant contender in the National League.

He helped the Reds widen their lead to 41⁄2 games, which was essentially their winning margin as they captured the fourth National League championship in their long history.

In Game 5, the Series' final contest, working in relief with Cincinnati trailing 6–0 in the second inning, he retired the only two Yankees to face him (Elston Howard and Bill Skowron), then was removed for a pinch hitter.

The following day, on October 10, 1961, Johnson was selected with the 29th pick in the 1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft by the fledgling Houston Colt .45s.

[3] Altogether, however, Johnson's years with the Braves were his most successful in the majors: he won 45 games, lost 34, and put up a strong 3.22 earned run average in three full campaigns and parts of two others.

Johnson pitched for four teams in his last two years in the big leagues, 1969 and 1970, bouncing from the Braves to the Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos.