He was a first baseman with the Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants, as well as serving a stint as the Chicago White Sox third base coach.

He was named to the CoSida Academic All-American team, NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and received the McMillan Memorial Award for leadership.

Johnson was a Co-Captain of Indiana State's first Missouri Valley Conference baseball championship and first appearance in NCAA regional post season play.

Johnson was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Centennial Team and enshrined in the Indiana State University Hall of Fame in 1985.

He made his major league debut for the Expos in September 1981 and on October 3, Johnson delivered a pinch-hit triple (scoring two runs) off New York Mets ace reliever Neil Allen that help propel the team to its first ever NL East title.

Johnson played winter ball for the champion Leones de Escogido under the direction of manager Felipe Alou and was named player of the week for the period November 30 thru December 6.