Toronto Blue Jays: the 10 biggest mistakes in Blue Jays history

Blue Jays mistake No. 8: Hiring Tim Johnson

Tim Johnson had the resume of a big-league manager. A seven-year veteran with stops in Milwaukee and Toronto, he embarked on a career as a coach and scout after his playing days were over. He spent two years as bench coach for the Boston Red Sox in 1995-96 and managed the Cubs’ AA affiliate in Iowa in 1997.

Then Johnson got his chance to lead a Major League club. He was hired as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays before the 1998 season as the replacement for Cito Gaston, the most successful manager in franchise history. In his first season in the Blue Jays dugout, he won 88 games. His managerial career looked like it was going to be a long and successful one.

But all it took was one moment for it all to unravel. Back when Johnson was a minor league player in the 1960s and 1970s, he served in the Marine Corps reserves during the Vietnam War. Exempt from serving overseas because of his baseball career, he never went to Vietnam. That’s not the story he told, however.

Johnson started spinning tales while he was in Boston of his days sleeping in rice paddies and having to kill children. The stories didn’t stop when he got to Toronto. Roger Clemens, then a pitcher with the Blue Jays, wanted to honor his manager’s service by buying him a motorcycle helmet with the insignia of his combat unit on it. Clemens called Johnson’s wife to set up the surprise; she told him her husband never served in Vietnam.

After the lie was revealed, Johnson’s position in Toronto became untenable. He was fired during Spring Training in 1999. He spent some years managing in Mexico before being hired by the Lincoln Saltdogs of the Northern League, as far away from the Majors as you could get, in 2003. He’s currently back managing in Mexico.

“I’m trying to go on,” Johnson told the Chicago Tribune in 2003. “It’s so hard. When is enough enough?” He never found a job in the big leagues again.