Johnny Damon

About Johnny Damon

Johnny David Damon (born November 5, 1973) is an American Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees. Since the 2000 season, he is 3rd among active major leaguers in runs (589), and 7th in hits (912) and stolen bases (153).

Damon was born in Fort Riley, Kansas. His mother, Yome, is Thai and his father, Jimmy, is of Croatian and Irish descent. They met while his father, a staff sergeant in the United States Army, was stationed in Southeast Asia. Johnny, their 2nd child (after James, Jr.), was born at Ft. Riley, an Army base in Kansas. Johnny spent much of his early childhood as an "Army brat," moving to several bases from Okinawa, Japan, to West Germany before his father left the Army and settled the family in the Orlando area while Johnny was still a pre-schooler. Damon was a quiet child, largely on account of a stuttering problem. "My thoughts just raced ahead of my tongue," says Damon of his problem then. "I’d sing songs as therapy, and I got better, but I just kept quiet most of the time." Damon attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida when during his senior year in 1992, he was rated the top high school prospect in the country by Baseball America, was named to USA Today's High School All-America team, and was the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year.

Damon was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the first round (35th overall) of the 1992 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut on August 12, 1995. He played for the Royals from 1995 to 2000. His best season came in 2000 when he led the American League in runs with 136 and stolen bases with 46.