Rated one of the best left-handed hitters of all-time, Hughie Johnston was born March 14, 1916 in Belfast, Ireland before he moved to Canada with his family when he was eight. The family lived briefly in Canada before moving to Detroit. Johnson started playing softball in 1933 with Burr-Patterson before joining Briggs Beautyware in 1938-1941. In 1942, Johnston joined the famed Fort Wayne, IN Zollner Pistons and remained with them until they disbanded in 1954. Difficult to strike out, Johnston was named MVP of the 1945 ASA national championship as the Pistons won their first of three titles in a row. Johnston was named to the Eastern Division All-Stars of the National Fastball League from 1946-1949 and hit 11 homers and drove home 50 runs in 1949. In 1947, he hit the first homer out of the new Zollner Stadium, a 260-foot blast. He batted .309 in 1950, .326 in 1951, .340 in 1952 and .317 in 1954. An intense player, Johnston never struck out more than 10 times a season and was always putting stress on the opposition and would even often tag the base runners hard. When asked why, Johnston said, I once tagged a runner in the usual way and the umpire called him safe. I made up my mind then if the umpire doesn’t see it, he’s going to hear it. Johnston passed away on September 21, 2005.
