Bertram “Bert” Johnson was one of those gifted black ballplayers who suffered some bad luck in his career and has as a result been almost completely overlooked in histories. For years I wasn’t even certain of his name. In the 1930 census he appears as “Burton Johnson” (rooming in Houston with his Black Buffs teammates Samuel “Chuffy” Alexander and George “Eppie” Hamilton). His name appears variously as “Bert,” “Bertrand,” or “Burt.” In Riley’s Encyclopedia he is called “Bert Johnston” (with a “t”), and dismissed as “a big, awkward fellow and only a mediocre player” (p. 445).

Johnson was indeed big, a power-hitting outfielder who first appeared in professional ball as a player for the Houston Black Buffaloes of the Texas-Oklahoma League in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Led by player-manager Roy Parnell, the Black Buffs were good enough to challenge the 1929 NNL champion Kansas City Monarchs to a post-season series. In 1932 Johnson was signed by the Washington Pilots of the new East-West League. In February 1933 the Pittsburgh Courier wrote this about him:

Johnson’s tenure with the Pilots gave him an entrée into east coast baseball, and over the next few years he played in Baltimore and Newark. He thrived particularly at the latter stop, batting over .400 in recovered games for the Dodgers in 1934.

I haven’t found many details, but evidently Johnson struggled with an unspecified illness in the mid-1930s and dropped out of sight, before resurfacing with the Birmingham Black Barons of the new Negro American League in 1938. He was named to the western team in the second East-West All-Star Game played that year, in the Polo Grounds, and hit a home run in the fifth inning as the West built up a 4-to-0 lead. (They would surrender the lead and eventually lose in ten innings.) After that Johnson fades from the historical record.

Until a few months ago this is all I knew about him. But then his great-grandson, Sam Campbell, wrote. First of all he made it clear that his great-grandfather’s name was Bertram Johnson, and he said he was born in Round Rock, Texas. Here’s what else he had to say about him:

His father was Andrew Joseph Johnson. My father is Joe Douglas Johnson, who still lives across the street from where Bert opened a beer joint named the Cozy Corner. He played baseball at Prairie View A&M, an HBCU in Texas. Bertram’s son Joe Lee Johnson was a WWII Vet and ran the joint after him, and my father Joe Douglas Johnson worked it up until he retired. It is still standing today. Bertram is buried in Round Rock. His son Joe Lee Johnson has an elementary school named for him in Round Rock. If you are interested, I have the whole history. One of my daughters, Jourdyn Campbell, is attending Texas A&M to play softball next year.  She is a homerun hitter. 🙂

Sam also sent along this photograph of three Newark Dodgers. His great-grandfather Bert Johnson is on the left, but Sam wasn’t sure of the identity of the other two players:

I believe the shorter player in the middle is Paul “Sonny” Arnold. I’m not sure about the guy on the right, though to my eyes first baseman Jim Starks is a definite possibility.

Thanks to Sam, and good luck to Jourdyn, following in the footsteps of her great-great-grandfather.