Major League Baseball Player. He is best remembered for leading the National League in RBIs with 130 while playing for Cincinnati in 1965 and tying the major league record by hitting homers in four consecutive at bats on July 10 and 11, 1971 while with Philadelphia. The New York media envisioned the muscular 6-foot-2, 200-pound slugging first baseman-outfielder as the next superstar in the New York Yankees' pantheon after he signed with them out of San Diego High School, where he also was a star end and linebacker. But he struggled and played just 19 games for the Yankees before being traded with pitcher Art Ditmar to the Kansas City Athletics on June 14, 1961 for pitcher Bud Daley. He hit just .105 in 17 games for the A's in 1962 and was sold to Cincinnati on April 5, 1963. The Reds sent him to their San Diego affiliate in the Pacific Coast League, where he led the league with 33 homers. In 1964 with Cincinnati, he hit .273 with 24 doubles, 21 homers and 79 RBIs. That year, on April 18, he hit a three-run homer off Los Angeles Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax to give the Reds a 3-0 victory in a game in which Jim Maloney and John Tsitouris combined to allow just one hit, an infield single by Frank Howard with two out in the ninth inning. The following year he played third base and improved to .287 with 30 doubles, 32 homers, plus his RBI title. By 1967 he slumped .224 and was traded to the Atlanta Braves on October 10 for outfielder Mack Jones, first baseman Jim Beauchamp and pitcher Jay Ritchie. He struggled with the Braves at .208 and was sold to Philadelphia on December 3, 1968. He bounced back with the Phillies, hitting .255 with 17 homers and 80 RBIs in 1969. Then the right-handed hitter batted .256 with 28 doubles, 27 homers and 93 RBIs in 1970 and .265 with 29 doubles, 34 homers and 95 RBIs in 1971. Johnson was traded to the Oakland Athletics on May 2, 1973 for minor-league utility player Jack Bastable. He went 1 for 10 in the American League Championship Series that year and batted .300 (3 for 10) with one RBI in the World Series victory over the New York Mets. The A's sold him to Milwaukee on June 24, 1974, and the Brewers, in turn, sold him to Boston on September of that year. The Red Sox released him on October 25, 1974, and he signed with the Chicago White Sox on April 5, 1975. He was traded to Boston on September 22, 1975 for minor-league catcher Chuck Erickson and cash. He finished his career with the Red Sox in 1976. He wound up his 16-year career with a lifetime average of .244, 247 doubles, 245 homers and 923 RBIs. He was the co-owner of Deron Johnson Construction Co. of San Diego, builders of condominiums, apartments and homes. He also owned and operated a 40-acre ranch on which he bred cattle.