Carl H. Johnson

Carl H. Johnson is a baseball columnist and historian with the Biddeford, Maine, Journal Tribune. He writes a weekly column on Major League Baseball and also produces a blog on the subject at baseballworldbjt.com. In addition, he produces baseball columns for several other newspapers. He also lectures on baseball and its history.

His first book FROM BEER TO BEARDS takes the reader from the 2011 season when the Sox blew a playoff spot in the last month, which resulted in the END OF THE FRANCONA ERA in a flurry of accusations about beer in the clubhouse, through THE VALENTINE ERROR, in 2012, when Bobby Valentine single handedly made them the worst team in baseball, and into the BEGINNING OF THE FARRELL ERA when they all grew beards and won the World Series. The book takes the reader, game by game and play by play through perhaps the most exciting period in Red Sox history. (The book is divided in three sections with the section titles above in caps.)

He has recently released 'THE BEST TEAM EVER?' which chronicles the Boston Red Sox 2018 World Championship Season, day by day and game by game beginning before spring training, through the 108 win season and the magical Post Season.

Were the 2018 Red Sox, as Chris Sale said ' The best team ever to walk the planet ' or were they just the latest of four Red Sox teams to claim the title in the first 18 years of the century. Were they better than the Yankees' famed Murderers' Row or Cincinnati's Big Red Machine? Were they better than the 2004 Red Sox or did they win a franchise record 108 games because they were playing in the weakest Eastern Division in memory?

We'll never know the answers to those questions but Red Sox fans will always remember the 2018 team, led by Manager Alex Cora, Mookie Betts, J. D. Martinez and Chris Sale as the most exciting they have ever seen.

Relive those come from behind wins, those spectacular blowouts and the highs and lows of that fabulous season in the book that Red Sox fans will refer to whenever anyone brings p the subject of THE BEST TEAM EVER.

Mr. Johnson's latest book in his popular 'THE BASEBALL BUFF'S BATHROOM BOOK' series, Volume III, follows the careers of such colorful players as Dizzy and Daffy Dean, Vinegar Bend Mizell and Leo Durocher and relives the Impossible Dream Year of the 1967 Red Sox. It follows Westerly, Rhode Island natives Dave Stenhouse, the first rookie to start on the mound in an All Star Game, and Eddie Sawyer, who managed the 1950 Champion Philadelphia Phillies' Whiz Kids.

Also read about the only player in baseball history to play for two different teams, against two different teams, in two different cities on the same day and who got hits in both games against two pitchers who both later made the Hall of Fame. This series which has been called by one reviewer ' Another Grand Slam for Johnson ' makes fascinating reading for the real baseball fan and is an ideal gift for the teen age baseball player in your life.

His previous book, 'BIG PAPI AND THE KIDS', follows the young Red Sox team, led by David Ortiz who closed his baseball career with the most productive offensive year of any retiring ball player in baseball history, from a last place finish in 2015 through a Division winning year and a trip to the playoffs. Relive one of the most exciting seasons in Red Sox history as they journey from Worst to First for the second time this decade and launch what could become a dynasty over the next several years.

'THE BASEBALL BUFF'S BATHROOM BOOK, VOLUME II', which was released on November 10, is another in a series of books each containing 50 stories about major players, games, series and other events in baseball history. From Enos Slaughter's 'Mad Dash' from first to home to win the 1946 World Series to Mark 'The Bird' Fidrych's meteoric rise and fall and many others this book will entertain you in short periods of 'Down' time. The Kennebec Journal said Volume I was a 'smart collection of 50 baseball stories, old and new, some familiar, all entertaining.'

All these books are ideal Christmas or birthday gifts for the Red Sox and other baseball fans on your list.