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A native of Vermont, and a Braves pitcher when the team was based in Boston and Milwaukee, Johnson became an Atlanta icon as a Braves broadcaster from the 1960s through the 1990s. In a career that spanned from transistor radios to wide-screen televisions, Johnson called more than 4,000Braves games, exuding a love of baseball and a gentle good humor in each one.
Ernest Thorwald Johnson Sr., a member of the Braves Hall of Fame, died Friday at the age of 87.
Johnson came to Atlanta in 1965, one year before the Braves moved here from Milwaukee, to do advance public relations work and set up a radio network. Over the next three decades, he became - even in the estimation of his fellow broadcasters - the voice of the Braves, although the humble Johnson always resisted that singular designation.
A member of the organization for more than 50 years, Johnson was inducted into the Braves hall in 2001. Etched on his plaque: a microphone. At the induction ceremony, long-time colleague Pete Van Wieren called Johnson "the man who set the standard for broadcasting baseball in Atlanta."
Johnson combined his knowledge of the game with a soothing, folksy style to introduce major-league baseball to Atlanta and the South. He said he approached broadcasts as if he had been invited into fans' living rooms. He mixed storytelling with play-by-play.
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After the Braves moved to Atlanta, Johnson worked almost all games on radio or television through 1989 and a lighter load on TV for another decade after that. For much of the 1970s and '80s, his broadcasting abilities were tested by bad teams that played inconsequential games before sparse home crowds.
One night, he made an enthusiastic call of a home run – "That ball is out of here!" – and a fan in the field-level seats turned around and said, 'Hey Ernie, hold it down.'"
Johnson never let the losses subdue him.
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On Sept. 2, 1989, the Braves held "Ernie Johnson Appreciation Night." A last-place team that averaged just 12,000 fans per game that year, the Braves drew 42,000 to say goodbye – they thought – to Johnson. The crowd gave him a long standing ovation.
The retirement lasted until the following August, when a new regional cable network lured Johnson to work a limited schedule, generally one game per week.
That gave him the opportunity to be part of the Braves' success of the '90s — and, moreover, to call games for several years with his son, Ernie Johnson Jr.
Johnson Sr. retired for good after the 1999 season at age 75. His wife, son and daughters Dawn and Chris were on hand for the emotional last broadcast. On the air that night, Ernie Jr., then 43, told his dad: "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."
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