In 2001, Dan Johnson was the hub of a new team. The Vancouver Canadians of Triple-A’s Pacific Coast League had left the Pacific Northwest for the fertile grounds of Sacramento after the 2000 season, and in their place, the short-season Southern Oregon Timberjacks had moved north to become a new kind of C’s team… a rookie league team.

How would the local baseball crowds react, switching from ‘almost Major League’ quality of play to a ‘fresh out of high school’ standard? Would the fans stay home? Would baseball continue to die in the city, as it has in every other Canadian city, before and since?

In short, no. And Dan Johnson was part of the reason why.

DJ was the man who kept the ‘new Canadians’ rolling, with a team-high 11 dingers across the Northwest League and 41 RBIs (also a team-high). Along with Matt Allegra (who also hit 11 long bombs), the 3-4 pairing pounded out 80 runs batted in over that season, giving the C’s fans a reason to come back for more.

As far as opening seasons go, 2001 was a good one. And DJ was a big part of why.

Eventually he broke into the bigs with the Oakland A’s, and though he looked good early, he started to lose form these past few years. A bout of double-vision limited his worth last year, while struggles with weight kept him useful only as a DH or first baseman - positions usually kept open for pure powerlords, which DJ was not.

As new recruit Mike Sweeney blew the doors off spring training, and blue chip prospect Daric Barton shows that he’s ‘all that and a bag’, DJ has been out of favour with Oakland, who duly designated him for minor league assignment a week ago.

The team hoped to spring a deal with another team for Johnson before he could be claimed off waivers, but no deal came, so today Johnson’s agent announced that the 2001 7th round draft pick from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, would become a Tampa Bay Devil Ray.

"It’s been a long 10 days,” Johnson said. "I’ve just got to get back into the swing of things. I can’t complain, it’s a big-league job. I’m still going.”

For Oakland, the news is bad but not back-breaking; Johnson had a limited amount of worth with the team, though they certainly would have liked to have traded him to a team for something in return, rather than just lose him for nix.

But for Johnson, it means another shot at the bigs. And maybe this time around, with his weight down and his vision spotting one ball and not two, he can learn to hit to opposite field, get his power back, and fulfill the promise he showed at The Nat, back in season one. 

Hey DJ… Play that song.