Delaware baseball legend Judy Johnson a bobblehead Hall-of-Famer too

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Judy Johnson’s memory is preserved and honored with various plaques and statues at several locations and the diamond at Wilmington’s Daniel S. Frawley Stadium bears his name.

Now Johnson has received a modern-day tribute that any baseball fan wanting to commemorate his career can place in a prominent spot.

He has a new bobblehead.

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee has included Johnson in its Negro Leagues Field of Legends Bobbleheads.

It’s part of a Black History Month acknowledgment of top players whose skills were limited to segregated leagues prior to Jackie Robinson becoming the first Black player in the modern Major Leagues in 1947. The Negro League faded away in the 1950s as the majors slowly integrated.

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The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum had collaborated with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City to produce bobbleheads for its 32-player centennial team in 2020, said Phil Sklar, the Bobblehead Museum’s co-founder and CEO.

That led, he said, to another bobblehead project recognizing the Negro Leagues museum’s Field of Legends, which has life-sized bronze statues of 13 players positioned on the diamond. Johnson is at shortstop, which he played along with third base.

“It’s one of the most complicated projects that we’ve done,” Sklar said, “but it was well worth the effort as we think it turned out great and feedback has been great so far.”

Fans may purchase individual bobbleheads ($35), all 13 players ($400) or a puzzle set with the Field of Legends ($625). Proceeds support the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

This isn’t the first Judy Johnson bobblehead.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks, the high-A minor-league affiliate of the Washington Nationals that plays at Frawley Stadium, had a Johnson bobblehead giveaway night in 2019. Johnson is throwing a baseball while wearing the white uniform and cap, both with red pinstripes, of the Pittsburgh Crawfords.

Johnson was born in Snow Hill, Maryland, and raised in Marshallton and attended high school at Howard in Wilmington. He was 89 when he died in 1989.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum inducted him in 1975. Johnson was frequently reduced to tears that afternoon in Cooperstown during his speech.

“Considered best third baseman of his day in Negro Leagues,” his Hall of Fame plaque reads, Johnson batted .304 during 11 seasons.

He twice led the Negro National League in hits while playing for the Hilldale Club, located in Darby, outside Philadelphia. Johnson played for the Crawfords from 1933-36, twice making the NNL all-star team. He played on three championship Hilldale teams and one with the Crawfords.