A sure-handed and graceful fielder, Johnson is considered one of the best defensive third baseman ever to play baseball. He had a .309 career batting average but hit with little power. Playing with Hilldale, Johnson led the team to Eastern Colored League championships in 1923, 1924, and 1925. The Hilldale team lost to the Kansas City Monarchs in the first Negro League World Series in 1924. Johnson later played for the Homestead Grays (whom he also managed) and Pittsburgh Crawfords, winning a Negro National League championship with the latter club in 1935. He played several winter seasons in Cuba in the late 1920s and early 1930s and had a .331 batting average over those years. After retiring, Johnson worked as a scout and instructor for the Milwaukee Braves, the Philadelphia Athletics, and the Philadelphia Phillies. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1975.