Joined by six other Louisville Cardinals athletes, former Owensboro Red Devil baseball standout Logan Johnson was inducted into the University of Louisville Athletics Hall of Fame last weekend.
Johnson said that being inducted into such a prestigious collective of athletes is surreal and not something he ever thought would happen when he stepped foot on Louisville’s campus.
“I never imagined that,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to start my career and honestly just find a way to get onto the field as a freshman. I went into Louisville knowing that I was going to have to battle for positions and work hard to earn a spot on the field and if so wait my time on the bench before I got my chance and that’s kind of how it worked out.”
The second baseman had a prolific career with the Cardinals, closing out his career by becoming the career leader in doubles (66) for Louisville baseball. Johnson also holds single season records in doubles (27) and hit by pitch (32), as well as career hit by pitch (74).
Johnson also was a crucial part of the Cardinals team that made its first College World Series appearance in 2007.
That year he hit .365 with 17 home runs, 65 RBI, while adding in 78 runs while starting all 71 games and helped lead the Cardinals to a 47-24 record.
With the 2007 team, Johnson was named captain alongside fellow senior middle infielder Chris Cates. During that season they set a precedent for hard work with leadership in the program by going to practice early every day and setting equipment up, something he remembers most about that team.
“What we had always thought was that we’d go out and we’d set everything up because we knew when we were freshmen we were pretty much the only ones that did that,” Johnson said. “We understood how it meant to be low on the totem pole. That was something we had a lot of pride in and not just us two, but our senior class as a whole… It was more about accepting the freshman and showing them how to work.”
Johnson said that the senior class of 2007 played a major role in how he grew and found success during his collegiate career.
“I have a very special place in my heart for the fellow senior class that I had and that I was a part of,” Johnson said. “We had 10 seniors on that team and I may have been ‘captain’ of that team, we largely led the team as a group and I’m forever thankful for that and all the memories and the positive things that happened in my career was because of that group of guys that I graduated with.”
Out of all of his time at Louisville, Johnson said that his most fond memories were the few road trips that they didn’t fly on and the time that he got to spend with his teammates and coaches.
“Long bus rides,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have a ton of them in college because we flew to a lot of the places, but when we had a long bus ride and we had the freedom to move around the bus a little bit we had some intense card games. We told a lot of good stories and the coaching staff would even get involved. Those were the best times in my opinion… It was a lot of fun.”
Johnson said that he had a blast playing baseball at Owensboro High School prior to his collegiate career and that his coaching staff was top notch.
“I had a lot of fun in high school,” Johnson said. “We had a great coaching staff that were good at making sure they could get the best out of us.”
Ben Norris was at the helm of the program in 2007 and Johnson said that he played a major part in his development thanks to countless hours spent filled with ground balls and drills.
“He spent a lot of extra time with me just on the field polishing things,” Johnson said. “A lot of defensive work. I always struggled defensively and I think he took note of that early on in my high school career… That was something that kind of set me up for success at the next level was that work ethic and understanding what my weaknesses were that I could improve on.”
Johnson said his favorite memories are those that were made with the team during his junior year, a team that had donned themselves the ‘gritty thieves.’
“I’ll never forget, you know how people have a rally cry, one of the things we did was everything would clap to their own rhythm…” Johnson said. “It was just something that we kind of embraced as a team along with the nickname because we prided ourselves on being a team that would never give up.”
