Johnny Damon

Johnny David Damon (born November 5, 1973) is an American professional baseball outfielder who began playing in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1995. He last played in 2012, though he has not officially retired. In his MLB career, Damon has played for the Kansas City Royals (1995–2000), Oakland Athletics (2001), Boston Red Sox (2002–05), New York Yankees (2006–09), Detroit Tigers (2010), Tampa Bay Rays (2011) and Cleveland Indians (2012). Damon also played for the Thailand national baseball team and was a member of the squad for the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifiers.

Early years

Damon was born in Fort Riley, an Army base in Kansas. His mother, Yome, was a Thai immigrant to America, and his father, Jimmy, is an American of Croatian and Irish descent. They met while his father, a staff sergeant in the United States Army, was stationed in Thailand. Damon spent much of his infancy as an "army brat," moving to several bases from Okinawa, Japan, to West Germany before his father left the army and settled the family in the Orlando area while Damon was still a pre-schooler.