John was born in Stockton in 1946, attended El Dorado and Stagg High School until 1964. He then attended San Joaquin Delta College and
University of the Pacific playing baseball through the 1968 season.
John pitched at San Joaquin Delta College and then transferred to University of the Pacific (UOP).
During the 1967-68 UOP baseball season, John recorded a 10-4 record with a 2.74 E.R.A., which at that time was one of the top 10 in UOP baseball history. He also averaged 9 strike outs per 9 innings which also was in Pacific’s top 10. During the 1968 summer baseball season, John pitched for the Stockton Ports who were a minor league Class A professional team. He had a 7-4 record with a 2.49 E.R.A., and 2 shut outs. The next year John was assigned to the Modesto Reds and then was signed to the Thetford Mines Miners team in Quebec, Canada.
During the summers from 1966-1989 he played semi pro baseball at various times for the Lodi Guild Wines and the MR Packing teams from Lodi, CA. In 1972 he began his coaching at USF as the pitching coach. From 1973-1977 he was the varsity pitching coach at San Joaquin Delta College. From 1977-1989 John was the
JV baseball coach at Lodi High School. Then in 1990-1996, John was the assistant varsity baseball coach at Tokay High School.
During the summers (1995-2002), John coached a semi-pro baseball team the Sacramento Cardinals. In 1995 his team won the Semi-Pro World Series National Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan.
John’s coaching career began in 1986 through 2001 and resulted in 424 wins and 101 losses with 81% of wins. His diligence and coaching ethics resulted with 77 of his players signing pro contracts, and 6 went on to become major league players. John was a part time professional scout from 1970 through 2001 for the Minnesota Twins, Anaheim Angels, Cleveland Indians, Montreal Expos, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins, and the San Francisco Giants.
In 2013, John was the pitching coach for St. Mary’s High School that went on to win the D1 section finals that season. In 2009-2013 John served as the College Officials evaluator for the Big West and West Coast conferences from 2014-2015, and 2018-2020. In the year 2000, John was elected to the Pacific Hall of Fame as a pitcher on the 1968 baseball team.
