Calhoun County in Alabama – The inseparable Alexandria Johnson twins are a puzzle for baseball coaches for many years. Now it’s Shorter’s dilemma
Al Muskewitz
Zac Welch, a long-time Alexandria baseball coach, has known Aaron and Seth Johnson since fifth grade move-ins from Pleasant Valley. He still can’t tell the difference.
Andy Shaw, a Hall of Fame former Valley Cubs coach, and Roby Brooks, the twins’ travel coach for baseball have the same problem.
Brooks stated, “They’ve been there for me for a long time and I can’t tell the difference.” Brooks said, “Both are studs. That can be written down.
The Alexandria gym was packed with people who were there to celebrate the twins’ college party. The players mixed their shirt colors and the twins took their places (hopefully) behind the proper Valley Cubs jerseys. This allowed them to reenact the signing, both right-handed.
It’s now up to Jake Harrelson and Wes Timmons, Shorter coaches, to decide who will be on the team for the next four seasons.
Welch stated, “Good luck is what he tells me.” “You have to be on your best behavior to distinguish them.”
On the field, you can easily tell the difference. Seth, a right-handed hitting fielder, wears No. The navy polo was worn Friday and Wednesday. Aaron, the left-handed hitting outfielder and two-minutes younger than Aaron, wears No. For the celebrations, Aaron wore the white polo and was 5 minutes younger than the other left-handed hitting outfielders. Welch simply refers to them as “left-handed Johnson” or “right-handed Johnson” in order to avoid embarrassment.
However, that is not how many in the audience identified them when the crowd began to gather. (This old sportswriter is terrified to death that he didn’t get it right.
The brothers Johnson are actually part of a triplet set. Their first-born brother died just a few hours after the trio entered the game.
It’s not surprising that they look almost identical. People often approach them and ask them who they have tried to fool. Their parents have a strict policy against fooling teachers and girlfriends. However, opposing players are allowed to play.
In T-ball, one player followed the other in the line up at times. Seth was about to enter the box when Aaron hit. The catcher did a double take, removed his mask and scratched his head.
Aaron stated, “We had to explain to him that we are twins and that we are not cheating.”
The twins are fiercely competitive with each other. They even track their progress on the field, in the weight room and in the classroom. Seth stated that the scorecard was “pretty close” to a tie.
Aaron hit.333 last season with eight doubles, and 26 RBIs at the leadoff spot. Seth was a.294 hitter with 14 doubles, 28 RBIs, and a 9-hole score of.294
Welch stated that “they have transformed our program completely based on how they work.” These are a throwback from a generation that few people can relate to or understand. These boys have shown that kids these days aren’t as programmed as they used to be. These kids can help any team they are on by making everyone around them better players and better workers.
They are close and they want to go to the same college.
Shorter offered them the opportunity to continue playing together after they had already been accepted to Auburn.
Aaron stated, “That was a dream come to life.” “We have been together since we were born. My mom used stories to tell me that when we were young, we had our own language. We went together no matter where we were. One of us would have to give up if the other didn’t. We have been together since our birth and we will continue to be that way.”
Seth stated, “All that I know is how he plays on the field.” “I’ve been playing with him all my life.”
It would have been better if one player played first and one played last. Imagine how they would have looked at umpires or opposing runners on base paths.
