Deron Johnson Dies of Cancer : Baseball: Angel coach, 53, was power hitter who played 16 seasons in the major leagues.

Deron Johnson, a member of the Angel coaching staff, died Thursday after a long battle with lung cancer.

Johnson, 53, learned of the condition last summer and refused hospitalization and treatment, choosing to retain what he called a quality lifestyle by remaining in the company of his family at their home in Poway, near San Diego, where he often was visited by Angel players, coaches and longtime baseball colleagues.

“ ‘DJ’ was always a player’s player, a man’s man,� Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “He played this battle like every other. You have to admire the way he and his family handled it. All of us in the Angel organization will miss him.�

Johnson spent 16 seasons in the major leagues, playing for nine organizations. He had a career average of .244 with 245 home runs and 923 runs batted in.

He hit 32 home runs and drove in 130 runs to lead the National League as a member of the Cincinnati Reds in 1965 and hit 34 homers with 95 RBIs for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1971, when he tied a major league record with four home runs in consecutive plate appearances. He hit 20 or more homers five times and drove in 80 or more runs six times.

Johnson served as the Angels’ batting instructor in 1979 and coached with the New York Mets, Phillies, Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox before returning to the Angels in 1988.

His illness prompted Rodgers to make him bench coach this season, when Rod Carew was hired as batting instructor, but Johnson was too weak to join the club in spring training or for the season.

The Angels will wear the initials “DJ� on their uniform sleeve for the remainder of the year.

Johnson is survived by his wife of 30 years, Lucy Ann; their two sons, Deron Jr., a golf professional, and Dominick, a pitcher with the Angels’ Class-A farm club at Palm Springs; and their daughter Dena, a high school senior.

Visitation will be Monday at Poway Bernardo Mortuary from 1 to 7 p.m. Services will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at San Gabriel Church in Poway. The family asked in lieu of flowers that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis or the Elizabeth hospice of Escondido.