Johnny's dad was a staff sergeant in the military. When he was deployed in Thailand, he met Johnny's mother, Yome. Yome was Thai, and later immigrated to America. When Johnny was still a baby, he spent a lot of time moving around the world, going wherever the military wanted his dad to go. 

When Johnny was a toddler, his dad left the army and he moved to a permanent house in Orlando, Florida. When Damon was a kid his mom would tell him to run around the outside of the house for his to use all his energy. He claims that this was where he got his love for running. His speed was a big part of who he was as a baseball player.  

When Johnny was a kid he played in the South orange Little League. He was a lefty, but for a long time his parents could not afford a glove, so he used righty glove that was given to him. He would catch the ball in the glove, take the glove off, and then he would throw the ball. Even though he was very young at the time he thought that he had what it took to make it to the MLB. When Johnny would play against the kids from the Dr. Phillips Little League, the players would feel sorry for him because they knew he was a lot better then everybody that was on his team.

When Johnny got older, he ended up going to Dr Phillips high school where he got to play with better players. In the summer following Johnny's junior year in high school, he was asked to play on an all-star team that included players like Alex Rodriguez and Todd Helton. When he went to bat in his senior year the announcer would call him the best player in the country playing for the best team in the country. Johnny had many colleges interested in him, but he decided to commit to the University of Florida. This changed however, after he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round. He decided that his family needed the money from the signing bonus, and even if he went to college on a full ride it would cost his parents too much money.

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Johnny played his first year of professional baseball in A ball with Rockford. During this half-season of rookie ball, he got engaged to his future wife Angie. Johnny says that neither he nor Angie knew what they were getting themselves into as they were just 19 at the time. Johnny moved up the ranks of the minors pretty fast, it was only his third year when he was called up from Double A Wichita, to the big leagues. When he was called up he didn't believe it, as he thought he would have to go to Triple A before he was called up. 

Johnny finished that season with the Royals. Although he had a very good season in 2000, and Kansas City liked him a lot, he still expected to be traded. He was traded to the Oakland A's in January, while he was on vacation in Hawaii. Johnny liked the style of play the A's had and thought that in that season they had what it took to win the World Series. The only problem with Oakland was that he was on the other side of the country from his family. 

After Johnny's one year deal with Oakland was over, he was signed by the Red Sox. This worked out for him because Boston was on the east coast with the rest of his family. In his first year with Boston he played with Ricky Henderson, who many people think is the best lead-off hitter of all time. That year the Red Sox had a new owner, John Henry. Johnny Damon really liked him as he cared about the team's history and tradition, as well as the actual players. During the 2002 season the Red Sox won 93 games but missed the playoffs.