Davey Johnson, a longtime MLB manager who led the Mets to the World Series title in 1986, has died at the age of 82. Johnson’s wife, Susan, confirmed his passing to Mets team historian Jay Horwitz on Saturday.
Johnson, who played in the majors from 1965-1978, began his managerial career with the Mets in 1984, enjoying instant success in the process. He became the first manager in Major League Baseball history to win 90 or more games in each of his first five seasons, and secured the aforementioned World Series title in his third year at the helm.
Johnson’s 1986 Mets won 108 games during the regular season, beat the Astros in six games for the NL pennant and then defeated the Red Sox in seven games in the World Series.
Yet Johnson wouldn’t last too much longer in New York. He was fired after 42 games in 1990 following a sluggish start and a second-place finish the previous season. There were, naturally, other factors at play behind his dismissal, including his reported clashes with the front office and the plethora of off-the-field problems facing various members of New York’s star-studded roster.
One of Johnson’s Mets charges, longtime outfielder Darryl Strawberry, called Johnson a “remarkable leader” in an Instagram post.
“I’m deeply saddened by the loss of Davey Johnson, a remarkable leader who transformed the Mets franchise into a winning organization,” Strawberry wrote. “His ability to empower players to express themselves while maintaining a strong commitment to excellence was truly inspiring. Davey’s legacy will forever be etched in the hearts of fans and players alike. My heartfelt condolences go out to Susan Johnson and the entire Johnson family during this difficult time. He will be missed but remembered for his incredible impact on the game and the lives he touched. Love You Forever Davey Johnson.”
Johnson would resurface a few years later, beginning the journeyman phase of his managerial career that saw him captain the Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Washington Nationals, albeit none for more than two full seasons at a time. He would win the Manager of the Year Award twice: once in 1997, when he led the Orioles to 98 wins, and then again in 2012, his penultimate season, when he guided the Nationals on what served as his final postseason run.
“Davey was a world-class manager, leading our team to its first NL East title and earning Manager of the Year honors in 2012,” Nationals owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “But, most importantly, he was an incredible person. I’ll always cherish the memories we made together with the Nationals, and I know his legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of our fans and those across baseball.”
Johnson’s interest in the inner workings of baseball dated back into his playing days. He even coded a program that allowed him to analyze lineups — something he unsuccessfully brought to the attention of Orioles manager Earl Weaver.
“I used to work on this program I called ‘Optimizing the Orioles Lineup,'” Johnson said in 1995, “and I would run it through the computer and bring the data to Earl Weaver. I found out that if I hit second instead of seventh, we’d score 50 or 60 more runs and that would translate into a few more wins. I gave it to him, and it went right into the garbage can.”
Nevertheless, Johnson enjoyed a fruitful playing career. Over the course of 13 seasons, most of them spent with the Orioles, he batted .261/.340/.404 (110 OPS+) with four All-Star Game appearances and three Gold Glove Awards. He won two World Series titles as a player with the O’s in 1965 and 1970.
Of Johnson’s 136 career home runs, 43 of them came during a single season, the 1973 campaign he spent with the Atlanta Braves.
To this day, Johnson ranks 33rd in career managerial wins (1,372) and 22nd in postseason victories (25).