Davey Johnson, the most successful manager in Mets history who guided them to the 1986 world championship, and continued on winning after he left in stints with the Reds, Orioles, Dodgers and Nationals, died Friday at Sarasota (Fla.) Memoria Hospital after a prolonged illness. He was 82.
Johnson, who was a four-time All-Star second baseman with the Orioles in his 1960s and ‘70s playing days, was hired as Mets manager after winning the International League championship with their Triple-A team in Tidewater in 1983. At the time, Mets general manager Frank Cashen, who himself had been a fixture in the Orioles organization when Johnson was a player there, reportedly listed for him during the interview the 10 skills he looked for in manager to which Davy replied: “Yeah I got all of those.” Which he did, although Johnson’s two overwhelming skills which Cashen didn’t mention were confidence and cockiness.
Cashen saw Johnson’s confidence that first season in 1984 when Davey lobbied hard to promote 19-year-old Dwight Gooden to the big club against the GM’s better judgement. But Gooden rewarded his manager’s faith by leading the majors with 276 strikeouts in 218 innings with a 2.60 ERA in ’84. The Mets finished second in the NL East with 90 wins in ’84, an improvement of 22 wins from the year before. By this time Cashen had already begun putting together the key pieces of the team that would win it all in ’86, with trades for Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and later Gary Carter, and the promotions from within of Darryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson, Kevin Mitchell and Lenny Dykstra.
Though that talented bunch achieved the Mets’ greatest success with 108 wins in ’86 and going on to defeat the Astros in the NLCS and the Red Sox in a thrilling seven-game World Series, they were also notorious roustabouts which may have attributed to their failure to ever get to another World Series. Johnson was criticized for not controlling his clubhouse and he was also said to have had a drinking problem himself which ultimately led to his dismissal in May 1990 with the Mets 20-22. His .588 winning percentage (595-417) remains the highest of any Met manager in history.
“I don’t think Davey got enough credit for the way he managed those Mets teams. We were not the easiest group to handle but he never lost our respect. He was a computer before there were computers with his insight and often analytical approach to the game. He did things his way and was confident about everything he did and we fed off that,” Strawberry said by phone Saturday.
Three years after being fired by the Mets, Johnson went to Cincinnati and managed the Reds to 53, 66 and 85 wins before having a falling out with mercurial Reds owner Marge Schott. He had similar success in two years managing the Orioles with 88 and 98 wins in ’96 and ’97, but again wound up clashing with another headstrong owner, in this case Peter Angelos, and he quit after winning 98 games and AL Manager of the Year honors ’98.
Davey Johnson, who led the Mets to 1986 World Series title, dies at 82
After also managing the Dodgers and Nationals, including a 98-win season in Washington in 2012, Johnson retired with a record of 1,372-1071 and the sixth highest winning percentage (.562) among managers with at least 1,300 wins.
“I will miss Davey dearly,” said Jim Palmer, Johnson’s ’70s Orioles teammate said Saturday. “But I’ll also think of him fondly. He was teammates with Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, played in Japan where he was a hero and won a world championship in New York.
“What a life he had!”
