Davey Johnson, who made the final from the World Series of 1969 when the Mets won their first world championship and the franchise to the second and most recent World Series title led as the 17 seasons later, died on Friday, died on Friday, on Friday, on Friday, Per team historian Jay Horwitz.
He was 82.
A second Honkman with the Baltimore Orioles on that October -afternoon Johnson launched a flight ball just before the warning track in the left field where a hugging Cleon Jones made the catch and set a raw party in which thousands of Mets fans would stream to what would become a destroyed shea stadium field.
After a successful 13-year-old Major League play career, Johnson managed the Mets of 1984-90. He also managed the Reds, Orioles, Dodgers and Nationals during a 17-season management career, with a record of 1,372-1.071.
He was twice appointed manager of the year and won the honor in the American League at the Baltimore Orioles in 1997 and in 2012 with the Washington Nationals of the National League.
Johnson was the manager of the Triple-A branch of the Mets in Tidewater, VA. When he was tapped to manage the Big League club in 1984 and a team took over that the previous season had only won 68 games.
The Mets of 1984 would win 90 games, undoubtedly helped immeasurably with the arrival of the 19-year-old Dwight Goooden, who would win 17 games in his Rookie season and the constant boom of 22-year-old Darryl Strawberry.
It would be the first of five consecutive seasons of 90 or more victories for the Mets under Johnson, because he became the only manager in the history of the Major League who won 90 or more competitions in each of his first five seasons.
Johnson’s Mets would win 100 games or more (1986, 1988).
But with only the division winners who qualify for the play-offs, they would only reach the late season twice, a track record that led to those teams who called a writer a “traveling Fratfeest” as under-performers and the Laissez-Faire Johnson as an ineffective motivator.
“I treated my players as men,” he once said. “As long as they won on the field for me, I didn’t give a flying f – k what they did differently.”
That philosophy was not so good at Mets Management, especially veteran-all-our-all director Frank Cashen, and after a season of 87-win in 1989, followed by a 20-22 start in 1990, Johnson was fired.
At the time of his resignation, Johnson had won more matches in the last six years than any manager in baseball and his teams were never lower than second in their division, the NL East.
“I felt that our ballclub was under performance,” said Cashen, who replaced Johnson with the third base coach Bud Harrelson. “The time came to go in a new direction.”
David Allen Johnson was born on January 30, 1943 in Orlando, FLA.
His father, Frederick, was a highly decorated tank commander from the Second World War, who came to the rank of Lieutenant -Kolonel. His father left for the war, just when Davey was born and spent time in an Italian prisoner of war camp. He escaped later and lived with the Italian resistance. The son has never heard of his father’s wartime until he grew up.
As a child of an army officer, Johnson lived on army bases in Germany, Georgia, Texas and Wyoming. The family eventually settled in San Antonio, Texas, where Johnson attracted the attention of baseball scouts.
Johnson went to Texas A&M, where he played Shortstop for “the biggest coach in the world, Tom Chandler, a real classic who really taught me respect for the game, and gave me the chance to show what I could do.”
After two years in the College Station, where he also played guard for the Basketball team of Aggies, Johnson signed with the Orioles.
He reached the Majors with Baltimore in 1965 as a backupinfielder, but was sent back to Triple-A after only .170 in 47 battle rates. Johnson received the second job and the Orioles the next season won the World Series and sweep the Dodgers. Johnson had the distinction to get the last hit from Sandy Koufax – a single in game 3. Koufax retired after that season.
With Johnson, the Orioles would appear in Four World Series, win in 1966 and 70 and lose in ’69 and ’71. His best season with the Orioles came in 1970 when he .282 hit 18 home runs and 72 runs while he helped the Orioles to a third straight.
He was traded to the Atlanta Braves in 1973 and immediately impressed his new competition. After never hit more than 18 home runs in a season with the Orioles, Johnson joined the Braves and hit 43 Homers. Johnson, Henry Aaron (40) and Darrell Evans (41) became the first trio of teammates of every hit 40 or more gayers in a season.
“It was the best thing that happened to me in baseball,” Johnson said about the exchange, “and the big reason was to get to Aaron. He helped me make a better batter.”
He spent two full seasons with the Braves and, after having lost his runway and to appear in just one match in 1975, abruptly left to play in Japan. After a fight with his manager there, Johnson came up again in the Majors with the Phillies in 1977 and was traded to the Cubs in August. He retired after that season.
A four-fold all-star and triple Gold Glove winner during his gaming career ended Johnson with a lifelong stroke average of .261.
The holder of a mathematics diploma from the Trinity College in San Antonio, Johnson also had his real estate license and was a recognized pilot and certified Scuba instructor. He was interested in computers while playing for the Orioles and followed graduated courses in computer science at Johns Hopkins University. He was one of the first managers of the game trusting on computers for information.
After leaving the Mets, Johnson managed the Reds, where he collided with controversial owner Marge Schott and the Orioles where he distorted Peter Angelos with owner. In Baltimore, Johnson navigated the shift of the future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken from Shortstop to third base, an idea that Ripken initially resisted.
He also managed the Dodgers and the Nationals and led Washington to the best record in baseball in 2012 (98-64) when they lost to the cardinals in the NL Division Series. His team won 84 games the following year, missed the Play -Offs and Johnson announced his retirement at the end of the season.
As a manager, the winning percentage of Johnson .562 all time with managers with at least 1,000 victories. Johnson and Baltimore’s Earl Weaver, his manager for almost all his time at the Orioles, are the only men on that list who started their managerial career after 1960.
Johnson is survived by his wife, Susan. A daughter, Andrea, died in 2005.
“I am still stunned that we lost,” Johnson said about those 1969 World Series. “That destination made all kinds of funky things happen. Fight of wind blowing balls back to their outfielders, [Ron] SwoBoda’s diving catch, although weis touches a home run. Winning was just not meant. “
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