Davey Johnson, 1943-2025

Davey Johnson was the worst manager in baseball history. I will not die on this hill, but I will knock a sucker off it.

David Allen Johnson was born on January 30, 1943 in Orlando, Florida. His father was a career U.S. Army man, and was transferred to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where David grew up. After playing baseball at Texas A&M University, he signed with the Baltimore Orioles, gaining a degree in economics from Trinity University in San Antonio during his off-seasons.

Usually known as "Dave Johnson" as a player -- "Davey" became more common when he began managing -- he made his debut with the Orioles in 1965. He was the starting 2nd baseman on their World Series-winning teams of 1966 and 1970. In 1969, the Orioles won the American League Pennant, but lost the World Series to the New York Mets. Johnson made the last out, in the top of the 9th inning of Game 5, with the Mets leading, 5-3: Batting against Jerry Koosman, he flied out to left field, where the ball was caught by Cleon Jones.

He was named to the American League All-Star Team in 1968, '69 and '70; and was awarded a Gold Glove in 1969, '70 and '71. That Orioles team was known as one of the best-fielding in baseball, with Johnson joining Brooks Robinson as he redefined how 3rd base could be played, Mark Belanger becoming the ultimate "good-field, no-hit" shortstop, and John "Boog" Powell defying his bulk and power hitting to play a superb 1st base.

After the 1972 season, the Orioles traded him, pitchers Pat Dobson and Roric Harrison, and another man who would manage them, catcher Johnny Oates, to the Atlanta Braves for 3rd baseman Taylor Duncan and catcher Earl Williams.

In 1973, the Braves became the 1st team in major league history with 3 players with 40 or more home runs: Hank Aaron hit 40 on his way to breaking the all-time home run record, Darrell Evans hit 41, and Johnson hit 43, making his 4th and last All-Star Game. Oddly, he only had 99 RBIs. The others weren't much better: Evans had 104, and Aaron had 96. Dusty Baker (another future manager) had 99 RBIs, with "only" 21 home runs. In spite of this, the Braves finished only 73-85.

In no season before that had Johnson hit more than 18 home runs, and over the rest of his career, he hit only 31. What happened? Certainly, the elevation on which Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium hit, the highest in the major leagues before the Colorado Rockies began play, earning it the nickname "The Launching Pad," had something to do with it. But this was an aberration that makes the 1996 season of Brady Anderson and the 2001 season of Luis Gonzalez look much less odd. Steroids were unheard-of in baseball at the time, so that probably wasn't it.

Johnson tailed off considerably in 1974, and the Braves released him early in the 1975 season. He played the 1975 and '76 season in Japan, with the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants, and played well enough for the Philadelphia Phillies to sign him for 1977, as a backup for good-fielding, light-hitting 2nd baseman Ted Sizemore. He helped them win the National League Eastern Division title.

The Phils traded him to the Chicago Cubs in 1978, and they released him after the season. He retired with a .261 lifetime batting average, 1,252 hits including 136 home runs, 609 RBIs, a 110 OPS+, 4 All-Star berths, 3 Gold Gloves, and 5 trips to the postseason, including 2 World Series rings. A decent playing career, if not a particularly noteworthy one.

*

In 1979, Johnson was hired to be the manager of the Miami Amigos, of the Class AAA Inter-American League, but it folded in mid-season. In 1981, the Mets brought him into their organization, to manage the Mississippi-based Jackson Mets of the Class AA Texas League. In 1983, he was promoted to the Norfolk, Virginia-based Tidewater Tides of the Class AAA International League. (They have been the Norfolk Tides since 1993, and the top farm team of the Baltimore Orioles since 2007.) He led them to the Pennant.

That got the Mets' attention. They had already fired manager George Bamberger midway through the 1983 season, and decided not to keep interim manager Frank Howard. Although he hadn't yet managed a major league game, and, at 41, would be one of MLB's youngest managers, the Mets had a young team that hadn't been going anywhere, and decided that Johnson was the right man.

Indeed, several of his players called him "the perfect manager" for their team. Mainly because he let them get away with everything. The boozing. The drugs. The carousing. The arrogance, both on and off the field.

With hellraising young stars like Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Lenny Dykstra, and the acquisition of veteran stars Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter, from 1983 to 1986, the Mets jumped from 68 wins in 1983 to 90 in 1984, to 98 in 1985, to a still-standing franchise record of 108 in 1986. They went from 22 games out of 1st place in the National League Eastern Division to 6 1/2 back, to 3 back, to winning the Division by 21 1/2 games. After the 2 near-misses, he guided the Mets to win the Pennant and the World Series in 1986.

There were 3 men who were in uniform for both of the Mets' World Series wins. Johnson was one. Bud Harrelson was the Mets' shortstop in 1969, and their 3rd base coach in 1986. And Tom Seaver was the Mets' ace in 1969, and was running out the string with the Red Sox in 1986.

But instead of "the greatest team of all time," the 1980s Mets turned out to be "a dynasty of one." They finished 2nd in 1987, won the Division but lost the NL Championship Series in 1988, and finished 2nd again in 1989. Early in the 1990 season, the Mets fired Johnson as manager.

In 1993, he was named manager of the Cincinnati Reds -- a team that, at the time, banned all facial hair, meaning his famous mustache had to go. They were in 1st place in the newly-created NL Central Division when the Strike of '94 hit, and won the Division in 1995, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series, before being swept themselves by the Atlanta Braves in the 1995 NLCS. That '95 NLDS remains the last postseason series won by the Reds, 30 years later.

Johnson was then hired to manage the Baltimore Orioles. In 1996, he got them to the American League's Wild Card Playoff berth, but lost the AL Championship Series to the Yankees. This included Game 1, when Derek Jeter was awarded a game-tying home run on a call that Johnson thought should have been reversed, due to fan interference. Another disputed call in Game 3 led to Johnson getting thrown out. He went back to the Oriole dugout, threw some things out of it, and an NBC microphone picked up his yell of "Horse shit!" He said it as two words.

To this day, Oriole fans complain that the umpires stole the series from them. Well, the next season, Johnson led them to the Division title, but they lost the ALCS to the Cleveland Indians in 6 games. In 2 years, they played 6 ALCS home games at Camden Yards, and lost 5 of them. When you can't defend your home field, you don't get to blame the umpires.

Johnson and team owner Peter Angelos never got along, and, despite being awarded the AL's Manager of the Year, Johnson resigned after that '97 Playoff loss. In 1999, he was hired by the Dodgers, but was fired after missing the Playoffs twice.

He was bench coach to manager Buck Martinez for the U.S. team at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, and managed the U.S. team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (winning a Bronze Medal), and at the 2009 WBC. Another managerial tenure where he fell short.

The Washington Nationals hired him in 2011. In 2012, he got them to the NL East title. But, with team management nervous over ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg's return from injury, he enforced an innings limit on him, shutting him down on September 12. The Nats blew a 2-run lead in the 9th inning of the deciding Game 5 of the NLDS, going from 7-5 over the St. Louis Cardinals to losing, 9-7. Suppose Strasburg had been made available for that one inning. Perhaps baseball history would have been changed, enough to win the Nats a Pennant 7 years sooner.

Johnson was named NL Manager of the Year, but was fired after missing the Playoffs the following season. He never managed again. He finished with a record of 1,372 wins and 1,071 losses. In all but one full season as a major league manager, he won at least 85 games. He is 10th all-time in winning percentage for managers with 1,000 wins. Each of the 9 ahead of him have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Johnson has not. Both the Mets and the Orioles have elected him to their team halls of fame, although neither has retired his uniform number. He usually wore 15, as both a player and a manager. He wore 5 while managing the Mets, but both the Orioles and the Reds have retired it, for Brooks Robinson and Johnny Bench, respectively.

Should he be in the Hall of Fame? Absolutely not. While his overall managerial record looks good, we need to look at the bigger picture. He managed in 17 seasons. In  6 of those seasons, he got a team into the postseason, and it likely would have been 7 if the Strike of '94 hadn't happened. And he got 4 different teams into the postseason: The '86 and '88 Mets, the '95 Reds, the '96 and '97 O's, and the '12 Nats. He guided teams to the postseason for the 1st time at age 41, and for the last time at age 69.

But... In 17 years, he won just 1 Pennant. His lack of oversight over the Mets probably cost them at least 2 other Division titles, and maybe more. He choked away a 3-games-to-1 lead in the '88 NLCS. He went from sweeping to swept in the '95 postseason. He went 1-5 in home ALCS games with the O's. He lost his cool in the '96 ALCS, and like many a team before them, they followed their manager's lead, and lost control of the situation. He choked away a 2-run lead in the deciding game of the '12 NLDS. His overall postseason record was below .500: 25-26.

True, that 1 Pennant did result in a World Series won. Except he came very close to throwing away a 3-2 series lead in the NLCS against the Houston Astros. And in the World Series, he fell behind the Boston Red Sox 2-0 and 3-2, and was 1 strike away from losing the Series in Game 6, and 11 outs away from losing Game 7. And his lack of restraint of his players, who were animals, party and otherwise, essentially meant that they won it all not because of his leadership, but in spite of it.

Indeed, you can make a really good roster out of players managed by Davey Johnson. Players are listed chronologically, not by talent:

1B Keith Hernandez, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Eric Karros

2B Mariano Duncan, Roberto Alomar, José Vizcaíno, Mark Grudzielanek

SS Barry Larkin

3B Howard Johnson, Cal Ripken Jr. (he had moved from SS by then), Adrián Beltré, Ryan Zimmerman

LF George Foster, Kevin Mitchell, Ron Gant, B.J. Surhoff, Pete Incaviglia, Gary Sheffield

CF Lenny Dykstra, Brady Anderson, Devon White, Bryce Harper

RF Darryl Strawberry, Reggie Sanders, Bobby Bonilla, Harold Baines, Shawn Green, Jayson Werth

C Gary Carter, Benito Santiago, Todd Hundley, Paul Lo Duca, Kurt Suzuki

SP Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, David Cone, David Wells, Mike Mussina, Scott Erickson, Jimmy Key, Orel Hershiser, Kevin Brown, Chan Ho Park, Chien-Ming Wang, Stephen Strasburg

RP Jesse Orosco, Randy Myers, Roger McDowell, Éric Gagné, Gregg Olson, Brad Lidge, Tyler Clippard

All that talent, Davey Johnson had. And he still only won one Pennant. That's why he's not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and is unlikely to ever be elected to it. Given what he had to work with, and what results he got out of them, he might have been the worst manager in the history of baseball.

After having been married once before, in 1993 he married Susan, having met her at a golf tournament she had organized for Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She had a son, Jake, who was deaf and blind. Jake died from pneumonia in 2011, only 34 years old. Davey had already lost a daughter, Andrea, in 2005. A nationally-ranked amateur surfer, she had fallen victim to schizophrenia, and died from septic shock.

Davey Johnson died at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida yesterday, September 5, 2025. He was 82 years old.

With his death:

* There are now 5 surviving players from the 1966 World Champion Baltimore Orioles: Luis Aparicio, Jim Palmer, John "Boog" Powell, Russ Snyder and Wally Bunker.

* There are now 7 surviving players from the 1970 World Champion Orioles: Palmer, Powell, Bobby Grich, Pete Richert, Terry Crowley, Eddie Watt, Dave Leonhard.

* There are no living people who have managed the New York Mets to a World Series win. Gil Hodges, the only other person to do so, died in 1972.

* There are 2 living managers who led the Mets to a National League Pennant: Bobby Valentine in 2000 and Terry Collins in 2015.

* And Tom Kelly is the earliest living manager of a World Series winner, with the 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins. Joe Torre was already the earliest living former Met manager.