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The baseball world was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Davey Johnson. Today Vince Jankoski takes a detailed look int this fine ball player and successful manager. -GL
DAVEY JOHNSON, RIP
From 1966 to 1972, the Baltimore Orioles won four pennants and two World Series titles. The teams were respectable offensively, featuring power hitters Frank Robinson and Boog Powell, but won mostly on their pitching. Their staffs included Hall of Famer Jim Palmer along with Cy Young Award Winner Mike Cuellar and stand out performer Dave McNally. In 1971, Palmer, Cuellar, McNally and Pat Dobson each won 20 games.
However, good pitching is often the result of good defense, particularly good infield defense, and the Orioles of the late 60’s and early 70’s had good, no, great infield defense. In those years, third base was manned by Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson. Luis Aparicio and later Mark Belanger held down the shortstop spot. Boog Powell was an underrated fielder at first base. The forgotten man in this superlative infield was second baseman Davey Johnson. Johnson himself won three gold gloves, and in 1969, Johnson, Belanger and Robinson each won gold gloves. That’s some good infield defense – something that the pitching staff appreciates.
When Johnson arrived full time in 1966, the Orioles/Browns franchise had never won a World Series and had secured only one pennant, in 1944 when most of the regular players were off fighting World War II. Johnson finished third in the Rookie-of-the-Year balloting. In the next seven seasons, Johnson would win three gold gloves and appear in three All-Star games.
Traded to Atlanta prior to the 1973 season to make room for Bobby Grich, Johnson, who never hit more than 18 home runs in Baltimore, found his power, striking 43 round trippers (more than teammates Hank Aaron or Darrel Evans) as he made his fourth All-Star appearance. Johnson was released by the Braves in the beginning of the 1975 season and spent the rest of 1975 and all of 1976 playing in Japan before returning to the States for two more seasons with the Phillies and Cubs.
In addition to his stellar defense, Davey was also productive offensively in important games. In the 1970 ALCS, he batted .364 with two home runs in 11 at bats as the O’s swept the Twins. In the World Series that year he hit .313 as the O’s beat the Reds in five games. In his final post season appearance in the first game of the NLCS in 1977, playing first base, he went one-for-four with two RBIs.
After retiring as a player, Johnson went on to a successful managerial career. Hired by the Mets prior to the start of the 1984 season, Davey improved the teams’ performance by 22 games from 68 wins to 90. The win totals increased to 98 games in 1985 and culminated the following year in a 108 win season which was capped by a World Series win over the Red Sox. Alas, Johnson feuded with General Manager Frank Cashen and was let go 42 games into the 1990 season.
He resurfaced with Cincinnati in 1993. He improved the team’s record, but could not get along with owner Marge Schott and was relieved after the 1995 season, notwithstanding that the Reds reached the NLCS that season.
Johnson spent the next two seasons back in Baltimore where he made the playoffs both years and won the manager of the year award in 1997, a year in which the O’s won 98 games. Again, he did not get along with ownership and resigned after the 1997 campaign.
Johnson’s next stop was with the Dodgers in 1999 and 2000. His record in L.A. was an unremarkable 163-161, but he secured his 1,000 win achieving that feat in the fewest number of games (1,740) of any manager up to that time.
His final managerial stop was with the Washington Nationals. Stepping down from the front office where he had been since 2006, Johnson took over as manager on June 26, 2011. In two and a half seasons in D.C., Johnson set the franchise record with 98 wins and secured Washington’s first post-season appearance since 1933. For his efforts, he won a second manager of the year award.
Johnson also coached and managed internationally in the Summer Olympics and the World Baseball Classic.
In 17 seasons as a manager, he amassed a won-lost percentage of .562, a figure higher than any Hall of Fame manager who managed post-1950 except Al Lopez and Johnson’s old boss in Baltimore, Earl Weaver. He won a World Series in 1986 with the Mets, a team that won 108 games. He also won more than 100 games with the Mets in 1988. He had a won-loss percentage in excess of .600 four times – Mets, 1986 and 1988, Orioles, 1997, and Nationals, 2012. His teams made the post-season six times. His lack of permanency in managerial positions is more of a reflection on his inability to get along with the higher ups rather than lack of success on the field.
Davey was a smart man. He attended prestigious Johns Hopkins University, and received a math degree from Trinity College. He used his math wizardry and self-taught computer knowledge to become one of the first managers to utilize an analytical approach to making baseball decisions – what later became known as sabermetrics. Maybe he was simply too smart for everyone else.
In his more than three decades in the professional game, Johnson always seemed to be in the center of the action. Whether solidifying an infield defense on a world championship team or rallying a downcast team to a playoff spot or arguing with the ownership, he seemed to be a part of the focus of the baseball world. His was not a Hall of Fame career, but he was, nevertheless, a very important component of the baseball world during his decades in the game.
Davey Johnson died on September 5, 2025 in Sarasota, Florida at age 82. RIP Davey. Thanks for the memories.
Vince Jankoski
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