- Davey Johnson
-
Davey Johnson 
Washington Nationals — No. 5 Second baseman / Manager Born: January 30, 1943
Orlando, FloridaBatted: Right Threw: Right MLB debut April 13, 1965 for the Baltimore Orioles Last MLB appearance September 29, 1978 for the Chicago Cubs Career statistics Batting average .261 Home runs 136 Runs batted in 609 Games managed 2,038 Win–loss record 1,148–889 Winning % .564 Teams As player
- Baltimore Orioles (1965–1972)
- Atlanta Braves (1973–1975)
- Yomiuri Giants (1975–1976)
- Philadelphia Phillies (1977–1978)
- Chicago Cubs (1978)
As manager
- New York Mets (1984–1990)
- Cincinnati Reds (1993–1995)
- Baltimore Orioles (1996–1997)
- Los Angeles Dodgers (1999–2000)
- Washington Nationals (2011–present)
Career highlights and awards Olympic medal record Competitor for USA Men's baseball Bronze 2008 Beijing Team David Allen "Davey" Johnson (born January 30, 1943 in Orlando, Florida) is an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and current manager of the Washington Nationals. He was the starting second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles when they won four American League (AL) pennants and two World Series championships between 1965 and 1972. He made four All-Star Game appearances and received the Rawlings Gold Glove Award three times. He also played for the Atlanta Braves (1973–1975), Yomiuri Giants (1975–1976), Philadelphia Phillies (1977–1978) and Chicago Cubs (1978).
His biggest success as a manager was when he led the New York Mets to the 1986 World Series title. The ball club captured the National League (NL) East under his watch in 1988. The teams he piloted in the three years from 1995 to 1997 all made it to their respective League Championship Series – the Cincinnati Reds in 1995 and the Orioles in both 1996 and 1997. Johnson won the American League's Manager of the Year Award in 1997 when he led the Baltimore Orioles wire-to-wire to the American League East Division Championship. He would later manage the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On June 25, 2011, he replaced Jim Riggleman as manager of the Washington Nationals, after Riggleman unexpectedly resigned two days before.[1]
Contents
Playing career
After one season playing baseball at Texas A&M University, Johnson signed with the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent in 1962. He made the team, and was in the opening day line-up for the 1965 season opener, but spent most of the season in the minors, where he batted .301 for the Rochester Red Wings. On June 13, 1966, the Orioles traded second baseman Jerry Adair to the Chicago White Sox to make room for Johnson at second base. He responded with a .257 batting average, seven home runs and 56 runs batted in to finish third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting for the 1966 World Series champions. In the 1966 World Series, Johnson earned the distinction of being the last person to get a hit off of Sandy Koufax.
Johnson reached the World Series again with the Orioles in 1969, 1970 and 1971, winning his only other ring as a player in 1970. He also won the AL Gold Glove Award at second base all three seasons. Orioles shortstop Mark Belanger won the award as well in 1969 and 1971, joining a select list of eight shortstop-second baseman combinations have won the honor in the same season while playing together. Third baseman Brooks Robinson also was in the middle of his record 16 straight Gold Glove streak when Johnson and Belanger won their awards.
Following the 1972 season, Johnson was traded with Pat Dobson, Roric Harrison and Johnny Oates to the Atlanta Braves for Taylor Duncan and Earl Williams. Johnson's best statistical year came in 1973 with the Braves when his offense exploded and he tied Rogers Hornsby's record for most single-season home runs by a second baseman with 42 (he actually hit 43 that year, but one came as a pinch hitter – The Sporting News Baseball Record Book, 2007 p. 23). The 1973 Braves featured the first trio of teammates ever to all hit 40 home runs in the same season when Johnson hit 43, Darrell Evans hit 41, and Hank Aaron hit 40. Johnson's second-highest was 18 home runs in the 1971 season – considered to be a good number for a second baseman, itself.
Four games into the 1975 season, Johnson was released by the Braves. He signed and played in the Japanese League for the Yomiuri Giants (1975–1976). He returned to America in 1977, signing as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies. During the 1978 season, Johnson hit two grand slam home runs as a pinch-hitter for the Phillies. Shortly afterwards, he was dealt to the Chicago Cubs, where he ended his playing career.
Seasons Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO HBP Avg. OBP Slg. Fld% 13 1435 4797 564 1252 242 18 136 609 33 25 559 675 40 .261 .340 .404 .981 Johnson, batting against Jerry Koosman, was the last batter of the 1969 World Series – flying out to give the Mets their first World Championship. He would go on to manage the Mets to their second, with Jesse Orosco striking out the final batter. Coincidentally, the two pitchers had been traded for each other after the 1978 season. Johnson would manage Orosco again in Baltimore, as Orosco signed with the Orioles as a free agent in 1995, a year before Johnson arrived.
Trivia
Johnson is one of only five Major League Baseball players to hit two pinch-hit grand slams in the same season. The others are Mike Ivie of the San Francisco Giants, Daryl Strawberry of the New York Yankees, Ben Broussard of the Cleveland Indians, and Brooks Conrad of the Atlanta Braves.[2]
Managing career
Johnson managed the New York Mets (1984–1990), Cincinnati Reds (1993–1995), Baltimore Orioles (1996–1997), Los Angeles Dodgers (1999–2000), and Washington Nationals (2011 – present)
New York Mets
Johnson began his managerial career in 1979 with the independent Miami Amigos of the Inter-American League. After guiding them to a 51–21 record, he became a coach in the New York Mets farm system. He won pennants in each of his three seasons in the minors, and within a few years was manager of the Mets' top farm team, the Tidewater Tides.
He took over the parent club, which hadn't won a pennant since 1973, in 1984, and was eager for success. Johnson went on to become the first National League manager to win at least 90 games in each of his first five seasons, with the highlight being winning the World Series in 1986 against the Boston Red Sox. Interestingly, while with the Baltimore Orioles, Johnson made the final out to clinch the Mets' first World Championship in 1969. However, Johnson rankled Mets management with his easygoing style. When the Mets struggled early in the 1990 season, he was fired. He is still the winningest manager in Mets history.
Cincinnati Reds
After more than two seasons out of baseball, the Cincinnati Reds hired him 44 games into the 1993 season. As was the case with the Mets, Johnson revived the Reds almost immediately. He led the team to the National League Central lead at the time of the 1994 players' strike, and won the first official NL Central title in 1995.
However, early in the 1995 season, Reds owner Marge Schott announced Johnson would not return in 1996, regardless of how the Reds did. Schott named former Reds third baseman Ray Knight (who had also played for Johnson on the Mets championship team) as bench coach, with the understanding that he would take over as manager in 1996.
Johnson and Schott had never gotten along, and relations had deteriorated to the point that he'd nearly been fired after the 1994 season. By most accounts, the final straw came because Schott didn't approve of Johnson living with his then-fiancée, Susan, before they were married.[3]
Baltimore Orioles
Almost immediately, Johnson returned to Baltimore as the Orioles' manager. Again, he breathed new life into a struggling franchise as the Orioles earned a wild-card playoff berth in 1996 (the Orioles' first trip to the postseason since winning the 1983 World Series) and the American League East title in 1997.
However, Johnson and Orioles owner Peter Angelos never got along; the two men almost never spoke to each other. The final straw reportedly came when Johnson fined Roberto Alomar for skipping a team banquet in April 1997 and an exhibition game against the Rochester Red Wings (the Orioles' top farm team at the time) during the 1997 All-Star Break. Johnson ordered Alomar to pay the fine by making out a check for a fine to a charity run by Johnson's wife, Susan. However, Alomar donated the money to another charity after players' union lawyers advised him of the possible conflict of interest. In negotiations after the season, Johnson was prepared to admit he'd made an error in judgment regarding the fine, but Angelos demanded that Johnson admit that he'd acted recklessly in not leaving the decision to him. Johnson refused to do so, and offered his resignation—which was accepted by Angelos on the same day that Johnson was named American League Manager of the Year.[3]
Los Angeles Dodgers
In 1999, Johnson was hired as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had beaten Johnson's heavily favored Mets in seven games in the 1988 National League Championship Series. Unfortunately, Johnson suffered the first full losing season of his managerial career, finishing in third place eight games under .500. While the Dodgers rebounded to second place the next year, it was not enough to save Johnson's job.
2000 – 2010
Johnson briefly managed the Netherlands national team in 2003 during the absence of Robert Eenhoorn, then served as a bench coach under Eenhoorn at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[4] He then became manager of Team USA, where he managed the United States team to a seventh-place finish out of an 18-team field in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, held in The Netherlands. The team finished tied for second in its group during group play with a 6–2 record before falling, 11–3, to eventual winner and 24-time World Cup champion Cuba in the quarterfinals. A subsequent 9–0 loss to Nicaragua put the Americans into the seventh-place game with Puerto Rico, where they prevailed with an 11–3 win. Johnson also served as bench coach for Team USA during the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He managed the USA baseball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Johnson during the World Baseball Classic
On June 7, 2006, Johnson was hired by the Washington Nationals as a consultant to team general manager Jim Bowden. Bowden was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds when Johnson served as the team's manager.
In 2009 he managed Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
In November, 2009 Johnson was hired as a Senior Adviser by Washington Nationals.
In 2009 Johnson was also the head coach for the Florida Collegiate Summer League, DeLand Suns, and has returned as the head coach for the 2010 Sanford River Rats season.[5]
Davey Johnson was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame with Frank Cashen, Darryl Strawberry, and Dwight Gooden on August 1, 2010.
Washington Nationals
Johnson first joined the Washington Nationals front office on June 7, 2006 when he was appointed as a consultant by then-vice president/general manager Jim Bowden.[6] He was named a senior advisor to current GM Mike Rizzo after the 2009 campaign. He became the Nationals manager on June 26, 2011 after the unexpected resignation of Jim Riggleman three days earlier. He is expected to serve as manager for the rest of the 2011 season.On October 31, the Nationals announced that Davey Johnson would be their manager for the 2012 season.
Personal life
He attended Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio,TX and the Johns Hopkins University in addition to Texas A&M, and graduated from Trinity University in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. [1] He is known for taking a statistical approach to baseball. [2]
Johnson's daughter, Andrea, was a nationally-ranked amateur surfer in the late 1980s. However, Andrea died in 2005 from septic shock.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ Ladson, Bill (June 25, 2011). "Johnson to take over as Nationals manager". Nationals.com. http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110624&content_id=20957988&vkey=news_was&c_id=was. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
- ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100725&content_id=12608384¬ebook_id=12608386&vkey=notebook_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
- ^ a b Maske, Mark (1997-11-16). "Poor Communication at Heart of Feud". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/orioles/longterm/memories/davey/articles/poorcomm.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
- ^ Kepner, Tyler. "Davey Johnson Has a Soft Spot for Dutch Baseball Team." The New York Times, March 11, 2009.
- ^ http://floridaleague.com.mytempweb.com/Teams/SanfordRiverRats/SanfordRiverRatsNewsletters/RiverRatsHeadCoach.aspx
- ^ "Nationals name Davey Johnson as Special Consultant to the General Manager," Washington Nationals press release, Wednesday, June 7, 2006.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Davey Johnson managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
- Baseball Hall of Fame – 2008 Veterans Committee candidate profile
- Page at BaseballLibrary
Categories:- 1943 births
- Living people
- American expatriate baseball players in Japan
- American League All-Stars
- Atlanta Braves players
- Baltimore Orioles managers
- Baltimore Orioles players
- Chicago Cubs players
- Cincinnati Reds managers
- Gold Glove Award winners
- Los Angeles Dodgers managers
- Major League Baseball managers
- Baseball players from Florida
- Major League Baseball second basemen
- Manager of the Year Award winners
- Minor league baseball managers
- National League All-Stars
- New York Mets managers
- People from Orlando, Florida
- Philadelphia Phillies players
- Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball players
- Texas A&M University alumni
- Yomiuri Giants players
- People from Winter Park, Florida
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