{"id":140225,"date":"2025-09-07T21:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/140225\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T21:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:31:18","slug":"davey-johnson-1986-mets-manager-and-4-time-all-star-dies-at-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/140225\/","title":{"rendered":"Davey Johnson, 1986 Mets manager and 4-time All-Star, dies at 82"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 When the winning run scored in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, the New York Mets melted into a white-and-blue swirl near home plate, celebrating their implausible comeback<\/a> from the brink of defeat.<\/p>\n

Right in the middle of all that humanity was Davey Johnson, who had arrived at the mob scene before many of his players.<\/p>\n

Those \u201986 Mets \u2014 with all their brashness, belligerence and unapologetic brilliance \u2014 would not have been the same without their 43-year-old manager.<\/p>\n

Johnson died Friday at age 82. Longtime Mets public relations representative Jay Horwitz said Johnson\u2019s wife Susan informed him of his death after a long illness. Johnson was at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis ability to empower players to express themselves while maintaining a strong commitment to excellence was truly inspiring,\u201d Darryl Strawberry posted on Instagram<\/a> with a photo of him, Johnson and Dwight Gooden. \u201cDavey\u2019s legacy will forever be etched in the hearts of fans and players alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strawberry and Gooden were the young stars of that 1986 team, and their talent and off-field troubles came to symbolize an era of Mets baseball. It was Johnson\u2019s third World Series title after he won two as a player with the Baltimore Orioles.<\/p>\n

A four-time All-Star, Johnson played 13 major league seasons with Baltimore, the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs from 1965-78 and won three Gold Gloves at second base. He managed the Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals during a span from 1984-2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavey was a good man, close friend and a mentor,\u201d former Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said in a text message. \u201cA Hall of Fame caliber manager with a baseball mind ahead of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born Jan. 30, 1943, in Orlando, Florida, Johnson won World Series titles with the Orioles in 1966 and 1970 and also made the final out of the 1969 Fall Classic against the Mets \u2014 an irony given his future role with them. In 1973, Johnson hit a career-high 43 home runs with the Braves, joining Darrell Evans (41) and Henry Aaron (40) as part of the first trio of teammates in major league history to reach 40 in the same year.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s first managerial job was with the Mets when he was in his early 40s. In steering that famously rowdy group to a title in \u201986, he earned a reputation for giving his players their freedom. When that team began to decline, he was fired in 1990, but his days as a manager were far from over.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s tenure in Cincinnati ended unusually. He was a lame duck at the start of the 1995 season, with Reds owner Marge Schott prepared to give Ray Knight \u2014 the man who scored that winning run in Game 6 for the Mets in \u201886 \u2014 the managing job once that season was over. After guiding Cincinnati to a division title in \u201995, Johnson went back to Baltimore to manage the Orioles.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavey Johnson was one of the best managers I ever had the privilege of working with in my career,\u201d Jim Bowden, Cincinnati\u2019s general manager that year, said on social media Saturday. \u201cHe taught me so much about baseball specifically how to build bullpens, develop young pitchers and put together elite coaching staffs. He was a brilliant, kind leader and teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Johnson took over the Orioles, he had enough credibility to move Cal Ripken Jr. from shortstop to third base, and Baltimore made the playoffs each of his two seasons at the helm. It was the first time the Orioles had done so since 1983, and they wouldn\u2019t qualify again until 2012.<\/p>\n

Like in Cincinnati, Johnson won a division title in what turned out to be the last year of his tenure in Baltimore. Amid a feud with owner Peter Angelos, Johnson resigned after the 1997 season \u2014 hours after receiving his first Manager of the Year award.<\/p>\n

He won it again in 2012, when he led the Nationals to baseball\u2019s best regular-season record and the franchise\u2019s first postseason spot since moving from Montreal to Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavey was a world-class manager,\u201d Nationals owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019ll always cherish the memories we made together with the Nationals, and I know his legacy will live on in the heads and minds of our fans and those across baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson studied math at Trinity University in Texas, and he had an innovative side. Even when he was a player, he was already using data to try to optimize the Orioles\u2019 lineup, although Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver wasn\u2019t turning that duty over to his infielder.<\/p>\n

But when dealing with his own players as a manager, Johnson had a blunt, old-school manner, according to Mike Bordick, Baltimore\u2019s shortstop in 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so easy to play for,\u201d Bordick said. \u201cHe just knew the right buttons to push.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Zimmerman, who played for Johnson with Washington from 2011-13, said Johnson was an even better human than he was a baseball man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew how to get the best out of everyone \u2014 on and off the field,\u201d Zimmerman said in a text message. \u201cI learned so much from him, and my career would not have been the same without my years with him. He will be deeply missed by so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP National Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report. Noah Trister reported from Baltimore.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n