Davey Johnson, who skippered the 1986 Mets to a World Series triumph, deserves to win induction to the Hall of Fame. He fell short in the recent vote of the Today’s Game Committee (until recently the Veterans Committee). Hopefully he can make up the deficit in the next election.
Johnson managed the Mets from 1984 thru part of the 1990 season, and went on to manage the Reds, Orioles, Dodgers and Nats over a 17 season span. He won Manager of the Year twice, once with the 1997 Orioles and again with the 2012 Nationals.
When Johnson took over the helm of the Mets in 1984, he took over a team that had struggled for years. The 1983 team finished at 68-94. Johnson then engineered one of the biggest rebounds ever for any MLB team, the ’84 squad finished at 90-72, in second place. Sure some new talent came in, but still we must give considerable credit to Johnson. He made Wally Backman a starter and moved Ron Darling into the pitching rotation.
The Mets then kept rolling in 1985 with 98 wins, but fell just short of the Cardinals. The 1986 club of course went all the way to capture the World Series, and the ’88 Mets won 100 games in the regular season but lost to the Dodgers in the post season. Johnson eventually logged a total of six post season appearances with his various clubs, but had just the one World Series win.
His overall managing record is 1372-1071, a .562 winning percentage. That is better than most managers in the Hall of Fame. It’s better than almost all the recent inductees, including Sparky Anderson, Bobby Cox, Whitey Herzog, Tony La Russa, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Torre and Dick Williams.
The Mets weren’t his only turn around job. The 2011 Washington Nationals finished 80-81 (Johnson did manage part of that season). Then the following year with Johnson managing the Nats were 98-64 to capture the division. Baltimore finished 71-73 in 1995. Johnson took over the reins in 1996 and the Orioles improved to 99-74, earning a wild card berth.
Johnson was also an early innovator in the use of data. Johnson has a degree in mathematics, and he put it to use. When he was still a player with Baltimore he was able to get some time on the main frame computer that belonged to the owner of the team’s company. Johnson developed what he thought would be a better batting order from that data, not that his manager Weaver used it. Then when he started managing in the Mets farm system the dawn of the personal computer age arrived, and Johnson was a pioneer in crunching stats with his pc.
Johnson of course also was a player, and a very good one at that for the Orioles and the Braves. He won three gold gloves as a second baseman, and he was a two time all-star. He even had a burst of power with the Braves in 1973, hitting 43 homers and setting the MLB record for home runs by a second baseman in a season. You could make the case that of all the managers who are in the Hall of Fame as a manager, only Torre had a better playing career than Johnson.
Although Johnson’s only entry into the Hall of Fame is as a manager, his playing career can be considered. The Hall of Fame website lists criteria for induction, and it does say “Those whose careers entailed involvement in multiple categories will be considered for their overall contribution to the game of Baseball”.
Johnson was a successful MLB manager who invariably improved the records of the franchise he managed. His winning percentage is among the highest of all managers, and he was an early force in utilizing computers and advanced statistics in professional baseball. Johnson turns 74 next week, it would be fitting if he was inducted while he was still alive to enjoy it.
I’m a big fan of Davey Johnson and would be very happy if he made the Hall.
He should make it to Cooperstown if only he buys a ticket
I love Davey, and I do believe he was a great Manager—but he doesn’t have The Rings. I don’t see him as HOF
More rings would be nice, but there are at least two managers in the HOF who never won a world series, Al Lopez and Wilbert Robinson, and 4 who won one ws, the same as Davey, namely Bobby Cox, Leo Durocher, Whitey Herzog and Earl Weaver.
Interesting feedback—I do believe Davey was one of the best Managers I’ve seen.
Just for arguments sake: how would you rank the top Mets’ managers (assuming most of us would think of Hodges, Johnson and Valentine)?
Davey Gets my Nod…. was he the first “Juicer”?…43 HR’s???
he does not fit the profile, no big increase in his body, and whatever steroids were around in 1973 would have been primitive and no evidence they were used in baseball until much later. . He just had an outlier year, and Fulton County stadium was friendly to power hitters, it was called the ‘launching pad”.
Davey Johnson was the best Met manager and I have seem them all. 1986 was a very special year and much of the credit belongs to him. His success at every stop in his career and how he drastically improved those teams is a testimony to his managing skills. Of course he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Does anyone actually care about managers and other non-players in the hall?
I’m all for kicking all the managers/owners/umpires/coaches/execs and non-players out of the Hall of Fame. Or rather, make some other stupid nominal shrine for them, far far away from the real thing.
It’s about what happens on the field.
Name…I mostly agree. Unless a guy has many, many Rings or is tied to a true advancement—- Tony L with the specialization of Relievers…Madden’s Defensive Shifts.
Maybe people will feel that Davey was one of the first “saber guys”, or they will reflect on his USA/International Baseball contributions–but, you could probably also say those things about Bobby V.