New York (AP)-The winning run scored in Game 6 of the World Series of 1986, the New York Mets melted in a white and blue swirl near the home plate and celebrated their Unexpected comeback From the edge of the defeat.
Exactly in the middle of all that humanity was Davey Johnson, who had arrived in the mobscin before many of his players.
That ’86 Mets-with all their brash, fighting spirit and unapologetic sparkle-zouden have not been the same without their 43-year-old manager.
Johnson died on Friday at the age of 82. For a long time Public Relations representative Jay Horwitz said that Johnson’s wife Susan informed him of his death after a long illness. Johnson was in a hospital in Sarasota, Florida.
“His ability to enable players to express themselves while maintaining a strong dedication to excellence was really inspiring,” Darryl Strawberry Posted on Instagram With a photo of him, Johnson and Dwight Throwing. “Davey’s legacy will forever be etched in the hearts of both fans and players.”
Strawberry and Gooden were the young stars of that 1986 team, and their talent and off-field problems came to symbolize an era of Mets Baseball. It was Johnson’s Third World Series title after he won two as a player at the Baltimore Orioles.
A four-fold All-Star, Johnson played 13 Major League seasons with Baltimore, the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs from 1965-78 and won three golden gloves on second base. He managed the Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals during a span of 1984-2013.
“Davey was a good man, good friend and a mentor,” said former National Manager Mike Rizzo in an SMS. “A Hall of Fame Caliber Manager with a basehound spirit for his time.”
Johnson, born on January 30, 1943, in Orlando, Florida, Won World Series – titles with the Orioles in 1966 and 1970 and also made the final of the Fall Classic from 1969 against the Mets – an irony that got his future role with them. In 1973 Johnson hit a career-high 43 home runs with the Braves and joined Darrell Evans (41) and Henry Aaron (40) as part of the first trio of teammates in Major League History to reach in the same year 40.
Johnson’s first management job was at the Mets when he was in the early 40s. When sending that famous noisy group to a title in ’86, he earned the reputation to give his players their freedom. When that team started to fall, he was fired in 1990, but his days as a manager were not nearly over.
Johnson’s term of office 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 – the man who scored that winning run in Game 6 for the Mets in ’86 – the Managing task as soon as that season was over. After lending Cincinnati to a division title in ’95, Johnson went back to Baltimore to manage the Orioles.
“Davey Johnson was one of the best managers I ever had the privilege of cooperating in my career,” said Jim Bowden, the general director of Cincinnati that year, on social media on Saturday. “He taught me so much about baseball, specifically how I can build Bullpens, develop young pitchers and put together Elite Coaching Staff. He was a brilliant, friendly leader and teammate.”
When Johnson took over the Orioles, he had sufficient credibility for Cal Ripken Jr. From shortstop to the third base to move, and Baltimore made the play -offs at the helm each of his two seasons. It was the first time that the Orioles had done this since 1983, and they would no longer qualify until 2012.
Just like in Cincinnati, Johnson won a division title in what turned out to be the last year of his term of office in Baltimore. In the midst of a feud with owner Peter Angelos, Johnson resigned after the 1997 season – hours after receiving his first manager of the year Award.
He won again in 2012, when he led the Nationals to the best regular season record of baseball and the first postseason spot of the franchise since he moved from Montreal to Washington.
“Davey was a world-class manager,” said National owner Mark Lerner in a statement. “I will always cherish the memories that we have made together with the Nationals, and I know that his estate will live in the heads and spirits of our fans and those about baseball.”
Johnson studied mathematics at Trinity University in Texas and he had an innovative side. Even when he was a player, he already used data to try to optimize the Line -Up of the Orioles, although Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver did not transfer that duty to his infielder.
But when he dealt with his own players as manager, Johnson had a blunt, old-school way, according to Mike Bordick, the short stop of Baltimore in 1997.
“He was so easy to play for,” said Bordick. “He just knew to push the right buttons.”
Ryan Zimmerman, who played with Washington from 2011-13 for Johnson, said that Johnson was an even better person than he was a baseball man.
“He knew how to get the best out of everyone – on and next to the field,” Zimmerman said in an SMS. “I 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.”
AP National writer Howard Fendrich has contributed to this report. Noah Trister reported from Baltimore.
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