Mets' last World Series-winning manager dies at 82

There was always a certain calculation to Davey Johnson’s baseball life — equal parts Ivy League poise and Southern stubbornness, driven by a brain that belonged more in a lab than a dugout. But from the moment the Baltimore Orioles plucked him out of Texas A&M in the fourth round of the 1962 draft, Johnson made it clear he wasn’t just another second baseman with a slick glove. He was a thinker. And a winner.

Johnson, who died Friday at age 82, carved out a 13-year career in Major League Baseball as a player, before achieving even greater fame as a manager. His improbable title with the 1986 New York Mets remains the last in their franchise's history.

Jay Horwitz, the Mets' longtime public relations man, wrote that he met with Johnson in Sarasota, Florida and "talked about Straw, Doc, Mex, Kid, Ronnie D, Mookie, and how we took the baseball world by storm in 1986. A smile came to his face when the subject of our rally Game Six in the World Series came up."

Johnson broke into the Orioles’ lineup in 1965, a smooth-fielding, hard-nosed infielder who could turn a double play like a metronome. He was an All-Star by ’68, a Gold Glove regular, and a quiet backbone of the Orioles' dynastic run through the late 1960s and early ‘70s. He helped lead Baltimore to four American League pennants and two World Series titles, including their 1970 triumph.

But Johnson wasn’t just a glove. In 1973, newly traded to Atlanta, he shocked everyone by clubbing 43 homers — tying Rogers Hornsby’s single-season mark for second basemen. That year he hit behind Hank Aaron in the Braves’ order, a slugging second baseman during an era when few existed.

Johnson's playing career faded with stints in Japan and a brief comeback in 1975. But Johnson’s real impact was just beginning. He resurfaced in the dugout, first as a minor-league instructor, then as a manager with a taste for early analytics before “sabermetrics” was a word.

By 1984, the Mets handed him the keys to their rebuild, and he lit the engine. Johnson was sharp, demanding, and unapologetically ahead of his time. He devoured computer printouts. He leaned on matchups before they were in vogue.

In 1986, it all came together: 108 wins, a club of wild personalities, and a miracle Game 6 that still lives in Queens.

Yet Johnson’s career was never without friction. He bristled against executives who didn’t speak his language of logic. He finished with a winning record everywhere he managed — Cincinnati, Baltimore, brief runs in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — but never stayed as long as his record would predict.

In 1997, Johnson was named AL Manager of the Year with the Orioles. He resigned the next day after clashing with owner Peter Angelos.

After a decade away, he returned to manage the Nationals in 2011. There, at age 70, he presided over the franchise’s breakout 98-win season in 2012. Washington lost the NLDS in a crushing Game 5 collapse — fitting, in some twisted way, for a man whose greatest triumphs was often offset by what-ifs.

Johnson managed his final MLB game in 2013. His record: 1,372 wins, a .562 winning percentage, six division titles, and a legacy as one of the game’s most quietly innovative minds.

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