Former Nationals manager Davey Johnson dies at 82

Davey Johnson, one of baseball’s most successful managers who took over the Nationals at a time of unexpected chaos and led them to their first postseason berth, has died at 82, the team confirmed this morning.

Johnson, who had dealt with a number of medical issues later in life, lived outside Orlando with his wife, Susan, since his retirement following the 2013 season.

“On behalf of my family and the entire Washington Nationals organization, I want to extend my condolences to Davey Johnson’s family and loved ones,” managing principal owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “We are all deeply saddened by his passing and join all of Major League Baseball in honoring his memory.

“Davey was a world-class manager, leading our team to its first NL East title and earning Manager of the Year honors in 2012. But, most importantly, he was an incredible person. I’ll always cherish the memories we made together with the Nationals, and I know his legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of our fans and those across baseball.”

Johnson had long since established his legacy of success as both a four-time All-Star second baseman with the Orioles and Braves in the 1960s and ’70s and as the World Series-winning manager of the Mets in 1986 before joining the Nationals as a consultant to former general manager Jim Bowden in 2006. He became a senior advisor to Mike Rizzo when the latter replaced Bowden as GM in 2009 and seemed content to finish out his career with the off-the-field role.

But when Jim Riggleman shockingly resigned as manager following a walk-off win in June 2011, upset the organization wouldn’t discuss a contract extension at that time, Johnson unexpectedly found himself back in uniform at 68 after agreeing to Rizzo’s offer to take over as manager.

The Nationals went 40-43 under Johnson to close out the 2011 season and entered the 2012 season with genuine hope of recording the team’s first winning record since relocating from Montreal. Few could have imagined that group led by veterans Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth, a young rotation anchored by Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez, and a rookie outfielder named Bryce Harper would proceed to go 98-64 and win the NL East title in convincing fashion.

The Nats went on to face the Cardinals in the National League Division Series and found themselves on the verge of elimination before Werth delivered an epic walk-off home run on the 14th pitch of his bottom-of-the-ninth at-bat in Game 4, a moment that stood for many years as the greatest in club history. It was, alas, rendered moot 24 hours later when the Nationals blew a 6-0 lead to St. Louis in Game 5, with Johnson taking criticism for some of his managerial decisions during that do-or-die game on South Capitol Street.

"It's tough," he said at the end of that devastating night. "We've had a great year overcoming a lot of hardship, and to not go after them at the end was not fun to watch."

With nearly the entire roster returning, expectations were sky-high entering 2013, and Johnson didn’t hide from it: “World Series or bust, that’s probably the slogan this year,” he said at the Winter Meetings. “But I’m comfortable with that.”

The 2013 Nationals proved to be a disappointment, finishing 86-76 and missing the postseason to close out Johnson’s pre-planned retirement season. He remained a consultant with the club for one more year.

"As the Nationals are concerned, we are going to benefit from him being here," reliever Tyler Clippard said on the final day of the 2013 season. "I wish him all the best. I think he left us in a good spot as an organization. I'm thankful for him being my manager."

David Allen Johnson was born Jan. 30, 1943, in Orlando. He played high school baseball in San Antonio and college baseball at Texas A&M, signing with the Orioles in 1962 after only one season. He debuted in the majors in 1965 and quickly became one of several cornerstones on Baltimore’s championship roster, winning World Series titles in 1966 and 1970.

Over a 13-year playing career, he batted .261 with a .340 on-base percentage, 136 homers, 242 doubles and 609 RBIs. His 43 homers with the Braves in 1973 stood as the single-season major league record for a second baseman until 2021.

Johnson immediately went into managing in 1979 after retiring from his playing career and joined the Mets organization in 1981, working his way up to manager at Triple-A Tidewater before the big league club promoted him in 1984. Two years later, he led a star-laden, diverse-personality team to the 1986 World Series that remains beloved in Flushing, an achievement that hasn’t been repeated there since.

Despite his successes, Johnson often clashed with management, confident he was smarter than anyone else when it came to running a ballclub. An early proponent of analytics, he found a way to combine old-school and new-school ideas in lineup creation and bullpen usage that consistently worked wherever he went.

After the Mets fired him in 1990, Johnson took over the Reds during the 1993 season and went on to win two division titles with them. After another feud with Cincinnati owner Marge Schott, Johnson was fired after losing the 1995 NLCS. The Orioles immediately came calling, and Johnson again won in his new home, leading Baltimore to back-to-back playoff berths and the 1997 AL East crown. He resigned on the same day he won AL Manager of the Year honors, embroiled in a feud with owner Peter Angelos.

After a year off, Johnson was hired by the Dodgers, where he spent two seasons and didn’t make the playoffs (the only stop in his managerial career in which that was true). He took time off for much of the next decade, dealing with a health scare (a ruptured appendix that nearly killed him) and working in international baseball, including managing Team USA at the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Baseball Classic before his final act with the Nationals.

All told, Johnson went 1,372-1,071 in 17 seasons as a major league manager, one of 17 managers in history to finish 301 games over .500. The only two others who aren’t already in the Hall of Fame are Dave Roberts and Dusty Baker.

"It was a fun ride," Johnson said after his final game. "It's a great group of guys. It's time to go home. Put me out to pasture."