Davey Johnson, the longtime major league manager and former All-Star second baseman, died on Friday at age 82.
Johnson managed four different teams to the postseason (Mets, Reds, Orioles, and Nationals), and won a World Series with the New York Mets in 1986. He managed the Dodgers in 1999 and 2000, his only managerial stop that did not include a trip to the playoffs.
“The Los Angeles Dodgers are saddened by the passing of Davey Johnson, who managed the team from 1999-2000,” the team said in a statement.
“We offer our condolences to his family and friends.”
Johnson’s Mets won 100 games in 1988, two years after winning the World Series, but lost to the Dodgers in seven games in the NLCS.
Johnson’s last postseason trip was with the Nationals in 2012, with a phenom named Bryce Harper who made his major league debut at age 19 at Dodger Stadium that April. Johnson by that point had seen it all during his baseball life, and even he was amazed at the spectacle.
“I had a pretty good pitcher break in in New York named Dwight Gooden and I don’t remember seeing this many cameras,” Johnson said that day.
As a player, Johnson made four All-Star teams with the Orioles and Braves, and also captured three Gold Glove Awards at second base during his time in Baltimore. In 1973 with Atlanta, he hit 43 home runs, with 42 of them coming as a second baseman to tie Rogers Hornsby for most homers at the position in a season, a record that still stands. That year, Johnson joined Braves teammates Darrell Evans (41) and Henry Aaron (40) as the first team to have three players hit 40 home runs in the same season.
More on Johnson from his obituaries at Associated Press and the New York Times.
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Add Dalton Rushing to the list of recently-injured Dodgers who expected to be out longer — potentially for the rest of the season — than they are actually expected to be. Rushing was placed on the 10-day IL Saturday, but got relatively good news from his CT scan. From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:
“Watching the video, I’m surprised. The initial feeling – yeah, I’m surprised,” he said. “It numbed up pretty quick. Couldn’t really put any pressure on it. There was pain up and down my leg. Thank God I’ve got a strong tib-fib. I guess I drank a lot of milk as a kid. It sucks, though.”
Joel Sherman at the New York Post argues MLB should fix the way teams churn through pitchers. As he described in a post on Bluesky, “The Mets’ best reliever this season? Díaz. The Mets’ 2nd-best reliever? Whoever they are about to abuse twice — 1st with multiple IPs, then by removing them from the majors despite success. Why MLB should work to end this league-wide practice.”
The two Dodgers relievers this year who came to mind reading this were Luis Garcia and Lou Trivino, who pitched in 28 and 26 games respectively for Los Angeles, and each of them led the team in appearances for the times they were on the active roster, before getting designated for assignment.
