Davey Johnson: Part One- The Playing Years (1966-1978)

David Allen Johnson was born January 30, 1943, in Orlando, Florida. The six foot one, right hand hitting infielder went to high school in San Antonio Texas. He later attended John Hopkins University & then one year at Texas A & M. 

In 1962 he was signed by the Baltimore Orioles as amateur free agent. Johnson hit over .300 at AA Elmira getting promoted to AAA Rochester later that year.  

MLB Debut: In the Orioles 1965 season opener, he played two innings Season Opener Davey played in two innings getting his first career at bat in the loss to the White Son. He appeared in just twenty games with the Orioles getting sent back down to AAA Rochester, where he once again batted over .300.

In 1966 the Orioles traded their second baseman Jerry Adair, to make room for the Davey Johnson era, as he would be the O’s regular second baseman for the next seven seasons.

Davey would win three straight Gold Gloves, get elected to four All Star teams, play in four World Series, winning two Worlds Championships in that time.

In 1966 he came in third in the Rookie of the Year voting, with his solid defense 7 HRs 56 RBIs & .257 average.

1966 World Series: That season the Orioles won the AL pennant & swept the reigning Champion L.A. Dodgers in the World Series. Johnson had a pair of hits in each of the first two games of that World Series. In Game #2 he collected an 8th inning RBI base hit off Ron Perranoski in the 6-0 Jim Palmer shut out.

Davey Trivia: Earlier in the top of the 6th, Johnson singled off Sandy Koufax, who left the game at the end of the inning. Davey goes down in history as the last batter to ever get a hit off Sandy Koufax, as he retired from the game at the end of the Series, due to arm issues. 

By the late sixties Johnson became a good hitter showing occasional power above the norm for mid infielders of the era.  He hit over 20 doubles eight straight years with three seasons of 30 or more. Beginning in 1969 he would bat over .280 for three straight seasons. 

In his career Davey had five seasons with double figures in HRs with an incredible 43 in 1973. He also had four seasons with 60 plus RBIs with good on base %.

All Star Defensive Infield: At second base he was part of one of the best defensive infields ever
assembled along with Mark Belanger at short, Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson (16 straight Gold Gloves) at third & slugger Boog Powell at first. 

From 1969 thru 1971 Johnson was the AL Gold Glove winner for the straight seasons. In 1972, Johnson led the league in fielding % & was among the top five in that category, on five other occasions.

1969 Post Season- ALCS: In MLB's first ALCS as the Orioles swept the Minnesota Twins, Johnson went 3-13. In Game #2 he collected two hits & another in Game #3. Overall, he scored two runs & drew two walks.

1969 World Series: In the 1969 World Series the mighty heavily favored Orioles were upset by the Amazing New York Mets, in one of the biggest sports upsets of all time. Davey collected one hit of the O's 23 hits, as the Mets pitching staff held them to a .146 batting average in five games.

Davey Trivia: In Game #5, Johnson made the final out of the 1969 World Series as he hit Jerry Koosman's final pitch & lifted a fly ball to Cleon Jones in left field. Jones went down on one knee & caught the last out sealing the Amazing's Championship. 

In 1970 Baltimore returned with a vengeance winning 108 games to win the AL East. Johnson batted .281 with 10 HRs 27 doubles & 53 RBIs with a .360 on base % & .753 OPS.

1970 Post Season- ALCS: The Orioles swept the Twins for the second straight year. Johnson hit .364 with two HRs in the sweep. In Game #2 Johnson hit a three run HR off Luis Tiant in the O's 11-3 win. In Game #3 he hit a solo HR off Jim Perry in the 6-1 clincher.

1970 World Series: In the 1970 World Series victory over the Cincinnati Reds, Davey hit .313 & collecting five walks, posting a .476 on base %. 

In the first two game, Davey collected a hit in each game.

In the final Game #5 series clincher in Baltimore, Davey had a multi-three hit game with two RBIs. In the top of the 3rd, he singled off Wayne Granger scoring Merv Rettenmund giving Balitmore a 6-3 lead. 

In the 8th he drove in the final run of the game with an RBI single off Clay Carrol scoring Frank Robinson.

In 1971 he had his best offensive season while in Baltimore batting .282 with 144 hits 18 HRs 26 doubles 72 RBIs & a .350 on base% & a.794 OPS.

1971 Post Season- ALCS: In the 1971 ALCS win over Oakland Johnson hit .300 going 3-10 with two doubles, three walks & a .462 on base %. 

1971 World Series: In the 1971 World Series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Johnson batted just .148. 

In the Game #2 win at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Johnson had two hits, including a 4th inning two run single off Bob Johnson.

It was the last year the O's would dominate the American League. Although they would win three more consecutive AL East titles they would lose to the A's in each of those years but did return to the World Series at the end of the decade in 1979, losing to the Pirates once again.

 

Controversy with Earl Weaver: In 1972 he dropped off to a .221 average with just five HRs, and the Orioles organization wanted some changes.  The story goes that the Orioles manager Earl Weaver, felt Johnson had lost too much range on the infield by bulking up to hit for more power. 

That season, Davey had the A.L.’s best fielding percentage but led all second baseman in errors. Baltimore had another future star; Bobby Grich waiting in the wings ready to take over at second base.

Davey was traded to the Atlanta Braves, along with pitcher Pat Dobson, Roric Harrison & Johnny Oates for the 1971 Rookie of the Year- Earl Williams.

Braves Career:  In Atlanta Johnson had an incredible first year, finding power in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium known as "the launching Pad'. 

Record Breaker: In the 1973 season, Johnson broke Rogers Hornsby single season HR record for second baseman with 43 HRs (second in the NL). The record stood for 48 years until the Rangers Marcus Semien broke the record with 45 HRs in 2021. Johnson also collected 25 doubles 99 RBIs (7th in the NL) & a .270 batting average. 

Braves Trivia:That season, he along with Hank Aaron & Darrel Evans, made history becoming
the first trio of team mates to hit 40 or more HRs in the same season.

Darrell Evans blasted 41 HRs & thirty-nine-year-old Hank Aaron hit 40 HRs falling one shy of Babe Ruth's all-time record.

All in all, the Braves finished fifth that year 76-84 under Hall of Famer Braves legend Eddie Mathews.

Defensively Davey led the NL in double plays turned, was second in assists & fourth in put outs. 

Baseball Card Trivia: Johnson's 1973 Topps card was a great landscaped action shot of him stepping over a player that has slid into second base.

Johnson's uniform is cleverly air brushed blue to look like a Braves uniform. The fact is when the Topps cards were released prior to the start of that season, he had yet to play in a Brave uniform. 

In reality, the game takes place in the Bronx, at the AL New York's old ballpark. The scoreboard behind the play has also been airbrushed out as not to show the teams names. Topps would use the air brush method often in that era. The base runner #24 was Felipe Alou who played in New York from 1971-1973.

Hank Aarons #715: On April 8th, 1974, Johnson was in the lineup in Atlanta, on the historic night when Hank Aaron broke the all-time HR record with #715.  Johnson went 1-3 with a walk in the 7-4 win over the Dodgers.

In 1974 Johnson split time at second base (73 games) with Marty Perez. Johnso also played some first base (71 games) hitting .251 with 15 HRs, 27 less than the previous year. In 1975, four games into the season, the Braves released Johnson.

Japan Nippon Pro League career: Davey went on to play in Japan, with the Yomiuri Giants for the next two seasons. Johnson joined the storied Giants franchise after they had won a record nine straight Japan Series titles. With the Giants, Davey was a teammate of the legendary Sadaharu Oh, who hit more HRs than Hank Aaron & Babe Ruth in the Nippon Professional League. 

Nippon Trivia: Davey Johnson was also the first foreigner to join the club & had been personally selected by the teams Hall of Fame Manger; Shigeo Nagashima. Nagashima had been the clubs second baseman prior to Johnson's arrival. 

In 1975, he had a disappointing debut season in with Yomiuri, batting just .197 with 13 HRs, while missing a month with a broken bone in his shoulder. 

The fans & the media began to call him “no good” Johnson. The Giants finished a disappointing last & Johnson took much of the blame.

The next season (1976) he injured his thumb while sliding into second base. Johnson demanded to
see a specialist in the USA but his manager refused to let him go. Johnson went anyway angering his manager & the fans by going against his wishes. 

When he returned to Japan, he hit a game winning grand slam HR & blasted nine HRs over a 12-game span. On the season he improved to a .275 batting average with 26 HRs, won a gold glove & made the Best Nine Team.

Nippon Drama: More controversy came during the Japan Series when despite being told he would not have to participate in batting practice; he was forced to do so by his coaching staff. Johnson went hitless (0-13) in the series loss to the Hankyu Braves.

After the season he was offered a 20% pay cut & was willing to accept if Manager Nagashima publicly apologized for having lied to him. Nagashima refused, Sadaharu Oh also commented the team didn’t need any greedy foreigners.

Back to the Majors: In 1977 Johnson came back to the majors signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. He would be used as a utility man and pinch hitter, where he went 9-for-26 in that role. Overall, he hit .321 with 8 HRs in 156 at-bats for the NL Eastern Champion Phillies.

Final Post Season: Davey made his fifth & final post season as a player in the Phils loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. In Game #1 Davey struck out against Chalie Hough in his only series at bat.

Record Grand Slams: In 1978 Davey tied an MLB record hitting two pinch grand slam HRs. On April 5th, he hit a pinch grand slam off the Padres, Bob Shirley in an 11-4 win. On June 3rd, his second pinch hit grand slam came off the Dodgers Terry Foster, leading his team to a 5-4 win.

In early August, he was sent to the Chicago Cubs for Larry Anderson, finishing out his playing career.

Career Stats: In his 13-year career, Johnson was a four time All Star, he batted .261 with 1252 hits 136 HRs, 242 doubles ,18 triples, 33 stolen bases, 609 RBIs & a .340 on base % in 1435 games. 

Defensively he won three Gold Gloves played 1198 games at second (81st all time) with 2837 put outs (68th all time) & double plays turned (75th all time).