LOVERRO: Davey Johnson earned his place in Cooperstown out of worthy managerial field

The managers room in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has 22 members now. It is most likely about to get a lot more crowded.

Dusty Baker, a three-time Manager of the Year who retired after his Houston Astros team was eliminated from the playoffs in an American League Championship Series Game 7 loss to the Texas Rangers this past season, will walk into Cooperstown next year with his 2,183 career managing victories, a World Series championship and taking five different teams to the postseason — including the Washington Nationals in the two years he was in their dugout.

The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for Managers, Executives and Umpires will make that decision. And while candidates typically have to wait for five years for eligibility, those 65 or older have just a six-month waiting period. Baker, 74, will be able to take his place in Cooperstown next year.

He may follow what could prove to be the strongest managerial class of candidates since Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa and Bobby Cox all entered in the 2014 season.

On Saturday, the committee will vote on eight candidates for induction in 2024 — four of them managers, all of them Hall of Fame worthy.

Davey Johnson, Lou Piniella, Jim Leyland and Cito Gaston are all under consideration, as well as Baltimore Orioles legendary general manager Hank Peters, former National League president Bill White and umpires Joe West and Ed Montague.

Any who receives 75% of the vote will take the stage next July with any candidates who are elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America election. 

I expect several of those managers will be on that stage in July. I hope Davey Johnson is one of them. He is the best manager I’ve ever covered, someone who understood both the head and the heart of the game, someone who won in every dugout he was ever in charge of, from the first time he ran a team.

In 1979, Johnson, a four-time All-Star second baseman with the Baltimore Orioles, was hired to be the manager of the Miami Amigos, of the short-lived Inter-American League with a team full of scrubs and rejects. The league folded after just 72 games, but Johnson led them to a .708 winning percentage. He was then hired by the New York Mets, where he managed a young group of Mets players such as Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden at Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tidewater until they came to the major league club together, where Johnson led the Mets to two National League East titles and one World Series championship. From 1984 to 1990, his teams went 595-417, a .588 winning percentage.

He would go on to win at Cincinnati (205-172), Baltimore (186-138), Los Angeles (163-161) and finally Washington, where he managed the Nationals to a 2012 NL East title and a 224-183 record for the 2 ½ years he was here. He was named NL Manager of the Year that 2012 season in Washington and American League Manager of the Year in Baltimore in 1997. Johnson had 1,372 career managing wins, a .562 winning percentage that ranks 13th all-time among managers with at least 10 years of service

He has the Hall of Fame credentials, but more so, he has the reputation of being several steps ahead of every manager. Team officials in Baltimore and Washington, as well as relief pitchers at both stops, said he was by far the best manager of a bullpen they had ever seen — one of the most important components of being a great baseball manager.

“He was a terrific communicator and players loved playing for him,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. “And he was one of the greatest bullpen managers I’ve ever been around. His bullpen usage was unique, and he was an innovator. He fits the criteria for the Hall of Fame.”

Johnson is joined on the ballot by three other great managers with Hall of Fame resumes:

Lou Piniella managed 23 seasons for the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs, winning 1,835 games — good for 17th on the all-time list. Piniella led the Reds to the 1990 World Series title and led the 2001 Mariners to an American League record 116 victories. His teams made seven playoff appearances and he was named Manager of the Year three times in 1995, 2001, and 2008.

Jim Leyland managed for 22 seasons, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers to 1,729 victories. His teams finished in first place six times and his Marlins team won the 1997 World Series championship. He was named Manager of the Year in 1990 1992 and 2006. Leyland also managed Team USA to the 2017 World Baseball Classic title.

Cito Gaston led the Toronto Blue Jays to four AL East titles and two World Series championships in 1992 and 1993, becoming the first Black manager to win a World Series. In 12 years, Gaston’s team had an 894-837 record.

All four have earned a place in the Hall of Fame.