Darrell Johnson

Member of 1961 National League champion Cincinnati Reds and played in the 1961 World Series
The Sporting News Major League Manager of the Year (1975)
The Associated Press American League Manager of the Year (1975)

Darrell Dean Johnson (August 25, 1928 – May 3, 2004) was an American Major League Baseball catcher, coach, manager and scout.

Playing career

Johnson was born in Horace, Nebraska, and made his Major League debut on April 20, 1952. He played as a catcher in six Major League seasons between 1952 and 1962. He was listed as ft 6 in (1.85 m), 180 lb (82 kg), bats right, throws right.

Johnson graduated from Harvard, Nebraska, High School in 1944. He was signed by the St. Louis Browns as an amateur free agent in 1949, and played for the Browns, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles, who released him on June 12, 1962, ending his playing career. He hit .234 lifetime, appeared in the 1961 World Series for the Reds against the Yankees and had two singles in four at-bats as his Reds lost to the slugging Yanks of Maris, Mantle and Skowron four games to one.

Manager of Red Sox, Mariners and Rangers

Johnson had more success as a manager, leading three different teams during eight seasons. His biggest success was as manager of the Boston Red Sox from 1974 through 1976, when he compiled a record of 220–188 for a .539 winning percentage. He guided the Red Sox to a 95–65 .594 mark in 1975 and a first-place finish in the AL East. The Sox swept the Oakland A's in the playoffs, 3–0, then lost to the Cincinnati "Big Red Machine" in the thrilling World Series, four games to three. But he was fired in favor of Don Zimmer in on July 18, 1976, when the Red Sox slumped to a 41–45 record.

He was the first skipper of the Seattle Mariners from their inception in 1977 to August 3, 1980, and also managed the Texas Rangers in from July 30, 1982, through the end of the season. He finished with a 472–590 win-loss record for a .444 career percentage as a manager.

Coach and scout

Johnson's playing career was interrupted by an eleven-month stint as an MLB coach with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960–61.

After playing in eight games, with three plate appearances, for the 1960 Cardinals, he was released as a player on August 5 and added to the coaching staff of manager Solly Hemus, then reappointed for 1961. When the Redbirds fired Hemus on July 6, 1961, Johnson was released with him. Three days later, he signed a player's contract with the last-place Philadelphia Phillies and caught 21 games for them in five weeks before being sold to the Cincinnati Reds on August 14.

He finished the year as a backup catcher for the National League champion Reds, appearing in 20 games and batting .315 with 17 hits. He then went two-for-four (both singles) in the 1961 World Series against his old team, the Yankees, who won in five games. Cincinnati released him only a few days into the 1962 season, and he signed with the Orioles as a backup catcher before retiring as a player in June and serving out the year as Baltimore's bullpen coach.

He then became a minor league manager in the Oriole system and won championships with the Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League (1964) and Elmira Pioneers of the Double-A Eastern League (1966). After a year scouting for the 1967 Yankees, he was named pitching coach of the defending AL champion Red Sox under Dick Williams for 1968. After Williams was fired in September 1969, Johnson was retained by the Red Sox as a scout in 1970,^[1] then managed Boston's Triple-A Louisville Colonels in 1971–72. He then became the first manager of the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox, finishing 78–68 and winning his second Governors' Cup, emblematic of the International League's playoff championship, in his only PawSox season (1973). That championship earned him a promotion to the parent club as Red Sox manager.

After his firing in Seattle in 1980, he was the third-base coach for Don Zimmer's Rangers starting in 1981 before taking over for Zimmer as manager on July 30, 1982.^[2] Six years earlier, the roles had been reversed when third-base coach Zimmer succeeded Johnson as manager in Boston on July 18, 1976. He then moved to the New York Mets as a Major League coach, minor league coordinator of instruction, and finally as a longtime scout.

He died at 75 of leukemia in Fairfield, California.^[3]

References

External links

Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record
Darrell Johnson at Find-A-Grave
New York Times Obituary

Sporting positions
Preceded by Clyde King	Rochester Red Wings manager 1963–1965	Succeeded by Earl Weaver
Preceded by Earl Weaver	Elmira Pioneers manager 1966	Succeeded by Billy DeMars
Preceded by Sal Maglie	Boston Red Sox pitching coach 1968–1969	Succeeded by Charlie Wagner
Preceded by Billy Gardner	Louisville Colonels manager 1971–1972	Succeeded by Franchise relocated
Preceded by AAA franchise established	Pawtucket Red Sox manager 1973	Succeeded by Joe Morgan
Preceded by Frank Lucchesi	Texas Rangers third-base coach 1981–1982	Succeeded by Wayne Terwilliger

Boston Red Sox managers

Jimmy Collins (1901–1906)
Chick Stahl (1906)
Cy Young (1907)
Bob Unglaub (1907)
George Huff (1907)
Deacon McGuire (1907–1908)
Fred Lake (1908–1909)
Patsy Donovan (1910–1911)
Jake Stahl (1912–1913)
Bill Carrigan (1913–1916)
Jack Barry (1917)
Ed Barrow (1918–1920)
Hugh Duffy (1921–1922)
Frank Chance (1923)
Lee Fohl (1924–1926)
Bill Carrigan (1927–1929)
Heinie Wagner (1930)
Shano Collins (1931–1932)
Marty McManus (1932–1933)
Bucky Harris (1934)
Joe Cronin (1935–1947)
Joe McCarthy (1948–1950)
Steve O'Neill (1950–1951)
Lou Boudreau (1952–1954)
Pinky Higgins (1955–1959)
Rudy York (1959)
Billy Jurges (1959–1960)
Del Baker (1960)
Pinky Higgins (1960–1962)
Johnny Pesky (1963–1964)
Billy Herman (1964–1966)
Pete Runnels (1966)
Dick Williams (1967–1969)
Eddie Popowski (1969)
Eddie Kasko (1970–1973)
Eddie Popowski (1973)
Darrell Johnson (1974–1976)
Don Zimmer (1976–1980)
Johnny Pesky (1980)
Ralph Houk (1981–1984)
John McNamara (1985–1988)
Joe Morgan (1988–1991)
Butch Hobson (1992–1994)
Kevin Kennedy (1995–1996)
Jimy Williams (1997–2001)
Joe Kerrigan (2001)
Grady Little (2002–2003)
Terry Francona (2004–2011)
Bobby Valentine (2012)
John Farrell (2013–)

Seattle Mariners managers

Darrell Johnson (1977–1980)
Maury Wills (1980–1981)
Rene Lachemann (1981–1983)
Del Crandall (1983–1984)
Chuck Cottier (1984–1986)
Marty Martínez (1986)
Dick Williams (1986–1988)
Jim Snyder (1988)
Jim Lefebvre (1989–1991)
Bill Plummer (1992)
Lou Piniella (1993–2002)
Bob Melvin (2003–2004)
Mike Hargrove (2005–2007)
John McLaren (2007–2008)
Jim Riggleman (2008)
Don Wakamatsu (2009–2010)
Daren Brown (2010)
Eric Wedge (2011–2013)
Lloyd McClendon (2014–)

Texas Rangers managers