Heartbreaking news over the weekend for baseball fans—especially New York Mets fans. Bruce Weber at The New York Times (gift link):

Davey Johnson, one of baseball’s notable iconoclasts, who played in four World Series in six seasons as a second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles and who later managed the Mets to their remarkable Series victory in 1986, died on Friday in Sarasota, Fla. He was 82.

Joe Trezza, MLB:

The Mets turned into a perennial winner under Johnson’s leadership, with Johnson becoming the first National League manager to win at least 90 games in each of his first five seasons.

Davey Johnson was my manager just as I was starting to really pay attention to—and fall in love with—the game. He joined my beloved Mets in 1984, and in ’86 led them to a 108-win season, a heart-stopping NLCS, and what is unquestionably the most memorable World Series ever played.

Johnson was also a decade ahead of his time in his use of computers and statistics to manage. The Times, again:

He was among the first — if not the first — to recognize that computers could be utilized in marshaling baseball’s statistics to have an impact on team building, lineup construction and game strategy.

In an oft-reported story, Johnson took a computer class at Johns Hopkins University between the 1968 and 1969 seasons and, using his teammates’ batting statistics as his data, created a program entitled “Optimization of the Orioles Lineup.” The result suggested that if specific changes were made in the preferred lineup of the Orioles’ decidedly old-school manager, Earl Weaver, the offense would be stronger. This was precisely the kind of analysis that in the intervening years has made sabermetrics, as the study of baseball statistics has come to be known, a crucial element of administering a major league ball club.

His analytical approach gave him the most wins and highest win percentage of any Mets manager.

Alvin Garcia, Heavy.com:

Davey Johnson leaves behind more than numbers. He leaves behind the memory of a manager who embodied swagger, spoke his mind, and gave the Mets their ultimate championship. For fans in Queens, his death marks the end of an era, but also a reminder that his place in Mets lore will never be forgotten.

My friend, former colleague and fellow Mets fan Tom Clark:

He was the real deal. A real baseball guy.

If there’s an afterlife baseball team, Johnson’s my pick to manage it.

RIP.