Editing Davey Johnson (section)

==Playing career==
After one season playing baseball at [[Texas A&M University]], Johnson signed with the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent in 1962. Johnson was then assigned to the [[Stockton Ports]] in the Class C [[California League]] where he hit .309 with 10 [[home run]]s and 63 [[runs batted in]] in 97 games.  Promoted to the AA [[Elmira Pioneers]] in 1963, Johnson hit .326 in 63 games before advancing to the AAA [[Rochester Red Wings]] for the final 63 games of the season. Returning to the Red Wings for the entire 1964 season, Johnson had 19 HRs, 73 RBIs, and 87 [[Run (baseball)|runs]].<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=johnso001dav Davey Johnson Minor League Statistics & History] ''Baseball-Reference.com''</ref>

In 1965, Johnson made the Orioles out of spring training, but after hitting only .170 in 20 games he spent the latter part of the season with the Red Wings, batting .301 in 52 games. Back with the Orioles in 1966, Johnson saw limited playing time until the Orioles created space in the lineup for him by trading second baseman [[Jerry Adair]] to the [[Chicago White Sox]] on June 13. Johnson then hit for a .257 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]], seven home runs and 56 RBIs to finish third in American League [[Rookie of the Year (award)|Rookie of the Year]] balloting for 1966. Johnson was a full-time starter in the major leagues for the next eight seasons, averaging over 142 games played in a season.

Johnson reached the World Series with the Orioles in {{wsy|1966}}, {{wsy|1969}}, {{wsy|1970}}, and {{wsy|1971}}, winning [[World Series ring]]s in 1966 and 1970. He also won the AL Gold Glove Award the final three seasons. Orioles [[shortstop]] [[Mark Belanger]] won the award as well in 1969 and 1971, joining a [[List of Gold Glove middle infield duos|select list of shortstop-second baseman combinations]] to have won the honor in the same season.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}} [[Third baseman]] [[Brooks Robinson]] also was in the middle of his record 16 straight Gold Glove streak when Johnson and Belanger won their awards.

Upset after being replaced as the starting second baseman by [[Bobby Grich]], and with the Orioles in need of a power-hitting catcher, Johnson was traded along with [[Pat Dobson]], [[Johnny Oates]] and [[Roric Harrison]] to the [[Atlanta Braves]] for [[Earl Williams (1970s catcher)|Earl Williams]] and [[Taylor Duncan]] on the last day of the [[Winter Meetings]] on December 1, 1972.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/02/archives/as-send-epstein-to-rangers-scheinblum-nelson-to-reds-orioles-obtain.html Durso, Joseph. "A's Send Epstein to Rangers; Scheinblum, Nelson to Reds," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, December 2, 1972.] Retrieved April 12, 2020</ref> The following season with the Braves, Johnson hit 40 home runs for the first and only time in his career,<ref>100 Things Braves Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die: Revised and Updated, Jack Wilkinson, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2019, ISBN 978-1-62937-694-3, p.138</ref> tying [[Rogers Hornsby]]'s record for most single-season home runs by a second baseman with 42, and hitting a 43rd as a [[pinch-hitter]].<ref>''The Sporting News Baseball Record Book'', 2007 p.&nbsp;23</ref> Johnson's second-highest home run total was 18, in the 1971 season. That same season Atlanta's [[Darrell Evans]] hit 41 home runs, and [[Hank Aaron]] hit 40 homers, making the [[1973 Atlanta Braves season|1973 Braves]] the first team to feature three teammates that each hit 40 home runs in the same season.

Four games into the 1975 season and after getting a hit in his only at bat, Johnson was released by the Braves.

He then signed with the [[Yomiuri Giants]] of Japan's [[Central League]], with whom he played in both the 1975 and 1976 seasons. Johnson was the Giants' first foreign player of note in more than 15 years, and faced a lot of pressure to perform in Japan. He struggled in his first season, battling injuries, and incurred the wrath of the Giants' manager (and former [[Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] player) [[Shigeo Nagashima]]. Despite playing much better in 1976, Johnson was not invited back by the Giants, who also reportedly prevented him from signing with any other [[Nippon Professional Baseball|NPB]] teams.<ref name=WhitingWa>[[Whiting, Robert]]. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), pp. 162–171.</ref>

In 1977, Johnson returned to the United States, signing as a [[free agent]] with the [[Philadelphia Phillies]]. As a utility infielder Johnson still hit .321 with 8 home runs in 78 games and played in one game in the Phillies' [[1977 National League Championship Series|National League Championship Series]] loss to the Dodgers.

During the 1978 season, Johnson hit two [[grand slam (baseball)|grand slams]] as a pinch-hitter, becoming the first major leaguer to accomplish this in a season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_grsl.shtml|title=Grand Slam Records|website=www.baseball-almanac.com}}</ref> (Four other players, [[Mike Ivie]] (1978), [[Darryl Strawberry]] (1998), [[Ben Broussard]] (2004), and [[Brooks Conrad]] (2010), subsequently equaled Johnson's feat.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100725&content_id=12608384&notebook_id=12608386&vkey=notebook_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl|title=Conrad relishes chance to contribute – braves.com: News<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Philadelphia dealt him to the [[Chicago Cubs]], with whom he played the final 24 games of his career before retiring at the end of the season.