The Case For Davey Johnson

Rany Jazayerli makes the case that Johnson is the least heralded, best performing manager around.  After talking about his success with the Mets, there's this:

By 1993, the Mets had the worst record in baseball.
That was the same year Johnson was hired in Cincinnati, where he replaced Tony Perez mid-season. The Reds finished 73-89, but in 1994 they were 66-48 and led the NL Central when the strike wiped out the season. In 1995, they again finished first and advanced to the NLCS, but owner Marge Schott had already announced that Johnson would be let go after the season. Johnson moved on to Baltimore, and the Reds wouldn't make the playoffs again for 15 years.
In his first season with the Orioles, the team won the AL wild card, making their first playoff appearance in 13 years. In Johnson's second season, the Orioles won 98 games and the AL East. But — stop me if you're heard this before — Johnson didn't get along with team owner Peter Angelos, and he resigned after the 1997 season, on the same day he won AL Manager of the Year honors. Since Johnson left — stop me if you've heard this before — the Orioles have had 14 consecutive losing seasons.
Johnson's final stop was L.A.; after finishing 77-85 in 1999 — his first full losing season ever — he guided the Dodgers to an 86-76 record in 2000. And then lost his job.
Despite an almost eerie track record of success, Johnson hadn't managed in over a decade, partly because he was burned out from the day-to-day stress of the job, and partly because he was as bad at getting along with his superiors as he was good at managing the guys underneath him. Being unable to kowtow to Marge Schott or Peter Angelos could happen to any of us, though. The Nationals finally brought Johnson back after Jim Riggleman committed seppuku on his own managerial career last June, and the Nationals finished a respectable 40-43 under Johnson.

The best part of Johnson's time with the Reds, other than the winning, was that Marge cut him loose because she didn't like that he was shacking up with his girlfriend before they got married.  Being a religious conservative doesn't guarantee that good management decisions will be made.