Davey Johnson named NL Manager of the Year

The Nationals' 20-year-old center fielder was recognized last night as the National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. Tonight, the Nationals' 69-year-old manager earned some hardware himself after being named the National League Manager of the Year. Davey Johnson beat out Reds manager Dusty Baker and Giants skipper Bruce Bochy, the two other finalists for the award. Johnson earned 23 first-place votes. Baker received five and Bochy four. You can review the voting here. Bochy's Giants won the World Series, but the voting for this award was done prior to the postseason. Members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Johnson as the NL's top manager after he led the Nats to a 98-win season, the best record in baseball and the first NL East division title in team history. Johnson's Nationals overcame a host of injuries to key players; Jayson Werth, Michael Morse, Drew Storen and Wilson Ramos all missed significant time due to various ailments. They made an 18-win improvement over last season, when they finished 80-81. This is the second time Johnson has won Manager of the Year honors. He took home the American League Manager of the Year award in 1997 after leading the Orioles to a 98-64 record and an AL East title. Johnson ended up resigning as Orioles skipper the same day that he won the award in 1997, a sequence of events which had Johnson joking late in the regular season that he hoped not to be recognized as Manager of the Year again this time around. Johnson is just the fifth manager to win Manager of the Year in both leagues. The Nationals and Johnson on Sunday finalized a contract that will bring Johnson back as Nats manager for the 2013 season. After this upcoming campaign, Johnson, who is the oldest manager in the major leagues, plans to move into a consultant role with the Nats. Earlier this offseason, Johnson was announced as The Sporting News' NL Manager of the Year, an award which was voted on by his peers.