Oakland Athletics Bob Melvin and Washington Nationals Davey Johnson have been named Managers of the Year for the second time in their Major League Baseball careers.
Melvin previously won the Manager of the Year award while guiding the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007 and Johnson won as skipper of the Baltimore Orioles in 1997.
The 51-year-old Melvin was named the American League’s top manager after Oakland went from an 88-loss team in 2011 to a 94-68 record this past season.
Oakland trailed Texas by 13 games on June 30 before overtaking the two-time defending division champion Rangers for the American League West title.
The A’s finished the regular season with a half dozen consecutive wins, including a three-game sweep of Texas.
Melvin, who took over for Bob Geren midway through the 2011 season, beat out two other American League finalists, Baltimore’s Buck Showalter and the Chicago White Sox’ Robin Ventura.
The 70-year-old Johnson was credited with engineering the Nationals remarkable transformation after replacing Jim Riggleman halfway through the 2011 season.
Washington won an league-best 98 games this past season and captured the National League’s East title for the franchise’s first playoff spot since the Montreal Expos reached the National League championship series in 1981. The 98 wins marks an 18-game improvement over last year.
Johnson was chosen National League manager of the year over Cincinnati’s Dusty Baker, and Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants who went on to win the Major League Baseball’s World Series championship.
Melvin, Johnson win top MLB manager awards
