Davey Johnson, baseball star and manager, lives in Asheville

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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TORONTO – The ruptured appendix and the multiple surgeries and the drastic weight loss that caused his friend Davey Johnson to lose nearly 70 pounds in a matter of months? Sure, said Mike Schmidt, the Hall of Fame third baseman and novice third-base coach for Team USA, he wondered more than once whether Johnson would survive, never mind manage big leaguers again.

“We almost lost him again a couple of months ago,” Schmidt said. “He fell down the stairs. He was in North Carolina, and fell down the stairs, and they had to call the paramedics. He was unconscious. They took him to the hospital, and revived him.

“He took two or three weeks to recover. And that was one of the small things that’s happened to him. He’s a warrior.”

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The fall took place at Johnson’s new home in Asheville, N.C., the day after he’d appeared at the winter meetings in Las Vegas for a press conference announcing he was the man selected to restore Team USA’s rightful place in the baseball universe.

Less than three months later, Dustin Pedroia, Team USA’s second baseman, was headed for the on-deck circle in the eighth inning Saturday afternoon when he stopped and turned to Johnson.

“Are you nervous?” Pedroia asked.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Johnson replied.

“You know what,” Pedroia said, “I am, too. If you’re not nervous, you don’t care.”

Davey Johnson was back on a big stage Saturday in the World Baseball Classic, managing the way he did when he won a World Series with the Mets and division titles with the Reds and Orioles, before he got his fill of combative general managers and meddling owners and walked away to manage kids instead.