Former major league pitcher, manager and general manager Dallas Green has passed away at the age of 82.
Green had an undistinguished 8-year big league career primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies along with stints with the Washington Senators and the New York Mets. Green joined the Phillies front office in 1968,
Late in the 1979 season, Green replaced the beloved Danny Ozark as Phillies manager. The Phillies had won three straight NL East titles between 1976-1978 but couldn't advance beyond the NLCS. To say that Green was unpopular with his players would be an understatement. He made Billy Martin and Dick Williams look like pussycats. But Green would lead the Phillies to their first World Series title in 1980.
Green would leave the Phillies after they were eliminated by the Montreal Expos in the 1981 NLCS to join the Chicago Cubs front office as general manager and Executive Vice President. It was during his tenure the Cubs won the NL East in 1984 marking their first post-season appearance since winning the NL pennant in 1945.
After the Cubs dismissed Green following the 1987 season, he would return to the dugout with both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. He would last less than a season with the Bronx Bombers in 1989. The Mets were more patient with him but he did not manage the team to a winning season during his tenure between 1993 to 1996.
Over the past two decades, Green serve as a special adviser to the Phillies.
In 2011, Green would return to the headlines when his granddaughter Christina Taylor-Green was one of six people killed in the Tuscon shooting in which former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was wounded. In his 2013 memoir The Mouth That Roared, Green wrote, "They say time heals. Time, I don't think, will ever heal that part of my life. I still tear up when I see something that reminds me of Christina." Perhaps today Dallas Green is now at peace.
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