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Dallas Green, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies to the
1980 World Series championship, celebrates with the championship trophy.
Source: https://www.delawarepublic.org/post/phillies-great-dallas-green-dies-82
(may be subject to copyright)
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He did something no one could do in almost 100 years of trying –
bring a World Series championship to the Philadelphia Phillies.
For that, Dallas Green will be immortalized in Phillie lore.
If that wasn’t enough, he would re-surface in Chicago and return the
Cubs to the post-season after almost 40 years.
It all came back to me when, during this pandemic, I recently watched
his Philadelphia Phillies play my Montreal Expos in Game 1 of the 1981 National
League East Divisional Series on Sportsnet.
Manager
Through the 1970s, the Philadelphia Phillies had become a championship
contender in the competitive National League East. They won three straight
division titles in 1976, 1977, and 1978, losing the National League
Championship Series to Cincinnati then twice to Los Angeles.
The popular and successful Danny Ozark had been their manager but,
after falling to fifth place in the 1979 season, the Phillies made a change at
the end of August, hiring Dallas Green to close out the 1979 season. The
interim title was taken off after the season, and Green became the manager of
the Phillies.
He would go on to make history in his first full season managing the Phillies.
World championship
The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies were loaded with talent. In 1979 they
had signed Pete Rose as a free agent, making him the highest paid player at the
time, and it was well worth it because he would put them over the top. He
played first base. Catching was Bob Boone, Manny Trillo played second base,
Larry Bowa was at shortstop, league most valuable player Mike Schmidt played
third and they had Bake McBride, Gary Maddox, and Greg Luzinski in the
outfield. Steve Carlton was the ace of their pitching staff and Tug McGraw was
their closer. I still remember that lineup so well.
The Phillies would go 91-71, finishing first one game ahead of the
Montreal Expos in the National League East. They defeated the Houston Astros, coming from down 2-1, in a memorable National League
Championship Series that went the full five games in the best-of-five series. Four of the five games went into extra innings, and the
Phillies won Game 5 in the 10th inning.
Awaiting them in the World Series were the Kansas City Royals who had
also won their division several times before finally making it past the
American League Championship Series. The Phillies won the first two games, lost
Game 3 in 10 innings then Game 4 to tie the series, won Game 5 then
captured the championship with a 4-1 win in Game 6.
It was the first World Series championship in franchise history, 97 years
after the team was established. In fact, it was Philadelphia’s first World
Series appearance since 1950, and only their second all time. Their first was
in 1915.
Dallas Green had in fact helped the Phillies make history.
One more time
The Phillies seemingly picked up in 1981 where they left off, jumping
into the lead in the National League East Division, when a players’ strike
halted play. When the season resumed, the first half division leaders were
declared champions. They would face the second half champions in the first ever
divisional series.
The Montreal Expos, who fell just a game short in 1980, won the second
half and faced the Phillies in the National League East Divisional Series. The
Expos would not be denied this year, winning the first two games, losing the
next two, then prevailing in the deciding Game 5 to win the division. It was one of those games that I watched the replay of a few weeks ago.
Chicago bound
After just two full seasons at the helm, Dallas Green was on the move,
hired by the Chicago Cubs to restore that franchise to respectability. He finished just over two seasons with the Phillies with a record of 169-130 and a 9-7 record in the post-season.
He would do just that.
Green set about rebuilding the Cubs by making some key acquisitions, including prospect Ryne Sandberg from the Phillies.
He traded for Gary Matthews before the 1984 season. They would become a
contender in the tough National League East, and Green made more moves during the season. He
acquired pitcher Dennis Eckersley from Boston for first baseman Bill Buckner, and pitching
ace Rick Sutcliffe from Cleveland for prospects Joe Carter and Mel Hall.
Sutcliffe went 16-1 in 1984, winning the Cy Young award. Ryne Sandberg won the
National League Most Valuable Player Award, Manager Jim Frey was named National
League Manager of the Year, and Green was named The Sporting News Executive of
the Year. They led the Cubs to the National League East Division title, with a record of 96-65, 6.5 games ahead of the New York Mets. It was their first post-season appearance of any kind since 1945.
The Cubs faced the San Diego Padres in the National League
Championship Series. The Cubs would win the first two games at Wrigley Field in
Chicago, but then dropped three straight to the Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium
to give San Diego the National League championship.
That was the high point of Green’s time in Chicago. They finished
fourth in 1985, fifth in 1986 and were last in 1987. He left the club soon
after.
Parting thoughts
Dallas Green would have two more managerial stints, in 1989 with the
New York Yankees, and 1993 to 1996 with the New York Mets, but never had the
same success. Interestingly, in the end he lost more games than he won as a manager, finishing with an overall record of 454-478.
Still, how can you top restoring two franchises, both with long
post-season droughts, to glory. He was 39 games over .500 in Philadelphia and led them to the post-season every full year he managed the Phillies.
Green passed away in 2017, so it was good to see him in that old game
from the National League East Divisional series.
It reminded me how great he was 30 years ago, not once but twice.
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