Dallas Green
From Sports Library
George Dallas Green (born August 4, 1934) is a former pitcher, manager, and executive in Major League Baseball. After playing for the Phillies and 3 other teams, he went on to manage the Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets, and managed the Phillies when they won their first World Series title in franchise history in 1980. While Green had a losing record both as a pitcher and as a manager, Green achieved notoriety for his difficult manner and is also known for having been manager of the Phillies when they won their first World Series. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor to the General Manager for the Phillies.
Green was born in Newport, Delaware. After attending the University of Delaware, he was signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent.
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Dallas Green is probably best know for his difficult interpersonal manner. As he himself has proudly said: "I'm a screamer, a yeller and a cusser. I never hold back." [1] He achieved notoriety for his profanity-laced tirades. [2]
An example of the way that Dallas Green had of speaking to the press about ballplayers was his comment about Scott Rolen in 2001: "Scotty's satisfied with being a so-so player. I think he can be greater, but his personality won't let him." [3] Rolen has since been elected to the All Star team 4 times.
Playing career
Green's pitching record (from 1960-67) was 20–22, with all his decisions coming with the Phillies. The Senators and Mets both purchased Green from the Phillies, only to return him a few weeks later to the Phillies. He had a 4.26 ERA, with 268 strikeouts in 561 1/3 innings pitched. Green also had 4 career saves. Batters hit .320 against him in tie games, and righties hit .303 against him in his career.
In June 1963, Green gave up Jimmy Piersall's 100th home run of his career. Piersall celebrated the milestone by running around the bases while facing backwards; Green was not amused. Green also gave up the only grand slam of Pete Rose's career, in July 1964.
Front Office
After his playing days ended, Green joined the Phillies front office. In 1979, he was appointed manager of the Phillies, replacing Danny Ozark. His difficult manner led to clashes with many of the teams's star players. Still, in 1980 the team won the World Series.
Dallas Green was hired by the Cubs as General Manager following the 1981 season. He was the first of what would become six General Managers hired by the Chicago Tribune in their twenty-seven seasons of ownership, and by far the most productive.
Prior to being named GM, Green had been a member of the Philadelphia Phillies organization, first as a member of their front office and then, beginning in 1979, as their Field Manager. In 1980, Green led the traditionally inept Phillies to their first-ever World Series championship. After being hired by the Cubs one year later, Green recruited a slew of Philadelphia people to come with him to Chicago.
Green's first managerial hire, Lee Elia, was not only one of his coaches in Philadelphia, but a roommate of Green's at Delaware. John Vukovich a former utility player who played on the 1980 championship team, retired as a player and came to Green's Cubs to begin his coaching career. Gordon Goldsberry also came from Philadelphia to head up the Cubs' player development system for Green.
1982: Building a New Tradition
On the field, Green worked quickly at poaching his old employer. He brought over Keith Moreland, Dan Larson, and Dickie Noles his first offseason. He traded Ivan DeJesus to Philadelhia for his old shortstop, Larry Bowa. Because DeJesus was seven years younger than Bowa and still presumably in his prime, Green persuaded his old employer to level the playing field by including a "throw-in". As a result, future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg became a Cub in Green's first year.
Relying on his contacts in Philadelphia was not the only way Green built his team during his first offseason. He signed proven reliever Bill Campbell and former Cub ace and future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. Just days before the regular season got underway, unsatisfied with starting the season with Junior Kennedy and Pat Tabler as his second basemen, Green traded with the Texas Rangers for Bump Wills. Wills would instantly reward Green by homering to lead off the season on Opening Day against Mario Soto and Cincinnati.
Away from the field, Dallas Green set about to alter the forlorn image of the Cubs as "lovable losers". He introduced his slogan "Building a New Tradition", by slapping it everywhere, notably over a fresh coat of paint on the bleachers entrance. He also began dropping innuendo that the Cubs were going to need lights in Wrigley Field in order to compete, which eventually mobilized neighborhood groups in the Lakeview neighborhood to attempt to stymie this movement (the most notable of these was C.U.B.S. which stood for "Citizens United for Baseball in the Sunshine" and was led by future Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley.)
Green's arrival in 1982 coincided with that of announcer Harry Caray, who helped to spread the popularity of the Cubs via their superstation, WGN.
The Opening Day lineup for the Cubs in Green's first season included two rookies--Sandberg and centerfielder Ty Waller. Two of the new acquisitions--Wills and Moreland--homered, and the Cubs won a rain-shortened game, 3-2. They finished the season 73-89, a significant improvement over the deplorable 38-65 record that the Cubs had collected during the strike-shortened '81 season.
1983
Green continued to burn the candle at both ends following his first season. Although Bump Wills had produced for the Cubs, Green decided not to bring him back. He also dumped Ty Waller. He traded for veteran third baseman Ron Cey to play third base. Ryne Sandberg, who had moved from third base to second base during the final month of the '82 season, was now to go to the keystone permanently.
It was a mistake by Green that later prompted another trade--this one involving the crosstown White Sox. Green had failed to protect Ferguson Jenkins, who had been the Cubs' most reliable pitcher in 1982 and was presumably set to be their Opening Day starter in '83. The White Sox made overtures about picking up Jenkins, prompting a leveraged Green to appease the Sox by trading them Scott Fletcher, Pat Tabler, Randy Martz, and Dick Tidrow. In return, the Cubs received the promising but scuffling lefthander Steve Trout, and Warren Brusstar, who had been yet another one of Green's former Phillies.
During the '83 season, Green traded left-handed reliever Willie Hernandez to Philadelphia for another former Phil--Dick Ruthven. While Ruthven would prove valuable enough to be the Cubs Opening Day starter in 1984, Hernandez would find major success in Detroit the following season, winning the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable player Awards.
The '83 Cubs finished the season two games worse than they had in '82, at 71-91. With a month to go in the season, Green fired his friend Lee Elia as manager. Elia had effectively sealed his fate after his notorious tirade following a game in April. Longtime baseball lifer Charlie Fox--a Green assistant at the time--took over the Cubs on an interim basis.
1984: 39 Years of Suffering Is Enough
Once again Green kept busy in the offseason in '83-'84. First, he hired Jim Frey as his second Field Manager. Frey had been Green's counterpart during the 1980 World Series, when Green's Phillies defeated Frey's Kansas City Royals in six games. Next he dealt promising young rookie Carmelo Martinez, who had homered in his first official at-bat as a Cub in September of '83, along with effective young southpaw reliever Craig Lefferts to San Diego as part of a three-team deal involving Montreal. In return, Green landed Northbrook, Illinois native Scott Sanderson, who had once hit a grand slam against the Cubs while pitching for the Expos.
Not being one to choose sentimentality over pragmatism, Green released Ferguson Jenkins during Spring Training in 1984, while the Cub legend was only 16 victories away from 300 for his career.
With a prospective outfield of Mel Hall, Leon Durham, and Keith Moreland from left-to-right and no proven leadoff hitter, Green made a deal on the eve of the '84 season that proved to be critical to the fortunes of the club. Once again, it involved some of his former Phillies-- Gary Matthews, Bob Dernier, and Porfi Altamrino. While Altamarino never had any impact, Matthews and Dernier proved to be important cogs in the '84 Cubs in taking over left and center field, respectively. The trade also had the residual effect of moving Durham to his natural position of first-base, alienating the established and popular Bill Buckner, and forcing Hall and Moreland into a right field platoon, potentially upsetting two more players who had expected to play every day. Both of these residual moves would lead to two more trades that would take place later in the season and prove critical to the Cubs' success.
After winning only 7 of 27 Spring Training games in '84, the Cubs had to open the season on the West Coast for the first time since 1966. They survived the potentially hazardous trip in San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles by going 3-4. The fourth loss occured on the last day of the season-opening road trip, and it would mark the only time during the entire 1984 season that the Cubs would be under .500. The Cubs opened their home season at Wrigley Field on Friday the thirteenth of April against the New York Mets. There, they pinned back the ears of a young rookie named Dwight Gooden and won 11-2.
The Cubs' starting rotation to begin the '84 season was Dick Ruthven, Chuck Rainey, Scott Sanderson, and Steve Trout. On the rare occasions in the first six weeks of the season when a fifth starter would be needed needed, Rick Resuchel and Dickie Noles took turns. This rotation would look very different by season's end.
Having started the season on the bench for the first time since he was an up-and-coming player with the the Los Angeles Dodgers in the early 1970's, fan favorite Bill Buckner was unhappy. Green eventually rectified this situation on May 25, when he dealt Buckner to the Boston Red Sox for Dennis Eckersley. Eckersley would go 10-8 with a 3.03 ERA for the Cubs in establishing himself as their No. 3 starter.
Nineteen days later, Green solved another internal headache and improved the club at the same time by making another trade. After playing every day in 1983, young outfielder Mel Hall had begun to express his discontent at being stuck in a right-field platoon with Keith Moreland. Green solved this situation on June 13, when he packaged Hall, blue-chip minor-league prospect Joe Carter and minor leaguers Darryl Banks and Don Schulze to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for catcher Ron Hassey and pitchers George Frazier and Rick Sutcliffe.
The trade was delayed, however, because Green had made another mistake by not renewing the waivers on Hall and Carter. After a tense week when the trade was in limbo, it finally went through. Sutcliffe would go 16-1 in becoming the ace of the Cubs staff, and struck out Joe Orsulak on September 24th, the final out in what was the first postseason clinching for the franchise in 39 years.
In the NLCS, the Cubs won the first two games at Wrigley Field, before losing three consecutive games in San Diego to cede the National League Pennant to the Padres. In doing so, the Cubs became the first-ever National League club, abd the second major-league club (California Angels, 1982) to lose a best-of-five LCS after winning the first two games.
In addition to his players Sandberg and Sutcliffe winning the National League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards, respectively, and his manager Frey winning the National League Manager of the Year Award, Green himself was awarded Executive of the year for his work in taking a 71-win team in 1983 and turning them into a National League-leading 96 victory division-winner the following season.
1985
By 1985--entering their fourth season with the club--Green and Goldsberry's minor-league system had started to produce some small results. The Opening Day shortstop for the defending National League East champions was Shawon Dunston, the first player ever drafted by Green in the 1982 Amateur Draft. Dunston would prove to be a little unready, however, for the bigs and would be sent back down after struggling with the big club. Other than Dunston, the fruits of Green's farm system was still a couple years aways. As a result, Green was forced to rely on his aging group of veterans to carry the team for a little while longer.
The '85 Cubs got off to a strong start. On June 11th, after their second consecutive come-from behind victory against Montreal, the Cubs were 35-19, four games in front of New York in first place. While their 2-0 loss the next day to Montreal seemed innocuous it was, in fact, the first of what would become thirteen consecutive losses. By the time they arrived at their thirteenth straight loss, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Dwight Gooden and the Mets at Wrigley Field, the Cubs had tumbled all the way down to fourth place, four-and-a-half games behind division leader Monreal.
The '85 Cubs never truly recovered from the losing streak. They finished the season 77-84, in fourth place, 23 1/2 games behind St. Louis.
At one point during the '85 season, around mid-August, all four of the pitchers who had started games in the previous year's NLCS for the Cubs--Sutcliffe, Trout, Eckersley, and Sanderson--were all on the Disabled List at the same time.
1986
Things would get worse before they would get better for the Cubs. Green's talent pipeline was still a good year from being major league-ready, and many of the players who had led them to the heights of the National League in 1984 were aging and breaking down. Matthews turned 36 in July of that year, Cey was 38. Additionally, Sutcliffe suffered through his worst season as a Cub, finishing the season 5-14 and Trout slumped to slumped to 5-7. In fact, the pitching was in such a shambles that for the first time in franchise history in a non-strike-shortened season (1981), no member of the staff registered at least 10 victories.
One of the few bright spots of the '86 season was the debut of Jamie Moyer in June. Moyer would go 7-4 in in 16 starts for the Cubs that year. Moyer would be joined in September by Greg Maddux who went 2-4 in September. Maddux was joined in his September callup by another Green-drafted rookie--Rafael Palmeiro. Dave Martinez also made his debut in '86 and played in 53 games.
On Friday, June 13th, with the Cubs 23-34, Green fired Frey. The Chicago Sun-Times was unable to resist using the punnish headline: Frey-Day The Thirteenth. After Vukovich managed the team on an interim basis that Friday, Green went out and hired long-time Yankee player/coach/manager/assistant Gene Michael. The Cubs finished the '86 season 70-90, but were utdone in their woefullness by Pittsburgh, who lost 98 games and finished last in the NL East.
1987
The 1986/1987 offseason would be best remembered as the year in which major league front offices conspired to hold down players' salary. While they were eventually found guilty of collusion, it was not before Green managed to acquire Andre Dawson for a below-market value contract of $500,000 with incentives. Dawson and his agent staked Green in Mesa, Arizona to express Dawson's strong desire to play for the Cubs.
While Dawson would earn every penny of his deal, swatting 49 home runs and winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award, and Sutcliffe would rebound in winning 18 games in finishing as the runner-up to Steve Bedrosian for his second National League Cy Young Award, the Cubs still managed to finish in last place in the NL East. However, they were clearly a better club than the '86 team, as they won 76 games and finished 18.5 games behind first-place St. Louis (they had finished 37 games out of first in '86).
Additionally, while the '86 team was slow, old, and broken down, there was plenty of evidence that Green's farm system was starting to bear fruit in '87. Moyer, pitching in his first full season, finished as the second-most productive pitcher behind Sutcliffe, going 12-15. Maddux also was in his first full season and, although he struggled with a 6-14 record, was clearly showing signs of potential. Palmeiro hit 14 home runs in 244 trips to the plate. Martinez emerged as the Cubs' everyday centerfielder in '87 and acquitted himself well, batting .292 with a .372 On Base Percentage. Another promising player, catcher, Damon Berryhill made his debut in '87. Les Lancaster debuted, and went 8-3 while hurling 132 1/3 innings and making 18 starts.
Toward the end of the '87 season, Michael mentioned to reporters that he did not plan on returning in 1988. Upon hearing this, an irate Green made sure of this, and on September 8th, with the Cubs 68-68 and thirteen games out of first place, fired Michael, replacing him on an interim basis with Frank Luchesi
While the youngsters emerged, the nucleus of Green's '84 division-winner was fading. Cey and Eckersley had been dealt before the season. Matthews and Trout were traded two days of one another during the season, in July. A new era, with an apparent solid foundation, was emminent.
1987 was a pivotal year for Green's Cubs. While the '84 division-winners was now a memory, the future looked brighter than ever. However, Green would not be around to realize the vitality and strength of his farm system. On October 29th, Green abruptly resigned, citing "philosophical differences" with the Tribune company.
Postmortem
To this day it's not entirely clear what exactly caused Green to quit. One theory suggests that Green wanted to hire long-time protege Vukovich as manager, but Tribune insisted he do it instead. Another theory was that Green did, in fact, intend to manage the team himself but was stonewalled in his attempt to do so. One thing seems clear--Green was essentially forced out by Tribune CEO John Madigan against his will. What seems even clearer is that forcing Green out was probably the biggest, most fatal mistake of the 26 years that Tribune ran the Cubs. He was replaced by his one-time managerial hire Frey who proceeded to trade closer Lee Smith for Calvin Schiraldi and Al Nipper, two pitchers who didn't amount to anything with the Cubs. In 1988, Green draft pick Mark Grace would make his debut and become runner-up to Cincinnati's Chris Sabo for National League Rookie of the Year. Following the '88 season, Frey dealt Green products Palmeiro AND Moyer to Texas. While this trade netted Mitch Williams, who helped them win the NL East in '89, in the long term the move did little to fortify the long-term success of the franchise. The '89 division champs were led in part by Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith, two more Green draft picks who finished #1 and #2, respectively, in Rookie of the Year voting. Finally, in 1990, Mike Harkey, a first round pick in Green's final draft in 1987, finished as the runner up to Atlanta's David Justice for National League Rookie of the Year. Frey did not prove nearly as adept as Green at building an organization from the ground-up. Neither did Frey's successors Larry Himes, Andy MacPhail, Ed Lynch and Jim Hendry. To this day, the Dallas Green Era (1982-1987) remains the highlight of the Cubs franchise under Tribune ownership.
