Today in Philly Sports History: Ozark Out, Green In, 1979

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Danny Ozark had done much for the Phillies since taking over the team at the end of the '72 season. They made it to three straight post-seasons in '76-'78, their first time occamplishing that simple feat in over a quarter-century, and highlighted by impressive 101-win seasons in '76 and '77. But the team had never quite gotten over the hump, failing to reach the World Series in all three appearances, and Ozark had started to take some heat not only for his occasional managerial missteps (most infamously, failing to replace left-fielder Greg Luzinski with his regular late-game defensive sub Jerry Martin towards the end of game three of the '77 NLCS) but for his general lack of intensity and sometimes aloof manner. With the Phillies plugging away at a mediocre 65-67 clip in the '79 season, the organization decided that Ozark's time had come, and on August 31st, 1979, he was fired, replaced with in-house alternative Dallas Green.

The move would prove fateful for the Phils in the coming 1980 season, though in a far from storybook manner. Green feuded with the players more than Ozark, battling with them through the press and chewing them out in the locker room. He wasn't fully embraced by the team by any means--a couple players snubbed him noticably during the intorudctions of game one of the '80 NLCS, even--but it's possible that a more in-your-face manager is what an ego-fueled, veteran-complacent team like the late-70s Phillies needed at the time. In any event, you certainly couldn't argue with the results, as the Phils not only made the post-season for the fourth time in five years in 1980, they beat the Astros in the NLCS and then the Royals in the World Series to give the Phils their first-ever MLB championship title.

Green would only helm the club for a season after their championship run, leaving afterwards to become the GM for the Cubs. Ozark managed once more, as the interim skipper for the Giants after Frank Robinson's untimely removal in 1984, though he only ran out the clock on the season, keeping the seat warm for Jim Davenport to take over the next year.

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