Of all the achievements secured by Dallas Green in his long and outstanding baseball career, perhaps no one was bigger than his effective campaign to bring night baseball to Wrigley Field.
Dallas Green, the gusty and larger-than-life baseball icon who managed the 1980 Phillies to achieve World Series title and chief of both the Yankees and Mets in the late '80s to early '90s, died Wednesday at the age of 82, the Phillies announced.
Phillies Mourned The Loss
His family told CBS News that he died approximately 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia, where he'd been on dialysis for the past months. The station reported that Green died due to kidney failure and pneumonia.
The Phillies signed Green as a high school pitcher out of Delaware in 1955, and he spent much of the next six decades working in various baseball capacities - as a player, coach, manager, general manager, scout and in the front office.
Green began his baseball career as a pitcher, but the southpaw had a distinguished playing career, accumulating a 20-22 career record with the Phillies, the Washington Senators, and the Mets from 1960-67.
An Eye For Promising Talents
Green also was the GM and president of the Chicago Cubs and made a sharp trade to get a young infielder from the Phillies, future great Ryne Sandberg. The contract helped turn a long-latent franchise into a club that came within one win of accomplishment in 1984 World Series.
In 2006, the Phillies welcomed Green into their Hall of Fame. He spent 46 years in general in the Phillies organization and was a consultant to their last four managers, always known for his impressive presence and shock of white hair.
Born and raised in Delaware, George Dallas Green lived with his wife of 59 years, Sylvia, four children, and five grandchildren.
