The Skillz Report

3/26/17 Topps Baseball Card Of The Day: 1989 Topps #104 Dallas Green, Yankees

 

More Dallas Green Topps Cards: 1993

Six years ago, we mourned the tragic loss of Green's granddaughter in the horrible Arizona attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Here, we mourn the loss of George Dallas Green Jr. himself; the ex-MLB pitcher, manager and executive passed away 3/22 from kidney failure, aged 82. At first, I wasn't sure if our protocol for remembering recently-deceased big leaguers from my collecting era encompassed managers as well. 

 

But if we gave Don Zimmer COTD space upon his passing, we must give Green similar treatment—his pro baseball career wasn't quite as lengthy as Zimmer's, but 50+ years is still noteworthy, wouldn't you agree?

Green was a big, hard-throwing swingman for the 1960s Phillies, chewing up almost 550 innings over six seasons with the club. He then managed in the Philly organization for a while before reaching the big-league club in 1979. 

 

Despite clashes with stars, his Phillies defeated the Royals in the 1980 World Series...but just one year later, Green was out, hooking up with the Cubs as general manager and eventually bringing young Ryne Sandberg with him. (Nice start.)

Success came Green's way again in 1984, when the Cubs came thisclose to a World Series berth. Tough times followed, however, and Green resigned after the 1987 season—but not before fighting hard to bring lights and night baseball to Wrigley Field (they were activated in 1988).

Here, after a year on the sidelines, Green has become the latest man to take on the challenge of working for George Steinbrenner (on a two-year, $750K deal.) Often, when two Type A's such as Green and Steinbrenner don't see eye-to-eye, co-existing becomes impossible. This turned out to be such an instance.

 

 

THIS CARD: This is the lone solo Dallas Green Topps card from my collecting era—when he led the 1993-96 Mets, manager cards were on hiatus, though he did sneak his way onto a combo 1993 Traded card. 
But even if it weren't, we'd probably choose it anyway; anytime you have a chance to talk Steinbrenner, especially his dealings with a manager, you must take it.

In these days, Topps always included the manager from the previous season, which was Lou Piniella. Green was hired on Halloween 1988—and strongly rumored for the job well before that—several weeks before the set was released, so featuring Piniella didn't make much sense.

The NY on Green's hat seems wider than it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just me. Not sure where they could have taken the photo, since as we mentioned, Green was a fresh Yankees hire when this card was released.

 

 

THE REVERSE: Apparently, the last time I viewed this card, Al Leiter wasn't in my collection yet—his box was unchecked prior to scan.

I can tell you nothing about Hipolito Pena other than he apparently existed at some point. The ex-Mariner Lee Guetterman could have occupied that card instead.

Green batted left, but not very well (.120 lifetime, one XBH). West Grove is about a 45-mile drive west from Philadelphia.

 

 

AFTER THIS CARD: New York won its '89 opener, then lost seven straight by an aggregate 57-15 margin—somehow, Green was not terminated at that time. Though back over .500 by early May, the Yankees fell to 6th place by the All-Star Break—soon after, rather than allow his coaches to be fired, Green publicly criticized Steinbrenner and got fired along with said coaches. 

The 58-year-old rejoined MLB with the wayward 1993 Mets, taking over the club from Jeff Torborg about six weeks in. Not much else happened that year except OF Vince Coleman firecracking a fan, SP Bret Saberhagen bleaching a reporter and RP Anthony Young running his losing streak to 27 games. (In fairness, all those incidents were unintentional.) In the end: 103 losses.

 

New York did improve over 1994-95 under Green, flirting with .500 both years. Expectations grew that winter with free agents Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson added to the "Generation K" trio. But said trio disappointed, and management wasn't happy with Green's public criticism of them or the team's overall 59-72 record. Unhappy management = pink slip.

By 1998, Green was again working for the Phillies, this time as a senior advisor to multiple GM's; he remained in this role into at least 2015. Remember, Philadelphia was good-to-great for most of that stretch—that might or might not be a coincidence.

Dallas Green appeared in Topps annually 1960-65 as a player; he then returned in 1980-81 as a manager...sort of. Back then skippers were listed on team photo cards, along with an inset pic. 
Green then resurfaced in 1989 Topps, making one last appearance in 1993 Topps Traded on a combo card with fellow in-season hire "Dave" Johnson.

 

 

CATEGORIES: 1989 Topps, New York Yankees