Danny Ozark

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Danny Ozark
Manager
Born: (1923-11-24)November 24, 1923
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Died: May 7, 2009(2009-05-07) (aged 85)
Vero Beach, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Career statistics
Games managed1,161
Managerial record618–542
Winning %.533
Teams
As manager

As coach

Career highlights and awards

Daniel Leonard Ozark (born Orzechowski; November 26, 1923 – May 7, 2009) was an American coach and manager in Major League Baseball.

As manager of the

National League East Division championships (19761978), but each year his team fell in the National League Championship Series. He was the fourth manager to reach the Championship Series (National or American) in three straight seasons and the first to lose all of them (Whitey Herzog
would join him on the same day as Ozark).

As a coach, Ozark was a member of the Championship teams of the 1965 and 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers, under Hall of Fame managers Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda.

Baseball career

A native of

home runs during his minor league career, including two 30+ homer seasons. In 1956, he became a playing manager with Brooklyn's Class B Wichita Falls Spudders farm club of the Big State League, and rose through their system in succeeding years all the way to the Triple-A level, winning a division championship with the 1963 Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League
.

In 1965, he came to the Major Leagues — and the Los Angeles Dodgers — as a coach for Walter Alston. Ozark served eight years (1965–72) on Alston's staff, coaching at first and third bases and in the dugout.

Managerial career

Ozark was named manager of the last-place Phillies on November 7, 1972. He succeeded Frank Lucchesi, who had been fired four months earlier in July, and general manager Paul Owens, who served in the interim for the remainder of the 1972 campaign — and then hired Ozark.[3] The Phillies showed steady improvement in Ozark's first three seasons, and in 1976 broke through by winning 101 games, a club record at the time. The Philadelphia club featured a core of players led by two future Hall of Famers: third baseman Mike Schmidt and left-handed pitcher Steve Carlton. But in the 1976 NLCS, they faced one of the most powerful teams of the era, the defending world champion Cincinnati Reds, and they dropped the Series in three straight games, as the Reds went on to a second successive title.

In 1977, the Phils again won 101 games to cruise to the NL East title. This time, against the Dodgers, they were poised to take a 2–1 Series lead when Los Angeles rallied for three runs in the ninth inning of Game 3 to steal the victory. The following night, in the midst of a driving rainstorm, the disheartened Phils fell to Tommy John's complete game as the Dodgers won the pennant, three games to one.

In 1978, they won only 90 games, but still prevailed by two games in their division, earning the right to face the Dodgers in an NLCS rematch. Again the Phillies lost in four games.

During the 1978–79 offseason, the Phils signed free agent Pete Rose away from the Reds. Fresh off his 44-game-hitting streak season, Rose was expected to put Philadelphia over the top in 1979. But the Phillies—plagued by injuries and a lack of pitching depth—played poorly all season and were still two games under .500 on August 31 when Ozark was replaced by Dallas Green.[4]

interim manager in 1984
when Robinson was fired August 5. The Giants won 24 and lost 32 under Ozark, remaining in the basement of the NL West.

Throughout his managerial career, he was frequently

Death

On the morning of May 7, 2009, Ozark died at age 85 at his home in Vero Beach, Florida. Ozark was survived by his wife of 60 years, Ginny; two children, Dwain and Darlene; three granddaughters; and four great-grandchildren.[6]

In 2010, Danny Ozark was inducted posthumously into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Danny Ozark". Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.
  2. ^ Noland, Claire (May 8, 2009). "Danny Ozark Dies at 85". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ^ "Ozark Is Named Phils' Manager". The New York Times. November 7, 1972. Retrieved March 27, 2022 – via TimesMachine.
  4. ^ "Phillies dismiss Ozark as manager". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 31, 1979.
  5. ^ Conlin, Bill (May 8, 2009). "Danny Ozark: In his own words". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  6. ^ Fitzpatrick, Frank (May 7, 2009). "Former Phillies manager Danny Ozark dies". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  7. ^ "Danny Ozark". National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-10-02.

External links