Dallas Green was larger than life.
He was a legend in Philadelphia, a baseball lifer. He was also the man whose combustible energy and ferocious managerial style helped transform a Phillies franchise that could never quite clear the hump in those ill-fated playoff runs from 1976-78, into a world champion in 1980.
Media reports Wednesday brought everyone the sad news that Green had passed away. He was 82.
Anyone who was around during that great Phils run of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s remembers Green as the Phils manager who finally got Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, and Steve Carlton past the failures of three straight NLCS ousters.