Ray Kroc inherited Padres manager John McNamara when he bought the team in 1974. McNamara remained for just over three seasons, but the first manager hired under Kroc’s watch didn’t last nearly as long.
Alvin Dark, summoned from his coaching job with the Chicago Cubs on this date — May 30 — in 1977, replaced McNamara 48 games into the 1977 campaign and finished that year out only to get shown the door — despite his three-year contract — before spring training concluded the following year in one of the earliest managerial firings on record.
“We had great problems with Alvin about delegating authority and his inability to communicate with the players,” Kroc told the San Diego Union after Dark’s dismissal in March 1978.