Alvin Dark - Managerial Career

Managerial Career

Dark quickly became a successful manager, winning a pennant with the Giants in 1962, but losing the 1962 World Series in seven games to the Yankees. In 1964 he became embroiled in controversy when he was quoted in Newsday as complaining about the number of black and Hispanic players on the team and saying, "They are just not able to perform up to the white player when it comes to mental alertness." He responded that he had been severely misquoted; Willie Mays, whom he had named as team captain, came to his defense and calmed the team, and Jackie Robinson further noted, "I have found Dark to be a gentleman and, above all, unbiased. Our relationship has not only been on the ballfield but off it." Dark weathered the imbroglio, but Giants owner Horace Stoneham fired him during the sixth inning of the last game of the season, with the team about to finish in fourth place. He was hired as an assistant to Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie Finley in 1965, and became that team's manager the next season, but was dismissed in August 1967 in a disagreement over player discipline after Finley fined and suspended pitcher Lew Krausse, Jr. for his behavior on a team flight. (Finley also released first baseman Ken Harrelson, who had been quoted as saying that Finley was a menace to the sport.)

Dark was hired to manage the Cleveland Indians in 1968 by Vernon Stouffer; after an initial third-place season, he was given the additional duties of general manager, but having the field manager negotiate the players' contracts proved an untenable situation. The Indians returned to their losing ways and Dark was fired in mid-1971 with the team in last place. In the meantime, the Athletics had moved to Oakland, and after manager Dick Williams resigned following consecutive World Series triumphs in 1972-73, Finley rehired Dark. He guided the A's to a third straight championship in 1974, joining managers Joe McCarthy and Yogi Berra by winning pennants in both leagues, but was again fired after losing the 1975 American League Championship Series. He was hired by the San Diego Padres in mid-1977, but left the team after that season following a fifth-place finish. He ended his career with a 994-954 record, despite the decided weakness of his teams in Cleveland and San Diego. In a 1969 poll, Giants fans selected him as the greatest shortstop in team history.

In 1980, Dark penned an autobiography (with John Underwood) entitled When in Doubt, Fire the Manager, published by E. P. Dutton, the back cover of which included endorsements by Ted Williams and Gene Mauch. In it, Dark focused mostly on his career as manager, especially of the Oakland A's under Charlie Finley, and how his conversion to Christianity affected how he chose to manage his teams.

With the death of Ralph Houk in 2010, Dark is the oldest-living manager of a World Series-winning, pennant-winning or post-season team.