Danny Ozark

Danny Ozark, 85, the Phillies manager whose hound-dog face and penchant for malaprops sometimes obscured the success his teams enjoyed in the 1970s, died yesterday in Florida. Mr. Ozark, whose 1976 and 1977 Phillies won more games than any other teams in franchise history, succumbed at home yesterday morning, according to a team announcement. The cause was not immediately known. A longtime fixture in the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers' organization, Mr. Ozark was hired by the Phillies in November 1972, just as Mike Schmidt and a nucleus of young Phillies talent - Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, Bob Boone - were maturing.

Charlie Manuel (2005-11) 645 Gene Mauch (1960-68) 645 Harry Wright (1884-93) 636 Danny Ozark (1973-79) 594 Jim Fregosi (1991-96) 431 SOURCE: Phillies

For longtime Phillies fans who have suffered through many of the team's more than 10,000 losses, there was a period in the late 1970s when the Fightins' were perhaps the best team in baseball. The Phils won the National League East title three years in a row, starting in 1976, including consecutive 101-win seasons. During that great run, the Phillies manager was Danny Ozark, a low-key baseball lifer known for his Yogi Berra-like verbal gaffes. (He once said a player's "limitations are limitless.

Paul Owens made a lot of trades in his years as Phillies general manager, but he'll always remember the first big one, the deal that sent third baseman Don Money to Milwaukee in October of '72. The Phillies got two valuable pitchers in that deal, Jim Lonborg and Ken Brett, but it took some courage to let Money go. And it took a tremendous amount of confidence in a third baseman with two years of minor-league experience. "I was the only guy that knew I had Mike Schmidt," Owens would say nearly 15 years later.

AROUNDTHEBASES   First base Congratulations to John Kruk for being voted into the Phillies Wall of Fame, an honor that has been bestowed upon only 33 people. Curt Schilling was also on the ballot and he probably stands a good chance of being voted in next year. Three men who already should have been inducted: Gene Mauch, Danny Ozark , and Jim Konstanty . Mauch, despite the infamous 1964 collapse, remains the winningest manager in Phillies history.

Phillies manager Nick Leyva gathered his pitchers in a semicircle around him in rightfield of Holman Stadium before yesterday afternoon's exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He told them he understood that it was still the middle of the spring schedule. He told them he knew they were working on things. He also told them it was time to start putting the emphasis on getting people out. And then the Phillies went out and lost their sixth consecutive game, 7-5. Philadelphia is now 3-10.

LAKELAND, Fla. - Early Wednesday morning while addressing Chase Utley's nagging knee injury, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was asked how the Phillies might handle having to play without their all-star second baseman in the lineup. "That's why Charlie [Manuel] gets the big bucks," Amaro said. "He'll mix and match and try to put the right people together. " Exactly how Manuel plans to go about the business of filling out his lineup card without Utley remains to be seen, but more big bucks will soon be coming the manager's way. After the Phillies' 5-3 exhibition win over the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium, Manuel confirmed a report that his agent, Pat Rooney, is close to finalizing a two-year contract extension that will keep him in the Phillies dugout through the 2013 season.

There will be more than enough baseball fun to go around in New York for a while, but we wanted to have some ourselves, so. . . Welcome to the Daily News version of baseball's Subway Series, pitting Philadelphia A's and Phillies players of all eras against each other. And there's no telling who will show up to play, manage, broadcast or attend these imaginative, never-in-a-lifetime events. Some of the action might jog your memory, some might jar your funnybone. Either way, at least for the next week Philadelphia will be the second-best baseball town in America.

Eddie Sawyer, 87, who managed the 1950 Phillies "Whiz Kids" to an improbable National League championship, died yesterday morning at Phoenixville Hospital after a brief illness. He lived in Valley Forge. Two weeks earlier, Richie Ashburn, a longtime Phillies announcer who was Mr. Sawyer's star centerfielder, died of a heart attack in New York. "Rich's death was a big shock," Andy Seminick, the Whiz Kids catcher, said yesterday from Melbourne, Fla. "Eddie was up in age, but it's still a shock to hear that he's gone.

Mike Schmidt has described it countless times, the influence Pete Rose had on his career. "I've described it a billion times," Schmidt said, pressed one more time in the stampede of 1980 reminiscences. "He was a positive influence on my baseball career from the day I first met him. "He always had something to say to me that made me feel good. One year, we were wearing white shoes, in '75, I think. "I was playing pepper with Larry Bowa and a couple of other guys, behind the batting cage.

By Rich Westcott With a 13-inning victory in the last game of the regular season, Charlie Manuel ascended to the top of a very special page in the Phillies' record book this week, becoming the winningest manager in the team's 129-year history. It's a considerable accomplishment: His 646th Philadelphia win moved him past not only Gene Mauch, one of the most highly regarded skippers the team ever had and the 12th winningest in baseball history, but also 49 other former Phils managers, including three members of the Hall of Fame.

Charlie Manuel (2005-11) 645 Gene Mauch (1960-68) 645 Harry Wright (1884-93) 636 Danny Ozark (1973-79) 594 Jim Fregosi (1991-96) 431 SOURCE: Phillies

LOCAL COMIC Danny Ozark was beaten and robbed about 2 a.m. Saturday near his Germantown home by a group of five thugs. He suffered bruises and a black eye. The hoodlums stole his phone and his bag, which he later got back after someone found it in his yard and contacted him. Many remember Ozark (real name: Peter Goldman ) from our coverage of his 2007 invasion of privacy of NBC10's LuAnn Cahn . While at a party thrown by a babysitter at Cahn's Wynnewood home, Ozark rifled through the anchorwoman's underwear drawer.

AROUNDTHEBASES   First base Congratulations to John Kruk for being voted into the Phillies Wall of Fame, an honor that has been bestowed upon only 33 people. Curt Schilling was also on the ballot and he probably stands a good chance of being voted in next year. Three men who already should have been inducted: Gene Mauch, Danny Ozark , and Jim Konstanty . Mauch, despite the infamous 1964 collapse, remains the winningest manager in Phillies history.

LAKELAND, Fla. - Early Wednesday morning while addressing Chase Utley's nagging knee injury, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was asked how the Phillies might handle having to play without their all-star second baseman in the lineup. "That's why Charlie [Manuel] gets the big bucks," Amaro said. "He'll mix and match and try to put the right people together. " Exactly how Manuel plans to go about the business of filling out his lineup card without Utley remains to be seen, but more big bucks will soon be coming the manager's way. After the Phillies' 5-3 exhibition win over the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium, Manuel confirmed a report that his agent, Pat Rooney, is close to finalizing a two-year contract extension that will keep him in the Phillies dugout through the 2013 season.

THE BILL that was supposed to go in the mail yesterday goes on top of the pile, above the ones that can be put off for a couple more weeks. Laundry doesn't become a real priority until that retro Penguins sweater is your only choice. And does anybody really renew their magazine subscription before at least the third LAST AND FINAL! warning hits the mailbox? It's just human nature. Urgent and pressing trumps the big picture every time. The Phillies won their third straight National League East championship last night.

For longtime Phillies fans who have suffered through many of the team's more than 10,000 losses, there was a period in the late 1970s when the Fightins' were perhaps the best team in baseball. The Phils won the National League East title three years in a row, starting in 1976, including consecutive 101-win seasons. During that great run, the Phillies manager was Danny Ozark, a low-key baseball lifer known for his Yogi Berra-like verbal gaffes. (He once said a player's "limitations are limitless.

Danny Ozark, 85, the Phillies manager whose hound-dog face and penchant for malaprops sometimes obscured the success his teams enjoyed in the 1970s, died yesterday in Florida. Mr. Ozark, whose 1976 and 1977 Phillies won more games than any other teams in franchise history, succumbed at home yesterday morning, according to a team announcement. The cause was not immediately known. A longtime fixture in the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers' organization, Mr. Ozark was hired by the Phillies in November 1972, just as Mike Schmidt and a nucleus of young Phillies talent - Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, Bob Boone - were maturing.

W HEN I'M KING of the World . . . Three-and-a-half months will be certified as enough rest for any pitchers whose seasons were extended by three tiers of postseason baseball . . . Because nearly the entire Phillies staff is in disarray - I call it the Lefty Syndrome - most of the blame should be laid at the feet of the planners who decided to ease the arm-weary lads into a spring training extended an extra week by the World Baseball Catastrophe....

It's a night that has been largely forgotten, its rancorous aftertaste cleansed by time and, more significant, a World Series win just 23 days later. But in the Phillies' 32-year history at Veterans Stadium, there was never a night so filled with acrimony as Sept. 29, 1980. The Phillies entered that night's game against the Chicago Cubs a half-game behind Montreal, which was leading the National League East. The final series in the final homestand of a season due to end in Montreal that weekend ought to have been marked by high spirits and good feelings.