Manager Bucky Dent was dismissed by the New York Yankees today and replaced by Carl "Stump" Merrill, the club's minor-league manager at Columbus, Ohio, The Associated Press has learned.
Dent's dismissal had been rumored for weeks as the Yankees floundered in last place in the American League East with an 18-31 record - the worst in the baseball.The move marked the 19th managerial change under owner George Steinbrenner in the last 17 years. Dent replaced Dallas Green on Aug. 18, 1989.
It is Merrill's first major-league managing job. He leaves Columbus in first place in the International League.
The dismissal came in the same town where Dent enjoyed his finest moment as a player. It was in Fenway Park that he hit a three-run home run rallying the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the 1978 playoff for the AL East title. The victory climaxed a dramatic Yankee comeback from 14 games behind in July and was punctuated by the team's second consecutive World Series victory.
New York has been back to the Series only once since then and Dent was the latest in a parade of managers who have attempted to restore the team to its former glory.
Merrill becomes the 12th individual to hold the job, several of them more than once in the Steinbrenner era.
Dent had been promoted from Columbus last summer to replace Green and piloted the club to an 18-22 record that included a nine-game winning streak. On Sept. 8, the last day of the winning streak, he was given a contract to manage for the 1990 season. The team finished fifth with a 74-87 record, 141/2 games behind.
When the Yankees struggled from the start this season and sank into last place with the worst record in baseball, the heat was on Dent.