When Rickey, 73, retired to become the club's board chairman at the close of the 1955 campaign, Brown was the unanimous choice of that board (which also included part-owner Bing Crosby, the entertainer) to succeed him. Brown's first order of business was to find a successor to fired skipper Fred Haney. While his first choice, Bobby Bragan, was a misfire, Brown struck gold in August 1957 when he replaced Bragan with Danny Murtaugh, a former Pirate second baseman then in his second season as a coach. Under Murtaugh, the Bucs became contenders in 1958, finishing in second place, won the 1960 and 1971 World Series, and three more NL East titles (1970; 1974–75). Although he twice was compelled to step down for health reasons, Murtaugh would serve four separate terms as Brown's field manager (1957–64; 1967; 1970–71; 1973–76), and compile a 1,115–950 (.540) record. Two months after Brown's and Murtaugh's joint retirement at the conclusion of the 1976 campaign, Murtaugh suffered a fatal stroke at age 59.
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