harvest great talent from its farm system, including Carlton Fisk, Dwight Evans, Cecil Cooper, Bill Lee, John Curtis, Lynn McGlothen, Ben Oglivie, Juan Beníquez, Rogelio Moret, Rick Burleson, Jim Rice and Fred Lynn. The team also somewhat overcame its reputation for racial prejudice by increasing the number of African Americans and Latin Americans on its playing roster. In , led by rookies Lynn and Rice, the Red Sox won the AL East title, swept defending world champion Oakland in the ALCS, and battled another NL powerhouse, the Cincinnati Reds, to the limit in a thrilling World Series. Once again, O'Connell was hailed as Executive of the Year in Major League Baseball. Abrupt dismissal during ownership change But O'Connell's tenure with the Red Sox and his baseball career were about to come to an end. Tom Yawkey had developed a close friendship with Haywood Sullivan—by 1975 playing a reduced role for the Red Sox as director of amateur scouting—but trusted O'Connell to be his top baseball and business executive. The 73-year-old owner died from leukemia on July 9, 1976, nine months after the 1975 pennant. His widow and heir, Jean, was both a strong ally of Sullivan's and an adversary of O'Connell's. She criticized O'Connell's player transactions, his willingness to negotiate with (and ultimately sign to new contracts) potential free agents Fisk, Lynn and Burleson, his attempted big-money purchase of Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi from the Oakland A's in June 1976 (vetoed within hours by Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn), and his signing of free agent relief pitcher Bill Campbell, When Mrs. Yawkey put the club up for sale in , she chose—and ultimately joined—Sullivan's ownership group, and then, on October 24, 1977, fired O'Connell as GM in favor of Sullivan, after the Red Sox won 97 games but finished games behind the New York Yankees in the pennant race. The firing ended O'Connell's baseball career, although almost six years later, on June 6, 1983, a bizarre postscript was added. A power struggle broke out among the Red Sox owners, and one of the general partners, Edward "Buddy" LeRoux, staged a coup d'état. LeRoux announced a takeover of the Red Sox, and fired Sullivan, his fellow general partner, from the GM role. Surprisingly, he unveiled O'Connell, now 68, as his choice to lead the team's front office — marking the first time O'Connell had set foot inside Fenway Park since