Gene Mauch

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Gene William Mauch (November 18, 1925 – August 8, 2005) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager, and the holder of the record for most seasons managed without a pennant (breaking the record formerly held by Jimmy Dykes). He managed the Philadelphia Phillies (1960-68), the Montreal Expos (1969-75, Mauch was their inaugural manager), the Minnesota Twins (1976-80), and the California Angels (1981-82, 1985-87).

Born in Salina, Kansas, Mauch was a strong advocate of "little ball", or an emphasis on basic fundamentals such as bunting, sacrifice plays, and other ways of advancing runners, as opposed to trying to score runs primarily through slugging. His teams generally played in ballparks which were not friendly to home run hitters, which increased the effectiveness of this approach. While his teams occasionally featured power hitters such as Dick Allen, Rusty Staub and Reggie Jackson, they depended just as heavily on hitters adept at getting on base through contact hitting and patience at the plate, such as Rod Carew, and on strong defensive play by such stars as Bobby Grich and Bob Boone.

Renowned as an excellent manager of his bench, Mauch also had a reputation for provoking opposing teams with taunting, and of having a strong temperament that stressed himself and his teams excessively in the belief that he could win by sheer will (Halberstam, p.304-306).

Mauch came excruciatingly close to the World Series on three occasions. In 1964, his Phillies had a record of 90-60, a 6 and ½ game lead in the National League in late September with 12 games left to play, and were starting a 7-game home stand. Mauch decided to start his two aces (Jim Bunning and Chris Short) in 7 of those last 10 games, 6 of those starts on 2 days rest (all of which they lost). The Phillies faded, losing 10 games in a row before winning their last 2 games) to finish one game behind the St. Louis Cardinals in a collapse infamously known as the "Phold." In 1982, his Angels team won the American League's Western Division, and won the first two games in a best-of-5 ALCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, but Milwaukee came back to win three straight games and the AL pennant. And in 1986, the Angels again won the Western title, and led in the fifth game of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox, just one strike away from the Fall Classic - but Boston's Dave Henderson hit a home run off Angels reliever Donnie Moore to put the Red Sox ahead. The Red Sox went on to win that game in extra innings and the remaining two games to take the Series, denying Mauch in his last real chance to win a pennant.

Mauch was suddenly forced to retire as manager of the Angels during spring training in 1988 at age 62 because of ill health, reportedly caused by his excessive cigarette smoking. The team's advance scout, Cookie Rojas, took command of the club. Seven years after his retirement as a manager, Mauch returned in 1995 as bench coach with the Kansas City Royals to assist Boone, who was in his first year as a big league skipper.

Mauch had played parts of nine seasons from 1944 to 1957 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Boston Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. In 304 games and 737 at-bats, Mauch hit .239, with 5 home runs and 62 RBIs, striking out 82 times.

He first became a manager at age 27 in 1953, when the Braves named him the playing skipper of their AA Atlanta Crackers farm team in the Southern Association. From 1954-57, Mauch was strictly a player, first for the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels, then the Red Sox. In 1958-59, he managed the Bosox' AAA affiliate, the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, reaching the Little World Series each season. He was slated to begin a third season as the Millers' boss in 1960 when the Phillies chose him to replace Eddie Sawyer, who had resigned after the club's opening game of the regular season.

Mauch died at age 79 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California from lung cancer.

[edit] Trivia

• Managed his nephew Roy Smalley during his tenure with the Minnesota Twins. Smalley's father, Roy Sr., married Mauch's sister, Jolene. Roy Sr. and Mauch grew up and played sandlot baseball together in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Source

Halberstam, David, October 1964, Villard Books (1994), ISBN 0-679-41560-2

[edit] External link

• Baseball-Reference.com - managing record and playing statistics

Preceded by Eddie Sawyer	Philadelphia Phillies Manager 1960-1968	Succeeded by Bob Skinner
Preceded by First Manager	Montreal Expos Manager 1969-1975	Succeeded by Karl Kuehl
Preceded by Frank Quilici	Minnesota Twins Manager 1976-1980	Succeeded by Johnny Goryl
Preceded by Jim Fregosi	California Angels Manager 1981-1982	Succeeded by John McNamara
Preceded by John McNamara	California Angels Manager 1985-1987	Succeeded by Cookie Rojas