We remember Gene Mauch (1925-2005)

The Gods of Baseball can be very cruel.   They were very cruel indeed to Gene Mauch born in Kansas on this day in 1925

Check out the story of Gene Mauch who died in 2005 at age 79.   

We remember Gene Mauch managing the Twins and Angels in the 1980′s.   He was considered a great manager but also very unlucky.

A few years ago, I read a great book titled “October 1964″ written by David Halberstam.  The book is about Mickie Mantle’s last World Series and the Yankee dynasty, 1949-64.  It also covered the NL pennant race, which came down to the Phillies, Dodgers, Giants and the eventual winners, the Cardinals.

Mauch managed for 26 years, which is one of the longest in baseball history.   He managed 3,938 games and won 1,901, or in the Top 15. 

He was the NL Manager of the Year in 1962, 1964 and 1973 and was the National League All-Star manager in 1965.

Not bad.

Unfortunately, Mauch will be remembered for two of baseball’s worst team collapses. 

The first one was the ’64 National League pennant race and the second the ’86 AL Championship Series.

The ’64 collapse was awful.  Mauch’s Phillies had a six-game lead with 12 games to go. However, they went 2-10 down the stretch to finish one game behind the Cardinals.

In ’86, the Angels had a 3-1 series lead.  They were leading 5-3 as Boston came to bat in the top of the 9th.  Don Baylor and Dave Henderson hit two-run homers off Angels’ closer Donnie Moore and sent the series back to Boston.

The Red Sox won games 6 and 7 and eliminated the Angels.

It was cruel.  It was horrible!

Mauch was a great manager, first class strategist and an old school no nonsense type of skipper.

The Gods of baseball were very cruel to Mauch.  Very cruel indeed!