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Gene William Mauch
Philadelphia Phillies
Manager
Born: November 18, 1925, Salina, KS
Signed: Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1943 season
Major League Teams: Brooklyn Dodgers 1944; Pittsburgh Pirates 1947; Brooklyn Dodgers 1948; Chicago Cubs 1948-1949; Boston Braves 1950-1951; St. Louis Cardinals 1952; Boston Red Sox 1956-1957
As a Manager: Philadelphia Phillies 1960-1968; Montreal Expos 1969-1975; Minnesota Twins 1976-1980; California Angels 1981-1982, 1985-1987
Died: August 8, 2005, Ranco Mirage, CA (age 79)
As a manager of nearly 4,000 Major League games, Gene Mauch holds the dubious distinction of being the winningest manager in history without a World Series appearance to his resume. His small ball style of managing got him to within a game of the Fall Classic three separate times - in 1964 with the Phillies, and in 1982 and 1986 with the Angels. Mauch's career win total as a manager (1,902) is currently 13th all-time. He twice endured historic and lengthy losing streaks, as his 1961 Phillies lost 23 games in a row and his 1969 Expos, in their inaugural season, lost 20 games in a row. He served as a bench coach for Angels' manager Bob Boone in 1995, his final year in a baseball uniform.
As a player, Mauch appeared in parts of nine seasons with six different teams, seeing his most action in 1949 when he played in 72 games for the Cubs. A middle infielder, Mauch was a career .239 batter over 304 games.
Building the Set
June 8, 2020 from Fontana, CA - Card #102
Having acquired the last few cards in the set already, Al Downing (#598) and the Twins Rookie Stars card (#597), I continued working my way backwards, looking for the Don Landrum (#596) card. I bid on a total of 10 cards for our set from buyer Your Card Connection, winning the Landrum card along with the Mauch card and two other Phillies cards I'll feature in upcoming posts. My winning bid for the Mauch card was $1.99.
The Card
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| 1950-1969 Phillies Postcards |
To repeat a painful synopsis of the collapse here, the 1964 Phillies had a 6 1/2 game lead in the division with 12 games left to play with a seven-game home stand coming up. They lost 10 in a row, costing them the pennant and starting a generational World Series wait for Phillies fans that finally ended in 1980.
Phillies Team Set
1965 Season
Mauch's Phillies team went 85-76, finishing in 6th place in the National League. His star players included Jim Bunning (#20) and Chris Short on the mound along with sluggers Dick Allen (#460) and Johnny Callison (#310) in the middle of his everyday line-up. Mauch managed the National League All-Stars as Johnny Keane (#131), the manager of the pennant-winning Cardinals, had moved on to manage the Yankees in 1965. Mauch guided the N.L. All-Stars to a 6-5 win.
Phillies Career
Mauch was offered and accepted the team's manager position when outgoing manager Eddie Sawyer quit following opening day in 1960. At the time, Sawyer said he "was 49 years old and he wanted to live to be 50." Mauch was 34 at the time and his top starting pitcher, Robin Roberts (#15), was only a year younger. In nine seasons managing the Phillies, Mauch compiled a record of 646-684, finishing in second place in 1964 and having six straight winning seasons between 1962 and 1967. In 1962, the team's first winning season since 1953, Mauch was named Manager of the Year by the Associated Press. Mauch was fired 54 games into the 1968 season with his team at 27-27, and replaced by Bob Skinner (#591).
His 645 wins as manager of the club was tops on the franchise's all-time list until Charlie Manuel surpassed him and eventually tallied 780 wins. Mauch's 684 losses is still the most in Phillies franchise history.
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First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #312
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (26): 1957, 1961-1980, 1983, 1985-1988
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1988 Topps #774
86 - Mauch non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/22/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
Previous Card: #488 Ted Wills - Cincinnati Reds
Next Card: #490 Earl Battey - Minnesota Twins
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