Project Durham Bulls Part #50 - Gene Mauch

1935 Durham Bulls 

Background-

There is not a complete stat line on Gene Mauch's time in Durham, but he had 117 at bats with the Bulls and hit .322 as a 17 year old in his first summer of professional baseball.  Mauch reached the Majors, but only played 300 games over 9 seasons for several different teams including the Dodgers, Red Sox, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, and Pirates.  

Mauch is really known for his time as a manager. After his final season in the Majors, the Red Sox gave him a chance to manage in their Minor League system, he was eventually hired by the Phillies and the rest is history so to speak.  Besides the Phillies, he also spent time managing the Expos, Twins, and Angels.  While Mauch won more than 2,000 games as a manager, and won the National League Manager of the Year three times. His career his most frequently remembered for two not so great moments.  

First, the collapse of the 1964 Phillies, who were 6 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals with 12 games to play.  The Cardinals did not lose a game for two weeks, the Phillies could not win a game for two weeks.  Dick Allen recalls an incident with Lou Brock towards the end of the season, and also mentions Gene Mauch......

Lastly, the 1986 Angels who were a strike away from the World Series in 1986 when Dave Henderson hit a game tying home run for the Red Sox.  

He should probably be remembered for some better moments in his managerial career.  Mauch is often considered the best manager to have never won a World Series.  

Card- 

It is really easy to find cards of recent Bulls players, but the older players can be tough.  My preference over the first 49 posts has been to find certified autographs of the players.  I have dropped that this year, and have started trying to find nice copies of older cards for the Bulls players from the 1960s and earlier.  I knew Mauch played for the Bulls, notable name, but I figured he would be someone who would just have cards.  No autographs.  I knew he retired because of health reasons from smoking, and remember him passing away awhile ago.  I just figured this type of card was not out there.  

If you collected in the early 2000s, you know this set.  If you did not, you should get to know this set.  Except for that one year the autographs all faded off the cards.  Sweet Spot cards were pieces of signed baseballs that were attached to cards.  Kind of a cool concept from Upper Deck that lasted for seven or eight years.  Based on the wrinkles and crinkles, they did not show well in the scan, I would guess that Upper Deck may not have had Mauch actually sign for this set, rather they just bought a bunch of his signed baseballs.