[Malleus Dei]

Well, he can say what he wants, but at least I wasn't managing a team that had a two to one lead in a best of five series and proceeded to throw it away, and I doubt if any other man alive was 6 and 1/2 games up with 12 games to play for the pennant and then threw it all away quite like Mauch did. And I surely would not have repeated the worst baseball mistake of my life eighteen years later.

Mauch was .483 in his career with no pennants. Trying to paint Mauch as a "good manager" doesn't work very well, as comparisons with managers perceived as "good managers" don't flatter Mauch at all. Bobby Cox - a current good manager - as of last season was .559 with 4 pennants and a World Series. Walter Alston, a Mauch contemporary, was .558 with 3 pennants and 4 World Series. The much-fired Billy Martin, famous for taking over struggling teams, was .553 with a pennant and two World Series. And to really make Mauch look bad, a truly good manager, Earl Weaver, was a full 100 percentage points better in his career than Mauch was - .583 lifetime. Not to mention that Earl won 3 pennants and a World Series.