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October 25, 1973 at the ripe old age of 47, Gene Mauch has won another National League Manager of the Year award. âThatâs a long period, of timeâ Mauch said manager of the Montreal Expos, said at his suburban Hacienda Heights home, and he added with a chuckle: Itâs just like my career as a player when I had a life-long slump as a hitter.â Mauch, who was the youngest manager in the big leagues when he took over at Philadelphia in 1960 was The Associated Press choice as outstanding National League manager in 1962 and 1964 while piloting the Phillies.
His third award was for guiding the Expos to a 79-83 record, only 3 games behind the New York Mets in the wacky Eastern Division race. Mauch who has managed the Expos since they were born in expansion in 1969 had the team in contention until a seven-game losing streak in the stretch drive he received 121 votes in the poll of sports writers and broadcasters that was based on regular season play, 27 more than Yogi Berra of the Mets. Sparky Anderson of Cincinnati was third, with 77. and Walt Alston of Los Angeles was fourth 16. I donât think a guy should be blowing his own horn.â said Mauch. âI feel good about it, but Iâll feel better when the Expos are the team of the year.â Before the season, Mauch said he was excited over the improvement of his club. The fourth-place finish was the best ever for the Expos. I thought we could win probably half of our games, I really did.â he said, but I had no idea it would make our team a challenger right up to the next-to-last day. It was just rough division play that made it possible. There were obvious holes in all the rest of the ball clubs, holes that didnât make em bad but kept any team from being outstanding enough to be overpowering. âWe know we have areas in which to improve, said Mauch Already thinking ahead. With the exceptions of first base and shortstop, we are not outstanding defensively.
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