Feb. 16, 1963 - When Gene Mauch, skipper of the Philadelphia Phillies, was named outstanding manager of the National League in 1962, San Francisco fans were outraged. They figured Alvin Dark (left), manager of the pennant-winning Giants, should have been the one. Today, Mauch said he agreed with them. “While I appreciated the honor greatly,” Mauch remarked, “I didn’t understand it. I don’t know why they should make the manager of a team that finished in seventh place an award winner.” Despite Mauch’s modesty, however, the selection can be justified. His Phillies were the hottest club in the National League in the last half of the race. They won 34 more games than they did in 1961, when they lost 23 in a row and set a major league record for futility. They finished a proud 81-80 last season after their 47-107 record of 1961. And Mauch has now improved his team with the acquisition of Don Hoak from the Pirates. “I don’t know how far we can go,” he said, “because our league is so tough. We’ve had five different pennant winners in five years. Clubs drop from first to sixth. We’ve been as bad as we can get, and I’m not going to put any ceiling on what we can do this year. Hoak will be a big help to us. He is obsessed with the idea of winning.”
