Mauch Takes a Leave of Absence : Angel Manager Schedules Medical Examination; Rojas Steps In

For more than a year, Gene Mauch said, he ignored the warning signs--the sleepless nights, the naps he sneaked in his office before road games, the fatigue he felt after plane flights, the persistent cough and the general listlessness.

He tried to chalk it up to age, or to his 25 years as a big league manager, or to the strain and frustration associated with a last-place season.

“I’ve had times in the past when I’ve gotten run-down before,” Mauch said. “But I’ve always bounced back.”

This time, Mauch hasn’t bounced back.

Friday morning, deciding finally to take the symptoms seriously, Mauch removed himself from an active role as Angel manager and returned to his home in Palm Springs, where he will remain indefinitely to undergo physical testing and, as Mauch put it, “to get after it.”

Replacing Mauch as manager, at least temporarily, will be Cookie Rojas, the team’s advance scout for the last eight seasons.

The Angels stopped short of describing Mauch’s decision as a resignation. General Manager Mike Port, offering an admittedly optimistic view, termed it a leave of absence, calling Rojas more a substitute than a successor.

“We’re looking at this as an interim situation,” Port said. “And we will handle it on that basis until we have reason to believe otherwise.”

Added Rojas: “Gene Mauch is still the manager of this ballclub. That has not changed. And I hope there’s no reason for it to change.”

Yet, the very fact that Mauch left camp is an indication of the scale of the problem. Mauch, 62, has spent 45 years in professional baseball, and those who know him best describe him as addicted to the game, the ever-driven Little General, a manager who arrives at the ballpark at noon for a 7:30 p.m. game.

It would figure to take more than a minor illness to knock Mauch out of camp less than three weeks before the start of the regular season.

“Obviously, it’s not something that slight,” Angel pitcher Kirk McCaskill said. “For him to leave, it must be serious.”

Mauch is scheduled for an extensive physical examination Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, which in itself is a major concession on Mauch’s part. A heavy smoker, Mauch has been bothered by respiratory problems since the summer of 1986 but has steadfastly refused the requests of team doctor Jules Rasinski to schedule an examination.

Instead, Mauch often made light of his aversion to doctors. Asked about his nagging cough during the 1986 winter meetings, he scoffed at the suggestion he see a physician. “I’ll never let the SOB’s get close enough to look,” he grumbled.

Mauch will let them look now.

“Since some time in August a couple years ago, I haven’t really felt worth a damn, physically,” Mauch told reporters Friday morning at the Angels’ training complex here. “I kept telling myself it would get better.

” . . . A month ago, I got pretty sick and it made a bad situation a hell of a lot worse. I don’t really know what has to be done, and I don’t know what it’s going to take, but I’m heading back to the desert today and get after it.”

Mauch was referring to the case of flu he contracted in early February, which weakened him to the point where he had to back out of two team functions--one a testimonial dinner to Angel owner Gene Autry, the other the annual baseball writers’ banquet, where Mauch was to be honored as the Angels’ “good guy of the year.”

By late February, Mauch was well enough to report to camp. But Rojas said: “It still seemed like he had the flu. He seemed kind of worn out, he was feeling weak. He wasn’t walking right.”

Said Mauch: “I became convinced that I couldn’t start feeling better and work as hard as I could at managing. I’ve been pretty resilient in my time.

“Maybe when you’re 62, this is how you’re supposed to feel. But I don’t think so.”

Mauch told Port earlier this week that “I don’t know what it is, but I don’t feel right and I might get something done.”

After putting in a long day of travel Thursday--driving from Mesa to Tucson and back for a game with the Cleveland Indians--Mauch walked into Port’s office Friday morning and said his condition hadn’t improved.

At that point, Port contacted Gene and Jackie Autry, who suggested that Mauch fly back to Palm Springs for a physical. This time, Mauch concurred.

“I think it’s serious in his mind or he wouldn’t have called us this morning,” Gene Autry said.

Added Port: “We’re definitely concerned. I’ve seen Gene Mauch put up with a lot of things, a lot of scenarios, that the rest of us would not have been able to. A lot of us would have said, ‘See you later, that’s it.’ But Gene is a little different than a lot of men.

“I know what this game means to Gene Mauch. For him to say, ‘I better back off’ is where I start to feel concerned. He is not a fellow who does this lightly--and that goes double for spring training.”

Last year, during the Angels’ fall from first to last place in the American League West, there were indications that all was not well with Mauch.

He began complaining of sinus problems and fatigue whenever he flew. He begged off an invitation to coach in the All-Star game at Oakland, claiming that he needed a rest. He decided not to accompany pitching coach Marcel Lachemann on a flight from Chicago to Palm Springs to watch McCaskill pitch for the first time after elbow surgery, saying he was too tired.

Then, the Angels collapsed in September. It was widely speculated that Mauch would step down after the season. During the final weeks, Mauch appeared drained, which Port believes many may have mistaken for mere frustration on Mauch’s part.

“A lot of us talked last year about Gene’s mellowing,” Port said. “I saw that reference in print frequently. I think, on reflection, that it may have been because he wasn’t feeling well.”

Autry said he saw the situation the same way.

“When I talked to Gene at the end of last year, he told me, ‘If you’d like me to come back, I’d like to come back,’ ” Autry said. “He said he didn’t feel good enough back then, but that was because the way the season was going. He thought he could rest up during the off-season.”

Before Mauch left for Palm Springs Friday, he discussed with Port and Autry the possibility of making Rojas the interim manager. Rojas, 49, played for Mauch from 1963 to 1969, when both were with the Philadelphia Phillies and was hired by Mauch as his American League advance scout in 1981.

Rojas has also spent eight years as a manager in the Dominican, Puerto Rican and Venezuelan winter leagues, working with many of the younger players on the current Angel roster.

“He knows our players, and the players know him,” Port said. “He knows the opposing American League teams well because of his experience as an advance scout. All things considered, he was the best choice. He was all our choices.”

Rojas, a standout second baseman throughout most of his 16-year big league career, was in camp to work specifically with second-year second baseman Mark McLemore. Next week, he was to scout the other American League clubs training in Arizona before flying to Florida next Saturday to scout the Chicago White Sox, the Angels’ season-opening opponent.

“Everything’s been put on hold now,” Rojas said. “I’m still hoping I’m the one who makes that trip.”

That would seem unlikely, although Rojas held out hope that his managerial tenure would be a short one.

“I hope this isn’t long term,” he said. “I don’t think this should happen to anyone. I hope he has his check-up, everything is well and he comes back as quickly as he can.”

Rojas called his appointment as acting manager “a surprise,” although he knew Mauch had been feeling ill. Rojas said Mauch had been complaining of discomfort in his chest and was sleeping “about three hours a night.”

Rojas: “I asked him, ‘Why don’t you call somebody? Why don’t you have it looked at?’ But you know Gene Mauch, how he keeps everything to himself, how intense he is.

” . . . He said, ‘Hey, I’m not dying, I’m gonna be back.’ He told me ‘I want you to take over the club for the next few days.’ ”

But will he be back in only a few days? Or has Mauch, with a career record of 1,903-2,037, managed his last game?

“Twenty years ago,” he said, “when I left Philadelphia, I thought that was probably the end of that franchise. Damned if it didn’t keep on playing.

“This team will keep on playing, too. I told the players that they were good, that they’re going to have a lot of fun this year. I told them to keep going in the same direction.”

A few moments later, Mauch grabbed a reporter’s pen and notebook and scribbled “30” in it--journalistic shorthand for the end of the story.

Angel Notes

The Angels scored six runs in the eighth inning as they rolled up a 14-3 exhibition win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Chandler, Ariz. . . . Greg Minton’s sore right elbow was diagnosed as a sprained ligament, and the Angel relief pitcher has been placed on a therapy program by team orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum. Minton doesn’t figure to pitch again until the squad arrives in Palm Springs next Friday. Yocum said he will re-examine Minton’s elbow Tuesday. . . . Dan Petry’s simulated-game pitching performance was termed a success by pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, which could pave the way for his return to the Angels’ starting rotation sometime next week.