Mauch Will Not Be Back to Manage Angels : A Surprised Rojas Isn’t Acting Anymore; It’s a Full-Time Job

With bags packed, plane reservations in hand, goodbys said, Cookie Rojas made his way from Angels Stadium late Friday afternoon thinking his tenure as acting manager was complete. He had done as asked, mainly play caretaker for two weeks as Gene Mauch recovered from a recently diagnosed case of chronic bronchitis.

Then came the phone call, the one that would change his life, to say nothing of the complexion of the Angels.

Could he please, asked Jackie Autry, wife of Angel owner Gene Autry, come by their Palm Springs hotel and discuss an unexpected turn of events? Rojas said he could and when he arrived, he found General Manager Mike Port there, as well as Mauch, the living enigma. In the next few minutes, Rojas would learn that Mauch, in a stunning change of heart, had decided to retire. The job, said Port, was Rojas’, if he wanted it.

“Definitely. . . . Yes. . . . I will,” said Rojas, still dazed by the circumstances.

And thus, in the unlikeliest and improbable of developments, the Mauch era ended after 26 years of major league managing--amid questions and controversy--and the Rojas term began, less than nine days from the start of the 1988 regular season.

In a day’s time, the Angels lost their most successful manager in franchise history. Mauch, 62, led the Angels to Western Division titles in 1982 and 1986 and came within one pitch of realizing his professional dream: a World Series appearance. It is the second time Mauch has quit the team, the first being after the 1982 season.

In exchange, the Angels became the only major league team to currently employ a member of a minority--Rojas, 49 and Cuban-born--as their manager.

It wasn’t planned this way. Saturday was supposed to be the day that Mauch returned to the Angel dugout and active duty. Earlier in the week, he had informed Rojas of those intentions. On Friday, Mauch told reporters the same thing. Clubhouse attendants went so far as to ready his uniform for the occasion.

But at an early Saturday morning press conference at the Gene Autry Hotel, Mauch shared his secret: He was formally retiring as manager. As for his statements a day earlier, that he would return in uniform, Mauch pleaded guilty.

“In uniform,” he said, pointing at his suit jacket. “I didn’t want to tell you (reporters). Sometimes you can’t. I can’t tell you before I tell someone else. Mr. and Mrs. Autry didn’t know until late (Friday) sometime.”

Nobody knew. Rojas, the team’s major league advance scout, was scheduled to leave Saturday for his Miami home, where he would stay long enough to pack fresh clothes and then move on to Sarasota, Fla., spring training site of the Chicago White Sox, the Angels’ opening-day opponent. But that was before Mauch decided to surprise the Angels once more.

“Over the last couple weeks, I’ve seen a very healthy situation develop, a very healthy atmosphere develop on this team,” Mauch said. “I’m satisfied that’s directly attributable to Cookie Rojas and the coaches on the staff. I’m stepping aside because I want that situation sustained.”

There were other reasons, Mauch said, most notably his desire to decrease the mental wear and tear that comes with managing. Mauch is legendary for his commitment to the profession.

A day earlier, even with his mind made up, Mauch couldn’t help himself as he watched an exhibition game from a stadium tunnel. He did everything but signal for hit-and-run plays.

The next day, he retires.

“I still exhilarate as much as I did 34 years ago, seeing the game played that way,” he said. “I was as keyed up as I could possibly be.”

But not enough to make him stay. Trouble is, he said, that for every victory, there is almost always a defeat.

“Unfortunately, even when you win championships, there are a certain number of games that you’re going to lose, 60 or more, probably,” he said. “As I’ve gotten a little older, I have developed an inability to cope with those inevitable losses. You’d think when a guy’s been around . . . as long as I have, that tolerance would develop. It hasn’t been that way. It hasn’t been that way at all.”

Mauch also mentioned his disdain for baseball’s growing outside influences, specifically, agents and unions. “I’ve watched great, outstanding young people’s minds played with and messed around with,” he said. “Baseball has always meant, to me, more than just how much money you can make.”

Conspicuously missing from Mauch’s list of retirement reasons was health. Truth is, Mauch said, “I feel great physically, probably better than I’ve felt in a year and a half.”

That effectively ended speculation that perhaps Mauch’s recent examination revealed more than just bronchitis. “No,” said Mauch, “I am one lucky hombre .”

The Autrys said they tried to change his mind, much like they did at the end of the 1987 season when a weary Mauch, disappointed with the team’s last-place finish, first mentioned retirement. Back then, Mauch could be swayed; this time he couldn’t.

“I begged him to stay,” Gene Autry said. “But he said, ‘It’s nothing against you, or Mike Port, or Jackie Autry, or anybody else. It’s just that I feel after 25 years or so, I’d like to take a year off and see what it feels like.’

“That’s life,” Autry said. “Sometimes you win a few, lose a few. I felt that he would stay.”

Mauch isn’t entirely gone from the Angel organization. He said he remains available for a yet unspecified position with the team. Port would only say that the job dealt with “player development.”

That’s fine with Mauch, who said he would be willing to help the Angels in any capacity, just as long as the new assignment had meaning. “I know this much,” Mauch said, “it won’t be director of player personnel doing nothing.”

The Angels wasted little time naming a successor. Mauch recommended Rojas to Port, who then recommended Rojas to the Autrys. That done, Jackie Autry called Rojas.

“I had no idea what (they) wanted to talk to me about,” Rojas said. “I thought (the Autrys) might like to ask me how the game went.”

Instead, they offered Rojas a major league manager’s job, a position he has wanted since joining Angel management in the early 1980s. The Houston Astros, he said, interviewed him for a similar job about three years ago but later selected Hal Lanier.

With the choice, the Autrys bypassed longtime Angel coaches such as Moose Stubing, who, unlike Rojas, has minor league managing experience, and Bobby Knoop, who has been on Mauch’s staff for 9 years.

“They’re qualified people, and they decided to give it to me,” Rojas said. “I’m sure any of those gentlemen are capable of doing it, too.”

Rojas has managed in the Venezuelan and Dominican Republic leagues. He also can claim a vast knowledge of the Angel organization and its young players, thanks mainly to his work as a scout and his experience in the winter leagues.

“I’ve been with this organization since 1981,” Rojas said. “I know the players, I know the personnel, I know the minor league system, I know everyone in the front office and the P.R. department. It’s a lot easier to step into a situation where you know the personnel instead of going to a ballclub where you don’t know the players, you don’t know the management and you don’t know what they have in the minor leagues.”

As he had done a little more than two weeks ago in Mesa, Ariz., Mauch requested a team meeting Saturday. Angel players said that they envisioned a perfunctory glad-to-be-back speech. “I thought he was going to tell us what he expected, you know, just one of Gene’s meetings,” catcher Butch Wynegar said.

But then Port made the official announcement, followed by a brief talk by Mauch. And then there was an awkward silence as players considered the meaning of Mauch’s decision.

“He’s put a lot of time in it,” Wynegar said. “He’s put in a lot of years. He deserves a rest. He deserves to kick back a little. I’m happy for him.”

Already there are signs of a trickle-down effect. Several players, including Wally Joyner and Mark McLemore, spoke of a change in managerial attitude, that while both Mauch and Rojas want to win, one is more impassioned about it than the other.

Joyner defined the difference between Mauch and Rojas in terms of expectations. Mauch, no matter the circumstances, despised losing. Rojas can endure it, Joyner said, as long as his team does its best and doesn’t beat itself.

The theory was put to test Saturday as the Angels rewarded Rojas with a 17-3 exhibition loss to the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners scored 13 runs in the first inning, probably prompting Rojas to reconsider his decision.

“It wasn’t too pretty was it?” he said. “My first game was actually . . . .”

Could have been worse. Could have been on a plane to Miami.

GENE MAUCH’S MANAGERIAL RECORD TOTALS BY TEAM

Team W L Pct. Philadelphia (1960-68) 647 684 .486 Montreal (1969-75) 499 627 .443 Minnesota (1976-80) 378 394 .490 Angels (81-82, 85-87) 379 332 .533

OTHER TOTALS

W L Pct. American League 757 726 .510 National League 1146 1311 .466 Major League 1903 2037 .483 Championship Series 5 7 .417