Gene Mauch's major flaw was not having Roy Smalley sacrifice bunt from the No. 2 spot in the order if Lyman Bostock or Rod Carew reached first base in the first inning for the high-scoring 1977 Twins, even though that was the move that drove team owner Calvin Griffith and his brothers, Jimmy and Billy Robertson, up the wall.
The Little General's No. 1 shortcoming was the manner in which he would overuse relief pitchers. Certainly, the standards for such usage were much higher during a big-league managerial career stretching from 1960 through 1987, but love as I did covering Mauch as Twins manager, it can't be disputed that he ruined a fair number of careers for pitchers, particularly relievers.
The most-grievous example was what he did with Tom Johnson in 1977. Bill Campbell had been Mauch's bullpen stopper in 1976, pitching an astounding 167⅔ innings in 78 appearances. "Soupy" was a member of the first first-agent class and was able to get a multiyear contract with the Red Sox.
That moved up Johnson to ace status in '77 and he pitched 146⅔ innings in 71 appearances. There were shoulder injections to keep on going. By late summer, Johnson might not have been able to scratch his right knee, but Mauch kept pitching him as the Twins faded in September in the American League West.
Nicest guy ever, St. Paul's Tommy Johnson, but he pitched only part of the 1978 season after that. His arm was cooked and, as has been publicized, he never reached the qualifying standards for a pension that existed then.
This was how it came to be that Mauch was arguing with Griffith in May 1978 that the Twins had a great need to sign reliever Mike Marshall. "Iron Mike" was the perfect reliever for Mauch, because the more work, the better he liked it.
Marshall, who passed away on Monday, came to prominence pitching for Mauch with the Montreal Expos from 1970 to 1973, and then became a star with the Dodgers. He pitched in a record 106 games in 1974 and became the first reliever to win a Cy Young Award.
No player was more closely associated with Marvin Miller, the wise director of the players association, than Marshall. As free agency and big salaries came, the owners' loathing for Miller had only increased.
