Mauch, a native of Salina, Kan., began his major league career in 1944 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played for nine seasons on six teams — the Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, the Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.

A utility infielder who was a mediocre player, he had a career average of .239 with five home runs.

His first major league managing job was with the Phillies in 1960. They went 58-94, but within two years Mauch would be named NL manager of the year after leading them to an 81-80 record in 1962.

He won the award again in 1964, the year of the Phillies’ great disappointment. Mauch guided Philadelphia to a record of 92-70, his best as a manager until the 1983 Angels went 93-69.

He left Philadelphia 54 games into the 1968 season.

In 1969 he was hired to manage the expansion Montreal Expos. Mauch stayed in Montreal for seven seasons and won his third and final manager of the year award in 1973 as he helped lift the lowly Expos to a 79-83 record and a fourth-place finish in the NL East.

Mauch joined the Minnesota Twins in 1976 and spent the rest of his career in the AL. He was with the Twins until 1980, followed by two stints with the Angels, the first in 1981 and 1982 and the second from 1985-87.

One of Mauch’s greatest disappointments came at the end of his career, with the Angels’ so-called “Donnie Moore” game.

With a 3-1 lead in games over the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven AL Championship series in 1986, the Angels held a 5-2 advantage going into the ninth inning of Game 5. After Mike Witt retired the first two batters, the Red Sox got a runner on before Don Baylor homered to make it 5-4.

Mauch pulled Witt and brought in left-hander Gary Lucas to face the left-handed hitting Rich Gedman, who was 4-for-4 against Witt in the game. Lucas hit Gedman with a pitch — his first hit batter in four years — and Mauch summoned Moore, his closer.

Henderson hit a two-run homer to put the Red Sox ahead 6-5.

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The Angels tied the game again in the ninth but lost in 11 innings and then dropped the series when the Red Sox won two straight in Boston.

Moore, who said he had a sore arm when Mauch sent him out in the ninth, never recovered from the loss. He soon was out of baseball, and committed suicide in 1989.

Asked in recent years how often he thought about that 1986 game, Mauch replied: “Only when guys have the temerity to ask about it.”

Mauch was still following baseball closely when the Angels won the World Series in 2002, softening many of the team’s ugly memories.

“I get so keyed up during these games,” Mauch said during the Angels’ playoff series against the Minnesota Twins in 2002. “All I did for 50 years was study the game day and night. And I will forever, for however long ’forever’ is.”

Mauch is survived by his wife, Jodie, and a daughter, Leeanne. Funeral services were pending.

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