Gene Mauch: a strategist * an innovator * a great manager: former skipper deserves more than being remembered for heart-breaking defeats and near-misses during his 26-year career.

GENE MAUCH WILL FOREVER BE linked to three of the most torturous collapses in major league baseball history.

And that's unfortunate, because Mauch, who, at 79, died on August 8 after a long battle with cancer, should be remembered for more than just the Philadelphia Phillies' infamous fold at the end of '64, or the California Angels' playoff nosedives in 1982 and 1986.

Much more.

Known as The Little General because of his shrewd strategy and his intense style, Mauch was an innovator and someone who displayed perhaps more passion than any manager in history.

"He was so far ahead of everyone and knew the rules better than anyone --and used that to his advantage," said Dallas Green, who pitched for Mauch with the Phillies and is now Philadelphia's senior advisor to the general manager.

At 34, Mauch was the youngest manager in the majors when he replaced the Phillies' Eddie Sawyer one game into the 1960 season. Sawyer had resigned from the sad-sack Phils because, "I'm 49 years old and I want to live to be 50."

Mauch endured some difficult times--a major league-record 23-game losing streak and 107 losses in 1961, for instance--but he gradually transformed Philadelphia from a laughing stock to a pennant contender.