Category Archives: Trainer

Gus Mauch (Trainer. Born, New York, NY, Mar. 7, 1902; died, St. Petersburg, FL, Apr. 16, 1983.) Augustus Mauch, who played a key role in many a Casey Stengel-managed championship team with the Yankees and then salved the muscles of the Miracle Mets, was one of the most famous trainers in sports during his long career. Mauch actually began as a trainer for football teams. First at Manhattan College when the Riverdale school fielded varsity teams that played at Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds, then the Football Giants, and finally, the Football Yankees of the All-America Conference after World War II. He joined the Yankees baseball squad initially as an assistant trainer under Eddie (Doc) Frolich in 1943. He sought the job because Manhattan dropped football after the 1942 season for the duration of the war. (As it happened, the Jaspers never returned to varsity status). But the football teams had to wait for his services until after the baseball season ended once he succeeded Frolich as the No. 1 trainer for the Yankees in 1948. Stengel became the Yankees manager in 1949 and Mauch became one of his invaluable aides, especially during that first season when the Yankees had almost 50 major injuries. When Stengel (who was fired by the Yankees after the 1960 World Series) became the Mets manager in 1962, Mauch left the Yankees and moved to the Polo Grounds. He remained with the Mets through the 1969 season and retired after the club won the World Series. He was the head trainer for the Football Yankees from 1946 through 1949 when the team folded after the A.A.F.C. merged into the N.F.L.