As a seldom-used baseball player, Ken Macha hit one home run in six big-league seasons. It was as a manager that he made his mark.
Yet, he was fired from both clubs that he led, despite a combined winning percentage of .540.
“I think I've found my calling. I'm turning into a good landscaper,” Macha said. “Yesterday, I put down Preen (mulch) at my house.”
Macha, the Monroeville native and former Pirates third baseman who lives in Latrobe, batted .258 in just 180 games during a playing career that also included stops in Montreal and Toronto.
“I was never really what you call an all-star,” Macha said in a wry tone, though he did manage to win an Eastern League batting championship in 1974, two years after being drafted by the Pirates out of Pitt. He also played professionally in Japan from 1982-85.
It was a brief but colorful period when Macha, 61, served as manager of the Oakland Athletics (2003-06) and Milwaukee Brewers (2009-10). He recently reiterated again that he'd welcome another opportunity, but he'd prefer it to be on the field.
“I'm a coach. It doesn't matter in what capacity. It could be in the minor leagues. I just miss the game,” he said on a day he had made a guest appearance at Westmoreland County Community College's annual youth camp. “I'm finding myself watching more TV than before. I've been watching a lot of Pirates games. That team is an interesting bunch this year.”
The much-maligned Macha, who also served as a major league coach with the Montreal Expos (1986-91), California Angels (1992-94) and A's (1999-2002), has been out of pro baseball since being fired by Milwaukee following the 2010 season. He suffered a similar fate with the A's in 2006, though he led Oakland to two American League Western Division titles in four seasons.
Oakland won more than 90 games in three of the four seasons Macha managed the low-budget A's. “Moneyball,” a book and movie, was the subject of the team's unique approach for success and included the time when Macha served as a manager.
He said in a recent interview with an Oakland, Calif., radio station that he had neither read the book nor watched the movie.
Last week, Macha said: “That's in the past. I'm about the present and the future. I've enjoyed my baseball career. I don't care what you do for a living, if you enjoy the job you're doing and have a passion for doing it, you don't really look at it as making a living.”
Major League Baseball still might be able to use a guy with a career record of 525-447.
“He's a guy who always looks on the positive side of things,” said WCCC coach Mike Draghi, who has gotten some timely assistance with his program from Macha during the past two seasons. This year, WCCC advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series for just the second time.
At least seven players from that squad are headed to four-year schools, and Macha rejoiced in having been able to be around the team.
“It's nice to see those kids move on,” he said. “They're going to get to continue to play for a couple more years.”
Draghi said Macha taught him to keep things simple, and it made an impression on the veteran college coach.
“That's how he looks at it,” Draghi said. “Don't get too complicated with 20 bunt defenses. Keep the base-running and the rundown plays simple. He has a very good way of simplifying what you're trying to accomplish as a coach. He has helped me greatly in that way. He's a very good teacher of the game. He's very good at assessing talent. He's a very intelligent man, a baseball guy.”
Dave Mackall is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at dmackall@tribweb.com or 412-380-5617.
