Ken Macha

Kenneth Edward Macha

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 217 lb.
• School University of Pittsburgh
• High School Gateway High School
• Debut September 14, 1974
• Final Game September 30, 1981
• Born September 29, 1950 in Monroeville, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Ken Macha spent parts of six seasons in the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, and Toronto Blue Jays. He was always a bench player, serving as an emergency catcher and getting some limited playing time as a back-up first baseman, third baseman and outfielder. After his major league career ended, he played with the Chunichi Dragons in Japan from 1982 to 1985.

After his playing career was over, Macha was a Montreal Expos coach from 1986 to 1989 and then for the California Angels from 1992 to 1994, working alongside manager Buck Rodgers for both teams.

Beginning in 1995, he spent four years as a manager in the Boston Red Sox farm system. He joined the Oakland Athletics as a coach in 1999 and took over as the club's manager in 2003, replacing Art Howe. He was fired after the 2006 season, despite leading the club to that year's American League Championship Series. It might also be noted that the club had achieved 93 wins despite having a Pythagorean of only 85 wins, something that might partly be attributed to Macha's managerial skill. Macha was under a three-year contract that was to expire in 2008 and would be paid $2.025 million over the next two years.

Macha in 2009.

He was then offered a job as Mariners bench coach by Bill Bavasi but turned it down - it was the first time since 1972 that he was not managing, coaching or playing baseball, going back to the time when he worked for Westinghouse between his senior year and the amateur draft (Macha's degree is in civil engineering). John McLaren was hired as Seattle bench coach instead and then replaced Mike Hargrove as the team's manager when Hargrove quit in mid-season.

Macha was hired as a rotating studio analyst about the Boston Red Sox for the New England Sports Network. In 2009, he was hired to manage the Milwaukee Brewers. He kept the team in contention during the season's first half, but after the All-Star break, the St. Louis Cardinals ran away with the NL Central title. He was then fired after the Brewers had a poor season in 2010.

Macha is the cousin of Hal Newhouser. Various sources over the years, including some usually reliable printed sources, have listed him as the brother of contemporary player Mike Macha, but these were erroneous. The issue was finally closed in 2020 when Mike Macha's father passed away, and his published obituaries did not list Ken among his children.

Sources include "Macha staying close to game" in the 7/10/07 Trib PM

Notable Achievements

• 1974 Player of the Year Eastern League Thetford Mines Miners
• Division Titles: 2 (2003 & 2006)

Preceded by Art Howe

Oakland Athletics Manager 2003-2006

Succeeded by Bob Geren

Preceded by Dale Sveum

Milwaukee Brewers Manager 2009-2010

Succeeded by Ron Roenicke

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
1995	Trenton Thunder	Eastern League	73-69	3rd (t)	Boston Red Sox	Lost in 1st round
1996	Trenton Thunder	Eastern League	86-56	1st	Boston Red Sox	Lost in 1st round
1997	Pawtucket Red Sox	International League	81-60	2nd	Boston Red Sox	Lost in 1st round
1998	Pawtucket Red Sox	International League	77-64	4th	Boston Red Sox
2003	Oakland Athletics	American League	96-66	1st	Oakland Athletics	Lost ALDS
2004	Oakland Athletics	American League	91-71	2nd	Oakland Athletics
2005	Oakland Athletics	American League	88-74	2nd	Oakland Athletics
2006	Oakland Athletics	American League	93-69	1st	Oakland Athletics	Lost ALCS
2009	Milwaukee Brewers	National League	80-82	3rd	Milwaukee Brewers
2010	Milwaukee Brewers	National League	77-85	3rd	Milwaukee Brewers

Further Reading

• Danny Gallagher: "Macha finally became manager", in Remembering the Montreal Expos, Scoop Press, Toronto, ON, 2005, pp. 105-106.

Related Sites

• BR Manager page