Mike Bauer, son of Bill and Bert Bauer, grew up in Selby Flats, California. A sensitive little boy, Mike started acting out in 1954 when his father took a job in New York. Though Bert wanted to consult a child psychologist, Mike's grandfather, Papa, scoffed and said that all that the boy needed was friendship. Despite Bert's best efforts, Mike continued to act out and when Bill returned, Mike insisted that he had no daddy. Realizing that Bert's discipline wasn't working, Bill decided to take Mike on a trip to San Francisco so they could "find your missing daddy." There in their messy hotel room, the pair bonded and from that point on they became good buddies with Bill promising never to leave again. Not long after, on New Year's Eve 1954, the Bauers celebrated the birth of another son, Billy (Ed). Though delighted to have a little brother, in 1955, a six-year-old Mike nonetheless started to feel neglected. In 1956, Bert's father died in Arizona, and her mother, Elsie Miller, came out to Los Angeles for an extended stay. Papa Bauer graciously went to live at Mike's Aunt Meta's to make room for Elsie, but Bill and young Mike soon regretted the move. Elsie was a nag and a hypochondriac, spoiling Billy rotten while treating Mike like dirt. Bill, Papa and Meta were furious with Elsie for turning Mike's world upside down, but Elsie countered by accusing them of pampering the boy. Portraitist, Marie Wallace became a port in the middle of this storm when she made a charcoal sketch of Mike, and the boy consequently latched onto the family's warm, attractive new friend. Mike also struck up a friendship with a boy named Jock Baker who was several years older than he was, even though Elsie disapproved. Later, Mike overheard an argument between Bert and Bill, in which Bill threatened to leave on account of Elsie. Frightened by the thought of losing his dad again, Mike ran away. The Bauers questioned Jock, who revealed that Mike had talked about running away if Elsie didn't let up on him. With the help of Marie's sketch of Mike, the authorities tracked the boy down in the Hollywood Hills. Bert and Bill confronted Elsie about the damage she'd done to Mike, and Elsie tearfully apologized to the boy. She then began to live her own life, marrying a pleasant man named Albert Franklin in a simple ceremony at the Bauer home. Elsie and Albert then went back to Arizona, much to the family's relief.

In 1957, Mike, now a teenager of around 13 years old, was already having bouts of hormone overdrive and was already admiring the opposite sex. He developed a major crush on Alice Holden and despite her being four years older; a flirtatious Alice didn't discourage his interest. Meanwhile, Alice's new sister-in-law, Kathy's, daughter, Robin Lang starting feeling jealous, and being closer to Mike's age, she flirted with him just to spite Alice. However, Mike's adolescent crush would soon come to an abrupt end after Alice rigged a chair to break in the Holden home. Though Alice had simply intended to get back at the spoiled Robin for blabbing to Mark about Kathy's pregnancy, her actions had the tragic consequences of causing Kathy to fall from the chair, losing her baby, and becoming paralyzed. Because of her part in Kathy's condition, Alice was sent back to her mother and stepfather in 1958.

In 1959, Mike, now a teenager, asked Robin to the senior prom. Bert was delighted about that because she believed that with a normal teenage existence, Robin would blossom into a fine young lady. However, when Robin learned that stepfather married Ruth Jannings she not only ran away but also faked her own kidnapping to make Mark feel guilty. But Robin was exposed. Later, Robin found a permanent home at long last with Meta and her husband Bruce Banning. She continued to oppose Mark and Ruth's marriage until Ruth's son, Karl Jannings, arrived in Los Angeles to attend college. Unlike Robin, he was delighted with the marriage and convinced Robin to accept it -- or so she led him to believe. Mike befriended Karl and watched him become emotionally involved with Robin. However, Robin had no true feelings for Karl and was only leading him on with the intention of hurting him -- all to get back at Ruth for marrying Mark! Mike caught on to Robin's game and told his parents. What Mike couldn't admit to himself, however, was that he was becoming intensely attracted to Robin despite his better judgment, and the feeling as mutual. Meanwhile, Robin let Karl press her into an engagement she didn't really want. By the spring of 1960, Robin finally admitted to Karl that she had never loved him and broke their engagement. Without missing a beat, Robin talked Mike into eloping! When the newlyweds returned and revealed the news to Karl on Meta's patio, Karl lunged at Mike, fell on an iron table and sustained severe head injuries. Karl died on the operating table and Mike was charged with manslaughter. Happily, he was cleared when the death was ruled an accident. Unfortunately Karl's death brought more guilt in Mike than it did in Robin. Insensitive to Mike's feelings about Karl's death, Robin started spending time with the older, worldly Alex Bowden. Bert was all too happy to see the attraction and encouraged Alex since she wanted her son's marriage annulled. To her credit, Bert did come to regret her actions, however by then it was too late, Robin was in love with Alex and asked Mike for an annulment so she could marry Alex. Incensed at Bert's interference, Mike left town to work at a construction site in Venezuela.

In 1962, Mike returned to the family fold after he learned that Bert was on the onset of uterine cancer was going to be undergoing surgery. Happily the surgery was successful and Mike, who was studying law, got a job with attorney George Hayes. It didn't take long for Mike to become smitten with his boss's secretary, Julie Conrad. Julie was won over by the handsome young Mike Bauer. In 1963, after helping George defend Paul Fletcher for supposedly killing his wife Anne, Mike felt free -- for the moment, that is. Mike pressured Julie into having casual sex, even though he knew she wanted to hold out for marriage. Mike's world now revolved around the law, working for George by day and studying by night, and Julie was merely a pleasant distraction. Julie did continue to lead Mike on, and Mike did succumb to Julie's advances. In 1963, Julie discovered that she was pregnant. Mike tried to weasel out of taking care of the baby and Julie, since it might ruin his chances at getting a law degree or starting a career as an attorney. In hopes of keeping this development a secret, Mike coldly told Julie that he would support her financially until the baby was born, but he fully expected her to give the child up for adoption. Julie might have gone along with his plan had it not been for her troublesome roommate Jane. Cynical about men in general, Jane wanted everyone to know that Mike was callous and insensitive in his treatment of her friend. Jane told Paul about Julie's pregnancy, and then blabbed to Bert that she was going to be a grandmother! Shocked, Bert told Mike in no uncertain terms that her grandchild was not to be given up for adoption! She was somewhat relieved that Bill was away on an extended trip in Switzerland, because under the circumstances, Bill might have been more sympathetic toward Mike.

Recognizing that George Hayes was now a father figure to her son, Bert secured George's alliance in pressuring Mike to do the "honorable thing" and marry Julie. They were wed by a justice of the peace, and Mike did not admit to his blushing bride that he was marrying her under duress. Meanwhile, not yet having graduated from law school, Mike served as construction supervisor for the expansion of the Fletcher clinic and thus came into more contact with Robin. By this time, Mike and Robin were nothing more than close friends, but because her marriage to Mike was shaky at best, Julie feared otherwise. They were now living with Bert, who behaved like a member of the gestapo around the newlyweds, and Papa Bauer, who tried his best to mediate Bert and Mike's constant battles. Bill was still away on business, and Mike's brother, William Edward, was away at medical school. Unaware that they already knew, Julie announced her pregnancy to Bert and Papa. Later, she was shattered to overhear Mike tell Robin that he only married her because of the baby! Julie drove away from the house unnoticed and was seriously injured in an automobile accident. When she awoke, she learned that she had given birth prematurely to a baby girl. Embittered by her sham of a marriage, Julie told Mike to take the baby and go! However, Julie finally came around and decided to give her marriage another try. In turn, she named her baby daughter Hope.

However, there was little hope of saving Mike and Julie's marriage. Julie resumed her job as secretary to George, while Mike worked slavishly to complete his law education, which George had generously financed. Mike drove himself so hard that he became seriously ill with a viral infection. Instead of being sympathetic, Julie worried that Mike's illness would postpone the degree that would ensure her the privileged life of a lawyer's spouse. Bert helped out by taking care of Hope, but she became so obsessed with the child that when Bill finally returned from his business trip, she barely paid any attention to him. Hope had become Bert's entire world. By the time 1964 rolled around, George Hayes's buddy Alex Bowden was at loose ends romantically and was surprised to find himself attracted to Julie, by now bored in her marriage. He was even more surprised by his restraint in their offbeat friendship. The two became confidants and he showered her >with expensive gifts, but Alex had grown too fond of Mike to steal another woman from him. One day, Alex asked Julie what she wanted out of life, and without hesitation she replied, "A man who understands me as you do." Alex didn't take the bait. Julie left Mike and Hope and moved into an apartment, only to discover that she was pregnant once again by Mike! Julie and Alex talked marriage for a while until Alex came to see how twisted she'd become. She tried to pass her unborn child off as Alex's, when in truth they'd never been sexually involved. Once she considered getting an abortion and a quickie divorce, Alex knew he'd had enough and threatened to tell Mike about the baby unless she told him herself. Trapped, Julie became so distraught that she had a miscarriage and tried to jump off the ledge outside her hospital room. When Alex revealed to Mike the truth about the baby,

The only good news in Mike's life at this time was his graduation from law school. Paul Fletcher would soon advise the Bauers that Julie should be put into a mental institution, which the Bauers and the Conrads did do. Soon after, Mike accepted the advice of older attorney Mitchell Dru and took a job in Bay City where Mike began working for attorney John Randolph, who was temporarily paralyzed following a car accident. Setting up house at the boarding house owned by Emily Hastings, Mike tried to settle in to his new life. Dru also worked for John Randolph and introduced Mike to Lee Carter Randolph, John's daughter. Both Emily Hastings and Bill Matthews suggested and pressed Mike to start a relationship with Lee and later ask her to marry him. After Mike lost his first case (over some stupid mistake he made) in Bay City, Emily Hasting and Bill Matthews tried to console him over the loss, but Pat Randolph (John's wife and Bill's daughter) started making disparaging remarks about Mike's loss and it was caused by his pursuing her stepdaughter Lee. (Pat was secretly falling in love with Mike herself.) Though he and Lee grew closer, an immature Lee kept postponing their marriage ceremony, which left Mike susceptible to Pat's innate charm and he started to develop romantic feelings for her, Finally, Mike, feeling guilty about having feelings for his boss's wife and fiancée's stepmother, left town in Feb. 1967 after telling Pat that they couldn't pursue relationship.

After a year in Philadephia, Mike and Hope arrived in Springfield in March 1968 a changed man. By now he had finally matured and realized that he was wrong to treat women the way he had done in the past. Both father and daughter took an immediate liking to Leslie Jackson, Ed's new wife, who became the mother figure young Hope had been yearning for. However, soon Mike discovered that Ed was far from the ideal husband. Ed was enraged when Leslie left her nurse's aide job at Cedars, accusing her of secretly planning to get pregnant against his wishes. Mike spoke up about Ed's attitude toward his wife, as well as Ed's surly indifference to their father. Ed was full of self-loathing and had fallen victim to the same disease that plagued their father -- alcoholism. Ed had become jealous of the growing friendship between Leslie and Mike and picked drunken fights with both of them. Soon, unbeknownst to Ed, Mike and Leslie's relationship had evolved and the two ended up having an affair. Soon his work and concentration slid to the point where even Steve Jackson could no longer defend him, and Ed was dismissed from Cedars. He proceeded to go on a binge, sideswiped a car driven by a Margie Wexler in April 1969 and was jailed for leaving the scene of the accident. Bill bailed him out and desperately tried to help his son, but to no avail. Certain he'd lost everything, Ed left town (and would end up in Tarrywood, but would return months later. Meanwhile, Bert was unnerved at the closeness between Mike and Leslie and accused Mike of having an affair with his brother's wife! (Which of course, she was right about) Before leaving town on a business trip, Bill warned Bert to lay off Mike for Hope's sake. Sadly, the Bauers then heard news that the plane went down. Bill Bauer was dead. Feeling guilty that thier affair may have led to Ed's problems, Mike threw himself into his work to get his mind off Leslie. Soon he was handed his first major (and personal) case, when he defended his friend Peggy Scott for the murder of her husband, Marty Dillman. Considered to be a hotshot young attorney, Mike was resented by the more experienced members of the legal community, notably the District Attorney, Ira Newton and Judge Evan Kruger. In fact, it was entirely possible that Newton and Kruger were acting in collusion to, not necessarily get Peggy convicted, but more to bring the upstanding and honest Mike Bauer down a couple of pegs. Despite their professional jealousy, Mike was able to get Peggy temporarily released from jail in order to give birth to her son at Cedars Hospital.

During the course of the trial, he suspected that Flip Malone was Marty's real killer. He wasn't alone it that suspicion, Charlotte Waring (who had just confessed to scamming Sara McIntyre by posing as her deceased niece). In order to help Mike in his case, Charlotte began dating the grease monkey in order to obtain the necessary proof. One night Flip drunkenly revealed to Charlotte that Marty had planned to double-cross him in their blackmail scheme and skip town. He showed her the airplane ticket Marty had intended to use. Guessing correctly that Flip had snuffed out Marty, Charlotte waited until Flip was asleep, then sneaked out with the ticket and turned it over to Mike. Later, when Mike was grilling Flip on the witness stand, the shrewd lawyer produced the plane ticket and introduced it as evidence. Cornered, Flip confessed to the brutal murder of Marty Dillman and was imprisoned. Impressed by Charlotte, Mike let himself succumb to her charms and impulsively married her in March 1970.

Unfortunately, the marriage suffered because Charlotte didn't like competing for Mike's attentions with his young daughter, Hope. Though her selfish attitude was lost on Mike, it wasn't lost on his mother, Bert, who frequently argued with Charlotte over her cold treatment of Hope. Though Mike finally saw the truth when Hope ran away, he decided to give the marriage another try after a pregnant Charlotte suffered a miscarried. Despite his willingness to make a go of his marriage, Mike still loved Leslie, who had divorced Ed in 1971 but then married the wealthy Stanley Norris. Then Stanley was murdered! The night of the murder, Gil Mehren, a junior executive at Stanley's company walked into Stanley's office and saw Leslie standing over Stanley's body holding a gun! Although, Leslie told Gil that she had just arrived, Gil didn't believe her and called the police and Leslie was arrested sent to jail! To Leslie's rescue, came Mike who was in total disbelief that she could have murdered Stanley, even if Stanley was as much of a cheat as people were saying. Mike suspected that Stanley's secretary, Linell was the murderer, but at first had no proof and the D.A. Ira Newton was out for blood, Leslie's that is! Two of the problems with the gun was that, 1. there were no fingerprints -- obviously whoever had committed Stanley's murder had used gloves and, 2. the gun had been bought with one of Stanley's employees, Roger Thorpe's credit cards, yet Roger Thorpe quickly turned out to have an alibi for the night in question. Roger was quickly cleared by the Springfield police department of Stanley's murder and left town in disgrace. So Leslie was put on trial and the trial was rough, with D.A. Ira Newton giving very little ground. It also didn't help that Charlotte was doing her utmost to make sure Leslie was taken to prison and out of their lives forever! In 1972, Charlotte fed information about Mike and Leslie's tortured love affair to the prosecution through Ira's secretary, Rita Putnam. Charlotte even went further and told Rita the finer details of how Mike planned to save Leslie from what was certain to be a heavy sentence for the murder of Stanley. However, despite Charlotte's efforts, Mike stumbled across four clues about who the murderer really was: 1. Through the forensic analysis of Springfield officer Camilla Crawford that the aim of the bullet would indicate that a woman had murdered Stanley (that didn't necessarily clear Leslie, but gave Mike some help.) 2. Then one of the security guards at Stanley's office building told Mike that a woman who was wearing Linell Conway's coat was let into the building sometime during the evening. 3. The gunshot owner stated that a woman fitting Linell's description had bought the gun, claiming to be Roger Thorpe's wife. 4. Finally, Mike also found out about the fight between Linell and Stanley at the office party the week before Stanley's murder.

With all this information, Mike quickly put Linell on the witness stand. While on the witness stand a shocking conclusion happened. Marion Conway, Linell's elderly, protective mother, confessed to killing Stanley (she wore Linell's overcoat the night of the murder to gain access to the building and took the gun out of her daughter's desk.) All hell broke loose and Marion collapsed and died of a heart attack. Charlotte was not happy to see Leslie exonerated of Stanley's murder. When Mike discovered that Charlotte had not only fed D.A. Newton the dirt on Mike and Leslie's past relationship but also relayed the defense's plans to the prosecution, he told Charlotte they were finished for good. Meanwhile, now out on parole, Flip Malone returned to Springfield and took Charlotte hostage. Mike characteristically saved the day, taking a bullet in the chest that was meant for Charlotte. Flip sped off and was killed in a car wreck. Joe Werner performed the surgery on Mike that saved his life, and Leslie vowed never to leave him again! Whereas most wives might have been grateful for a husband who took a bullet for them, Charlotte let loose a tornado of revenge on Mike for leaving her. She left his law books out in a rainstorm, dragged Leslie's name through the mud and hired ambulance-chasing lawyer George Kellerman to represent her in a down-and-dirty divorce. She would have left Mike penniless had Hope not spotted her in a liaison with Dick Carey, an egotistical young doctor at Cedars and Hope relayed that information to her father. Eventually the divorce was granted, but Steve Jackson was so incensed by the scandal that he suffered a heart attack and later tried to keep star-crossed lovers Mike and Leslie apart. Thanks to Bert and Ed, who interceded on Mike's behalf, Steve finally gave Mike and Leslie his blessing and they were married at last in June 1973 in a beautiful ceremony in the Bauer home.

Not long after, a woman named Madame Madeline Ballenger arrived in town, claiming to be a former patient of Steve's. It didn't take long for Ed to become concerned for his mentor, since he noticed that the presence of Madame Ballenger was making Steve preoccupied and irritable. Ed told both Leslie and Mike his concerns. Around this time, Mike also started getting visits from a woman named Audrey Mills to seek a divorce from her husband of many years, businessman Roy Mills. One of the reasons Audrey named as causing the need for a divorce from Roy was the returned to town, Madeline Ballenger! Soon, Madeline herself started insinuating herself into the lives of Leslie and Mike. Curious as to why Stephen disliked the woman, Leslie did some investigating and discovered that Victoria was her mother, she mother she thought had died in her infancy! Meanwhile, Steve tried to bribe Victoria to leave town, but changed his mind when Leslie warned that she would have nothing more to do with him if he interfered in her life again. The pressure from Madeline, Ed, Leslie and Mike finally forced Steve to tell all, that Madeline Ballenger was indeed Victoria Jackson who hadn't died at all! Despite their shock, Mike and Leslie welcomed Victoria into their home. Victoria even helped take care of her infant grandson, Frederick "Freddie" Bauer. After a couple of weeks and the continued pressure from Audrey Mills, Mike decided that something didn't sit right with him where Victoria was concerned and Mike behind Leslie's back started to investigate Victoria. In 1974, Mike soon discovered that Victoria was extorting and accepting money from Steve supposedly to operate a shop she had in London. But in reality Victoria was taking the money from Steve to help her dilettante lover, the once brilliant Dr. Barry Flannery, who was now languishing in a sanitarium! At first, Leslie was livid that Mike went behind her back to investigate her mother (Leslie even claimed for a short time that Mike was no better than her father), but finally Mike convinced Leslie that her mother was a fake. Leslie eventually confronted Victoria, only to blurt out, and in front of Mike, Steve, Ed , and Roy and Audrey Mills, that Steve Jackson was not her biological father -- but Roy Mills was! Shocked, Leslie confronted Steve, who tearfully confessed to Leslie that he'd always known the truth and yet he loved her as much as if they were connected by blood. Father and daughter became closer than ever.

At the same time, unbeknownst to either Mike or Leslie, Hope, now enrolled in Springfield University, was dating folk singer, Chad Richards. Leslie would be horrified to learn, when she saw Hope and Chad together eating lunch, at "The Metro", that Chad was her former lover! Upon learning that his daughter was dating an older man, Mike was livid but, not wanting to interfere (as Bert had done in his youthful romances), Mike decided to keep an open mind and decided that despite the age difference, Chad was worthy of Hope. Unfortunately, Mike would not continue to have this view. One day shortly after New Year's 1976, Chad came after Leslie intending to beat her and Mike got angered and fought him off! Soon after the cause of Chad's violence was determined--he suffered from a brain tumor. Though the tumor was operateable, at the time, it couldn't be done at Cedars and so Chad was forced to go to Los Angeles. After the problems that Mike, Hope and Leslie had with Chad Richards, Hope had felt very gun shy about entering another relationship, but Mike encouraged her to continue to seek love, again. Of course when Mike found out it was with suspected criminal and a man who had actually served time in prison, Ben McFarren and then also found out that Hope had posed nude in one of his art classes, Mike was livid and he wanted Hope to break up with Ben. Bert tried to counsel Mike, to butt out, like she didn't learn when Mike was younger, but of course Mike wouldn't listen to his mother on this. Meanwhile, Leslie was feeling less than satisfied with her life, at this point, and decided she wanted to go back to college. When she approached Mike with her feelings, Mike surprised and startled her with a deridingly condescending and chauvinistic attitude and said he couldn't understand why going back to college would make Leslie happy. For a while, Mike kept this attitude up, until of all people, Ed, pleaded Leslie's case in no uncertain terms that Leslie should go back to college and Mike gave in.

At the same time, Mike represented Ann Jeffers (who he'd hire as his secretary) in her divorce against her abusive husband, Spence, and helped her locate her son, Jimmie, whom Spence had kidnapped. Leslie wasn't fond of Mike's investigation because she rightly sensed Ann's feelings for him but Mike assured her that he only loved her. Finally, Spence arrived in Springfield; he threatened Ann and still claimed that Jimmy was dead. The following day, he visited Mike and wanted Mike to drop the bigamy charges. And after Ann arrived, Mike and Spence got into a fight. Spence punched Mike, Mike punched him back and after Spence punched him again, Mike fell onto a table and got unconscious. A panicked Spence ran away but hit an arriving home Leslie with his car and fled the scene. Ann called for help and Mike and Leslie were rushed to Cedars. However, while Mike recovered, Joe Werner had to operate a badly injured Leslie. After the operation, Leslie called Mike to her and asked him to tell Freddy that he would grow up to a fine man like Mike and Ed were. Leslie also confessed that Mike was a wonderful husband and died.

a distraught Mike wanted to find Spence and after a detective visited him, Mike was shocked to learn that Spence had killed a man during a fight in a bar in Juneau, Alaska and had skipped bail. Then Mike learned that Spence and Ann had enjoyed their trips to Bald Mountain. This was near Hagens Lane and since it was the place where Spence's car had been found, Mike realized that Spence had kidnapped Ann to Bald Mountain and rushed there. Meanwhile, Spence was tired of hiding and after Mike arrived, he honestly felt sorry for all his crimes. He stated that the death of the man had been an accident and said that he hadn't seen Leslie during his escape. Mike told him that he could get a lesser sentence and Spence finally gave up and told Ann about Jimmy's whereabouts in Juneau, where he lived with the family of David Rustin. Ann located Jimmy and let him stay with his family, while Spence went to prison. Meanwhile, Ben approached Ann Jeffers about Mike investigating the robbery of the deli and Ben seemed genuine about him being innocent in the crime. Ben also asked Mike to keep his investigation a secret from Hope. (Mike who had taken Leslie's death hard and also helping Ann escape from Spence, thought that it was time to bury any ill feelings he had towards Ben and found out in the course of his investigation of the robbery of the deli, that Ben's fingerprints did not match the fingerprints of the actual robber and worked to get Ben exonerated of the robbery and his record expunged, Mike's opinion of Ben changed, for the better, when Ben told Mike, in private that he had covered for his younger brother, Jerry. Ben asked Mike not to try to go after his brother, Jerry, since Ben still served time for the deli robbery and Mike agreed. But then Jerry caught got up with owning the men who had floated him the loan for his gambling debts and also for keeping Roger Thorpe's "The Metro" afloat. And when Roger ended up being beaten up, Peggy asked Mike to investigate and Mike found out that Jerry had been responsible for all of this. Ben paid off Jerry's debt. Mike figured out what Ben had done yet again, of bailing out Jerry, and when Hope found out that a lot of the money that Ben and Hope had set aside to start a new life in the future was missing, Hope went to Mike and was very mad about this and Mike urged her daughter to calm down and not break things off with Ben, but Hope refused to listen to her father, and went ahead and confronted Ben. When Ben wasn't forthcoming about the missing money, that's when Hope broke things off with him.

In 1977, Mike defended Ed's girlfriend, Rita, when she was accused of murdering Cyrus Granger in Texas. When in Texas to investigate Cyrus's death, Mike discovered a startling fact, while Cyrus was being smothered with a pillow (it would later be revealed in May 1978, that Cyruss' actual murder was none other than the insane, Georgene Granger, his daughter-in-law) Rita was in the stables visiting a stable hand. When one of the other stablehands showed a picture of the stable hand Rita was with, Mike was livid that the man was Roger Thorpe! Then the stablehand revealed something else, Roger had bragged that Roger had a one-night stand with Rita in the stables the night Cyrus was murdered. Mike returned to Springfield and tried to get Rita to admit what had happened, but Rita refused. Then Mike confronted Roger at his and Peggy's house. Mike finally got Roger to testify for Rita, without Rita's knowledge. Luckily Roger's confession helped to exonerate Rita. Later that year, the Chamber of Commerce named Mike Man of the Year. Unbeknownst to Mike, a man named Bill Morey was in the shadows watching the event. Weeks later, after receiving a hint from his future sister-in-law, Rita Stapleton, Mike went to a party thrown by nurses Hillary Kincaid and Katie Parker and saw a photograph of Hillary's stepfather, Bill Morey. But Mike knew him by another name- Bill Bauer, who supposedly died 10 years earlier! Telling no one, Mike flew to Vancouver to confront his father and demanded that he come to Springfield and tell everyone the truth. Unfortunately this was the holiday season and Mike decided to wait a few weeks before letting the family know, especially since Bert's mother, Elsie, had just died, and also because he was afraid that Ed would turn to alcohol again. Unfortunately for Mike, journalist Max Chapman found out and was ready to publish the story! Though Mike pleaded with him not to leak the story, his pleading fell on deaf ears, because Max went ahead and published the pictures anyway, and while he was in Cedars recuperating from his heart attack! As Mike predicted, Ed returned to the bottle, but as Mike didn't predict, Bert got angry at Mike for not telling her that Bill was still alive. Upon arriving in town, Bill was immediately charged with insurance fraud. He promised to repay the money by selling the house he owned with his live-in lover, Simone Kincaid, and confessed to the murder of Victor Kincaid. Seeing that the father he'd always adored was trying to redeem himself, Mike defended him on the charges in 1978, which were dropped when the death was ruled accidental. But instead of staying with his family, Bill then returned to Chicago to be with Simone who would leave him later.

About this time, Mike found love again with the beautiful Elizabeth Spaulding while helping with her divorce from the wealthy Alan Spaulding. Despite Mike's efforts Elizabeth lost custody of Phillip, thanks some illegal testimony by Ramon de Vilar arranged by Alan. When Mike wanted to marry Elizabeth, Alan told her a dark secret--she wasn't able to bear children; he'd switched Phillip at birth with their stillborn child! Shocked, when Elizabeth learned that Mike already knew this, she left him. Meanwhile, Mike was shocked to discover that his good friend, Cedars' psychiatrist Sara McIntyre had married Alan's unscrupulous lawyer, Dean Blackford. Then soon after the glow of the honeymoon, Sara started hearing hints from Dean that he may have been married before and then when she asked Mike to dinner (much to Dean's chagrin), Mike told Sara that he heard Dean's stories about his life prior to moving to Springfield, Mike suspected that he may still have been married, making Dean a bigamist. So, Mike started investigating, without Dean's knowledge but with Sara's consent. Then Sara told Mike that she caught a peek at some legal papers but when she asked Dean about them, he gave her a quick answer and locked the papers away in a safety deposit box. When Sara asked Mike what the affidavits might have been, Mike didn't say much, but did tell Sara that he suspected that by this time Dean was becoming very dangerous and that Sara might want to move out of the penthouse apartment home.

Unfortunately, Sara, not learning from past mistakes, decided she didn't want to necessarily leave Dean and yet again be in a failed marriage. But one evening in January 1979, Dean told her that he had plans to take her to a secluded hotel outside of Springfield for a second honeymoon. Before leaving though, Sara did have the presence of mind to call Mike and let him know that she and Dean had plans for the second honeymoon. But, then Sara found the key to the safety deposit box. Dean, not realizing this, not only took Sara on the second honeymoon, but also took the safety deposit box. During the first couple of evenings of their second honeymoon, Sara was very curious to use the key she found to open the safety deposit box. One evening, during their second honeymoon, Sara decided to do just that. When Dean, who was a light sleeper, awoke and found Sara trying to open the safety deposit box he got his gun and then gagged Sara and took her to a nearby cliff, ready to push her off! Luckily then Mike showed up and Dean let go of his grip on Sara and started to point the gun at Mike and threatened to kill him with the gun! Mike and Sara tried to reason with Dean, but to no avail, until, Dean reaching very near the edge of the cliff ended up going over the edge to his death! With Blackford discredited, Mike was able to help Elizabeth gain custody of Phillip and she and Mike reunited. Though Mike still wanted to marry Elizabeth, she let Phillip's disapproval sway her judgment and instead married Justin Marler, the doctor who saved Phillip's life.

In March 1979, Mike found himself representing his former sister-in-law, Holly Norris, in a controversial case involving marital rape. Holly brought charges against her husband, Roger Thorpe, for raping her! Though Mike did his best to help prosecute the case, he had a ruthless adversary in the form of Roger's attorney, Ross Marler. While Roger maintained that he had simply had "rough sex", Ross's intense questioning flustered Holly who acted evasive and whose attention wandered when she was asked about the rape. The case looked bleak until a stunning revelation that would ultimately lead to tragedy: Rita had been raped by Roger before her wedding to Ed! Though this information probably would have helped the prosecution's case, it backfired when an angry Ed confronted Roger and Holly seeing the men fight, shot and apparently killed Roger! In the aftermath, Holly was sent to jail for Roger's murder. However, since Roger's body suddenly disappeared, Mike started questioning whether or not he was dead. Things finally came to a head during Cedars' annual winter carnival. Hearing a scream outside the Hall of Mirrors, that day in February 1980, Mike dismissed it as his imagination when neither Alan nor Diane (whom Mike was speaking with) heard anything. Meanwhile, Mike got a message from Ann telling him that Inspector Albert Montand in France had persuaded Renee DuBois to come to the States to help with Mike's investigation of Roger's whereabouts and called him and left a message that Roger had never returned to Paris. This information got Mike's wheels turning some more that something was wrong with Rita (who had been missing for days).

When Renee came to town to help Mike find Roger, there was an immediate attraction between her and Mike, but a long term relationship was not to be. When he went over to Barbara's house and told Ed of his suspicions, Barbara mentioned seeing Rita leave the carnival with a clown. However unbeknownst to everyone both Barbara and Ed's homes were bugged and after listening in, Roger learned that Renee had turned against him. The next day, Rita would persuade Roger to let her go to the payphone and call Ed. Rita had the presence of mind to let her colorful scarf fall on a bush near the telephone booth. Ed though would get caught up in helping his godson, Kelly Nelson, settle in the Reardon Boarding House. Ed though did hear the call a little later and when he was driving away from the Boarding House he would find Rita's scarf. Meanwhile, Roger returned to town and confronted Renee in her hotel room. During the altercation, Renee bolted in fear yelling out Roger's name and fell down a stairwell to her death, in Mike's arms. Now knowing that Roger was definately back in town, the Bauers spirited Holly and Chrissy away to Santo Domingo with Peter Chapman. In the midst of this intrigue, Mike had to deal with the marriage of his daughter to Alan Spaulding. Though he vehemently was opposed to the match, thus finding himself uninvited to their wedding, Bert persuaded him to support his daughter and Mike agreed to walk Hope down the aisle. Later that week though Rita who was now tied up on the bed at the cabin up near Indian Lake that Roger had dragged her too, went into premature labor. Fortunately, Roger loosened the bounds on Rita's wrists and hands and helped calm her down and prevented Rita from continuing in the labor. Meanwhile, Ed, Mike and Lt. Wyatt with the help of Rita's scarf and some witnesses up at Indian Lake located the cabin. Then they went to go and rescue Rita. Unfortunately, well Ed and Mike (against Lt. Wyatt's wishes) were approaching the cabin, Roger got nervous (because Rita started to scream) and bolted through the back door and in the process knocked over a lit kerosene lamp that started to set the cabin ablaze with Rita still tied to the bed. Ed reached Rita in time and both he and Mike got her out of the cabin, but unfortunately Rita had suffered from smoke inhalation and had to be transported to Cedars hospital. Afterwards, Roger finally discovered, through a bug at Ed's house, Holly and Chrissy's whereabouts and traveled to Santo Domingo to get his daughter. The attempt failed however and Roger ended up chasing Holly through the jungle of the Island of Lost Souls. Though he did catch up with her, so did Ed and Mike. Ed was shot in the arm by Roger. While Roger struggled with Mike, Ed shot Roger and after a vicious struggle, Roger slipped over a cliff and although he tried to save his nemesis, Ed couldn't and Roger fell to his presumed death. Roger Thorpe, the scourge of Springfield, was finally out of everyone's life.

In April, Mike's car collided with the car of the Richards'. Walter Richards immediately died but Jennifer and her daughter, Morgan, were unhurt. Guilty, Mike befriended the family. Meanwhile, despite her being married, Elizabeth and Mike couldn't control their feelings and had an affair. Feeling guilty, Elizabeth confessed the truth to Justin, who realizing that she never loved him and amicably divorced her. Now Elizabeth was ready to marry Mike but then stumbled upon a tape of Justin telling Mike that he knew about Jackie knowing that Phillip wasn't Elizabeth's son! Shocked and feeling deceived, Elizabeth was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and so she left Phillip in the care of the Marlers and left Springfield to reside in Switzerland. Alone again, Mike eventually began dating Jennifer. At the end of the year, Jennifer was put on trial for the murder of Lucille Wexler, Amanda Wexler's mother! When Jennifer, despite the advice of her attorney, Mike, pled guilty of both the murder and the attempted theft of property, Mike, as well as Ross (who was now District Attorney) had their doubts. Another matter that left Mike, Ross, as well as many residents in Springfield very confused was that whenever Jennifer was in a place where Alan Spaulding was about to appear, Jennifer would run and hide, as well as the reason why both Alan and Lucille investigated a woman named Jane Marie Stafford, an old lover of Alan's. They were doubly confused whenever any of them would try to bring Alan or Chet Stafford (Jane Marie's brother) to either court or her temporary jail cell, Jennifer would beg them not to. Mike decided otherwise and instructed his assistant to bring both Alan and Chet Stafford into the courtroom on the day that Jennifer was to testify in her own behalf. In court, in 1981, Jennifer then saw Alan and Chet Stafford in the courtroom and knew that she had been found out by both as Jane Marie! Jennifer than admitted that she was Amanda's biological mother from a teenaged affair with Alan Spaulding, and on that fateful day in October 1980, Lucille found out the truth and tried to kill Jennifer. Jennifer was subsequently acquitted of Lucille's murder. Though Jennifer was now a free woman, her revelation meant the end of her relationship with Mike. In the meantime, as Mike was at Alan's villa looking for Moreno, he saw Rita's luggage but didn't realize who it belonged to. Soon after that, he figured it out and put the pieces together.—the woman Alan was having an affair with was Rita! Mike decided not to tell Ed, but kept after Alan to break it off. Later when Ed finally realized that Rita was having an affair with Alan, he confronted Mike with his suspicions and Mike confirmed them.

Later, Diane Ballard was murdered and Mike suspected that Alan was responsible. Later, Joe Bradley was murdered and an unfinished note was found in his apartment. This note stated that Joe had demanded 10 million dollars from Alan because he knew about Alan's cooperation with Dr. Gonzalo Moreno. So Alan was the prime suspect and he escaped to Tenerife with his family but Mike caught on. Unfortunately, Mike was injured in the process when an one-eyed man, who tried to kill Alan, beat Mike up. Although Alan got on his plane to escape, he changed his mind and let his pilot, Wayne Jennings, return to save Mike's life. But at this moment, Wayne was shot by the one-eyed man and Alan was forced to fly himself the plane to return home. When recovered, Mike helped prove Alan's innocence since Carrie Todd was the real murderer. To Mike's delight, in the process it was revealed that Alan had conspired with Dr. Moreno to fake Roger's death and, in 1982, Alan temporarily had to spend time in prison. So Mike proved that Alan couldn't be trusted. Not long after, Mike became fascinated by a Spaulding employee named Brenda Lowery. Although Brenda agreed to go out with Mike, she refused to allow the relationship to develop further. Brenda's reluctance to get closer to Mike would become apparent when it was learned that she wasn't who she said she was--she was actually an FBI agent named Ivy Pierce, who was trying to find out from Mike how much he knew about a mysterious one-eyed man who was attempting to assassinate Alan. When Alan was briefly released from prison to advise the governor on state financial matters, Alan's mysterious one-eyed tormentor managed to abduct him to a cabin despite the heavy security Mike had arranged. Once there, the assassin revealed his identity to his would-be victim: He was Lucien Goff, a disgruntled ex-employee whom Alan had fired for illegally profiting from the company's foreign trade.

To Alan's horror, his pilot Wayne entered the cabin and admitted that he and Goff were in cahoots. This is when Brenda finally admitted to Mike her true identity as Ivy Pierce. Very surprised, he worked with Ivy and managed to trace Alan to the cabin in Clarksville. Wayne and Alan were hiding in a tramway office as Mike and Ivy walked by. Goff was about to shoot Mike when Alan yelled to Mike to look out. Goff shot at Alan but hit Wayne in the shoulder. Goff ran out and onto a cable car. Mike jumped on it as it took off. He climbed onto the roof and dropped down through the escape hatch. The two men struggled. Hope and the police arrived as a body falls from the cable car. It was Goff and he fell to his death. Alan and Hope were reunited and Alan was soon pardoned by the governor. A week later, the prison warden called Alan to tell him that Wayne had committed suicide, but an autopsy showed that Wayne was poisoned. Though this part of the investigation was over, Ivy was still investigating another conspirator in the assassination attempt, Samuel Pasquin. Recognizing that there could be a conflict of interest, Mike and Ivy ended their relationship. When Ivy's investigation into Samuel Pasquin a.k.a Mark Evans, ended, Ivy went to dinner with Mike one last time before leaving for Washington, DC.

In late 1983, Mike was shocked to learn that his father Bill apparently committed suicide by falling off a window while drunk. But Mike and Bert knew that Bill had stopped drinking years ago, so they suspected that he was murdered. Mike investigated and suspected Tony Reardon's girlfriend, Annabelle Sims, of knowing more than she would tell him since she had seen Bill shortly before his death. Finally, the murderer turned out as Annabelle's father, Eli Sims, who also killed his wife, Annie (as well as Tom Reardon) about twenty years ago. Ironically, Bill, Henry Chamberlain, Tom Reardon, H.B. Lewis and Brandon Spaulding who were friends on a business/fishing trip at this time, had thought that they were responsible for her death since she was swimming with them at Lake Elizabeth while drunk and when she mysteriously left, they thought she drowned. After the ordeal, Mike helped clear H.B. Lewis of the murder of Eli Sims. In 1984, Mike starting dating the newly divorced Lillian Rains but she was still gun shy after her divorce. Mike spent the next few months supporting his family and friends and was happy when Hope finally left Alan. Then Mike to his surprise, Mike found himself quite taken with Alan's sister, Alexandra, who was so unlike any of the women he'd known before. Though Alex felt the same way, the relationship ended a mere five months later when Mike learned that Alex secretly taped Alan's confession about developing biological weapons using the Dreaming Death virus. Seeing her actions as contemptible, Mike told her that they were over. In October 1984, Mike he left town when he was offered a job with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, DC.

In March 1986, Bert died in Washington D.C. where she had lived with Meta, and it was learned that Mike attended her funeral there with Ed. A few days later, family and friends in Springfield organized a memorial service for Bert but Mike wasn't able to attend it. He called Ed and apologized for not coming by stating that he was working on a very important case with the FBI.

In January 1997, Mike returned to Springfield for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Cedars Hospital. Entering with his grandson, Alan-Michael, he revealed that he received a very mysterious letter in the mail asking him to stand in for Ed at the party, which he learned was from his Aunt Meta. He was then introduced to the hospital's Chief of Staff, Charles Grant, who stated that although the Spauldings may support the hospital financially, the Bauers are the ones who have made it a great hospital.