25 replies to this topic

[bankshot1]

http://espn.go.com/m...orioles-dies-82

BALTIMORE -- Earl Weaver, the fiery Hall of Fame manager who won 1,480 games with theBaltimore Orioles, has died, the team says. He was 82.

A great manager.

[Rudy Pemberton]

Weaver was traveling on an Orioles fantasy cruise in the Caribbean when he collapsed in his room with wife, Maryanne, at his side on the cruise's ship at about 2 a.m. Saturday, the New York Daily News reported.

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

While this was staged, it really does capture Weaver's essence:

[Brianish]

In memorium.

[soxfaninyankeeland]

Edit-already covered.


No discussion of the great Earl Weaver can be had without first listening to Manager's Corner.

Edited by soxfaninyankeeland, 19 January 2013 - 10:48 AM.

[dcmissle]

People on the cruise got more than they bargained for. Typical Earl.

God, he was great and for so many years I hated and feared him. Didn't need advanced stats to cut against the grain of conventional wisdom when he managed: You only get 27 outs, why waste even one of them?

Grew up rooting for those 70s RS teams that more than once carried an edge into late July and August. Earl would just smile. "We're in the dog days. Their bats will tire and our pitching will carry the day." In other words, "The RS will spit the bit." More than once, that's exactly what happened.

Easy to love once he hit retirement.

Edited by dcmissle, 19 January 2013 - 10:49 AM.

[twibnotes]

While this was staged, it really does capture Weaver's essence:

That really was Earl, right? Those were out takes(?)

[Monbo Jumbo]

People on the cruise got more than they bargained for. Typical Earl.

God, he was great and for so many years I hated and feared him. Didn't need advanced stats to cut against the grain of conventional wisdom when he managed: You only get 27 outs, why waste even one of them?

Grew up rooting for those 70s RS teams that more than once carried an edge into late July and August. Earl would just smile. "We're in the dog days. Their bats will tire and our pitching will carry the day." In other words, "The RS will spit the bit." More than once, that's exactly what happened.

Easy to love once he hit retirement.

well said.

[dcmissle]

Somebody will check "smoking related" on his death certificate. Earl with smile down and say, "Fuck you; I lived to 82, and who really wants to live much longer?"

In the end, Earl wins almost always.

[bankshot1]

That really was Earl, right? Those were out takes(?)

Its real, and its Earl, but as the story goes, was done as a joke, and was never meant to be aired.

Edited by bankshot1, 19 January 2013 - 11:22 AM.

[StupendousMan]

The video posted above is from a game on September 17, 1980. Weaver is arguing a balk call against Mike Flanagan in the top of the first inning, with one out and a man on first. It's just the THIRD batter of the game, and he's already fired up. I really admired him -- in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Orioles were my favorite team.

[Dehere]

The greatest manager ever in my opinion. Amazing that he came to many of the same conclusions about the game that would be reached years later by advanced statistical analysis, but that he did it simply by watching thousands of games. The short book Weaver On Strategy is a great read for anyone perusing this thread.

[Harry Hooper]

Ron Luciano, from the SI Vault:

It started in June 1965, in Reading, Pa. Weaver's Elmira Pioneers came into town for a four-game series. I'd heard other umpires talk about him, but I'd never had him for a game and firmly believed I could handle him. We got off to a bad start at the pregame meeting at home plate. He politely introduced himself. I was aggressively unimpressed. Then I told him who I was, and he seemed less impressed than I was, which immediately turned me off.

By this time I was getting very good at throwing people out of games. I'd only gotten 11 my entire first season, but I was well on my way to a personal record and it was only June. Two umpires usually work a game in the low minors, one calling balls and strikes and the other handling plays in the field. That first night I was out in the field and there was a close play at second base in a late inning. It was a sliding tag play and I was pretty sure I got it right, but Weaver came out of the dugout like a cannon shot. He was screaming and telling me I was a rotten umpire and I'd never last in baseball, and finally I gave him the thumb. Had I known what was to follow, I would've had George Sosniak commemorate the occasion with a painted baseball. George was a fellow Eastern League umpire who used to do that sort of thing to make a little extra money.

The second night I was behind the plate and Weaver started with the very first pitch of the game. I'd call, "High, ball one," and I'd hear this squeaky voice yelling from Elmira's dugout, "Ball's not high." He'd complain on every pitch that went against him. "Where was that one?" "He didn't swing." "You missed it again!" I'd never had anyone do that to me before, and it really started irritating me. Every pitch. "Bounced in the dirt." "Worst call yet." Finally, in the middle of the third inning, I walked over to his dugout and told him he couldn't continue yelling at me. He said he'd keep yelling at me as long as I was wrong. Then I asked him how loud he could yell.

"Why?" he asked.

" 'Cause you're gonna be doing it from the clubhouse!" It wasn't a great exit line, but, then, it was only the minors.

I didn't want to throw him out the third night. I was already in trouble with the league office for being too quick on the trigger, and I'd gotten him two nights in a row. But I couldn't help myself. Again I was in the field, and again there was a close play at second. By this time Weaver had me so intimidated I probably did miss it. He came barreling out of the dugout like an overdue express train, and I had him out of the game before he reached the pitcher's mound.

Now I was 3 for 3. I didn't want to make it a four-game sweep. Before the next game I sat by myself and tried to relax. I told myself not to pay any attention to his antics. I was determined to remain calm and keep my temper in check.


He lasted 20 seconds. When he came up to the plate to exchange starting lineups with the other manager he looked up at me—Earl is 5'7" and I'm 6'4"—and cracked, "How 'bout it, Luciano, you gonna be as bad tonight as you've been the first three games?"

I gave him the only possible answer. "Earl," I said, "you're never gonna find out." I got him 4 for 4, at least tying a record, and our relationship went downhill from there.

Thanks, Earl, for everything.

[Dummy Hoy]

"Team speed for christ sakes?!?! You get fucking goddamn little fleas on the fucking bases, getting picked off, trying to steal, getting thrown out and taking runs away from you. Get them big cocksuckers that can hit the fucking ball out of the ballpark, and then you can't make any goddamn mistakes."

[jacklamabe65]

Just loved him.

I remember a Roger Angell story about him that went something like this: "I usually would hang out on the field and then go to the press box for the game - and then venture home. But on this night, I decided to visit the Orioles clubhouse. I asked where Earl's office and then heard his high-pitched squeal coming from the manager's office. He was complaining about the umpiring - as usual. I walked in, and there he was, stark naked, smoking a Marlboro, drinking a Budweiser, and ranting about Don Denkinger. Beautiful."

Edited by jacklamabe65, 19 January 2013 - 05:45 PM.

[Nuf Ced]

I think of Earl every time someone hits a 3-run homer. RIP

[Jordu]

"I learned my biggest lesson in managing in the first day of Class D. You've got a hundred more young kids than you have a place for on your club. Every one of 'em has had a goin' away party. They been given the shaving kit and the fifty dollars."

"They kissed everbody and said, 'See you in the majors in two years.' You see these poor kids who shouldn't even be there in the first place. You write on the report card '4-4-4 and out.' That's the lowest rating in everything. Then you call 'em in and say, 'It's the consensus among us that we're going to let you go back home.' Some of 'em cry. Some get mad. But none of 'em will leave until you answer 'em one question: 'Skipper, what do you think?'"

"And you gotta look every one of those kids in the eye and kick their dreams in the ass and say, 'Kid, there's no way you can make my ballclub.' "If you say it mean enough, maybe they do themselves a favor and don't waste years learning what you can see in a day. They don't have what it takes to make the majors. Just like I never had it."

[bob burda]

The video posted above is from a game on September 17, 1980. Weaver is arguing a balk call against Mike Flanagan in the top of the first inning, with one out and a man on first. It's just the THIRD batter of the game, and he's already fired up. I really admired him -- in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Orioles were my favorite team.

I'm pretty sure the following ending to the story in that video is right, but you can't hear it. The late Flanagan I think told this story - in the video you can see Earl going to the mound talk to Flanagan on the way to the showers and the exchange supposedly went like this: Earl to Flanagan "So, did you balk?" - Flanagan to Earl "Yeah, I think I did." And Earl answers him "Well then, fuck you, too" and heads for the dugout.

I am a huge Earl Weaver fan, and am saddened to hear of his passing. The only benefit is that there will be all sorts of great Weaver stories told in various columns the next few days, keeping him with us just a little longer here at the end. Here's some good stuff from Boswell....

http://www.washingto...fecd_story.html

[Rudy Pemberton]

Why did he stop managing at such a relatively young age? It seems like he should have been a lot older than 82. I'm sure the info is out there, but I know he has a lot of fans here so curious as to why such an innovative mind was largely out of the game at 56.

[bob burda]

Why did he stop managing at such a relatively young age? It seems like he should have been a lot older than 82. I'm sure the info is out there, but I know he has a lot of fans here so curious as to why such an innovative mind was largely out of the game at 56.

Read the Boswell piece - he did not live to work, and seemed determined to retire when he had the means to live a fulfilling retired life.

Weaver's final season in '86 included one of the worst end of season finishes; that team went 14-41 the last two months, so if you think we had it bad this year....

[SumnerH]

Why did he stop managing at such a relatively young age? It seems like he should have been a lot older than 82. I'm sure the info is out there, but I know he has a lot of fans here so curious as to why such an innovative mind was largely out of the game at 56.

The second page of the Boswell article linked in the previous post says:

That strain, of being a true authority figure, is perhaps the main reason his career was so short. He retired at 52, was begged and bribed back, but retired for good at 56. Two other reporters and I sat in the dugout one evening in ’86 before a game when Weaver began ruminating on how he returned but couldn’t fix the team and knew it and should quit. Then he said he had to go see the general manager and he left.

“Did Earl just decide to retire?” we asked each other. And he had.
…
“I know exactly what I need to live on, have since ’57. I’m always going to do the same things. I grow all my own vegetables. I stuff my own sausages. Pork shoulders will be coming on sale next month. I look for chuck roast on sale to use in stew or grind up for hamburgers,” Weaver said. “Doing that takes time and I enjoy it. I’ll have plenty [of money] to play golf every day, run out to Hialeah or the dogs, take [wife] Marianna out to dinner in Fort Lauderdale, and take a walk on the beach. . . .

“I don’t want to spend my whole life watching the sun go down behind the left field bleachers.”

Weaver’s Orioles were always amazed that he retired so young, stayed in Florida and always seemed content, especially compared to the constantly wired Earl of Baltimore, whenever they saw him again. They assumed he was worried about his health or didn’t want his ritual postgame drinking, to unwind after games, to get the better of him. What they missed was his wisdom. One of his owners, the distinguished lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, talked constantly about “competition living” and how little else mattered. Weaver looked at him amused and grew tomatoes in the bullpen.

There's more in there, but I didn't want to quote too much.

[barbed wire Bob]

NM. SummerH and Bob said it better.

Edited by barbed wire Bob, 19 January 2013 - 08:21 PM.

[Rudy Pemberton]

Thanks, will definitely read that piece.

[StupendousMan]

One of the comments to Boswell's on-line article seems especially relevant, given the Patriots' game tomorrow.
JustTheFacts11 wrote:

I've always preferred baseball to football...but this quote from Earl Weaver explains why:

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."

[joyofsox]

"This ain't football. We do this every day."

[RingoOSU]

I still think at age 81 he would have been a good hire for the 2011 Sox. He wasn't one who let the game pass him by, he was ahead of it.