OT Earl Weaver

[victoryfactory]

I love guys like Earl
Irritable, uncooperative, humorous, talented
RIP


(clipped)

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 goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all.

Earl Weaver
Baltimore Orioles
Manager

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

Earl Weaver
Baltimore Orioles
Manager

You know Earl. He's not happy unless he's not happy.

On Earl Weaver and his complaining to umpires
Elrod Jerome Hendricks
Baltimore Orioles
Catcher

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.'

Earl Weaver
Baltimore Orioles
Manager

We hit the ball right where they could show off their defensive ability.

After the Orioles lost the 1969 World Series to the Mets
Earl Weaver
Baltimore Orioles
Manager

[Ray]

Yeah, Earl was a serious piece of work. Not many like him left today, but then I guess there were never many like him - that was what was great about him. A cranky little guy who was both obnoxious and funny as hell. And a damn good manager.

RIP Earl...

-Ray

[rugbysecondrow]

I love that first quote! Baseball is a great sport for many reasons, but that says so much.

[akelman]

Weaver was a true visionary. He anticipated many (most?) of the insights of so-called Moneyball, but he didn't have computers. For example, this is probably the smartest thing any baseball manager has ever said (a low bar, but still): "There are only three outs per inning. Give one away and you are making everything harder for yourself." And he was funny: "Economics played a role. Raleighs have gone from six fifty to nine dollars a carton, but there's a three-quarter cent coupon on the back. You can get all kinds of things with them, blenders, everything. I saved up enough one time and got Al Bumbry."

[rounder]

The Baltimore Sun has gotten really horrible over the past few years. But, today's edition had lots of stories about Earl Weaver.

There has been a long running drama about the friction between Earl Weaver and Jim Palmer. There was a reference about it in today's paper about a discussion between Earl and Mike Flanigan during Sprng training. They were both talking and Earl told Flanigan after watching Palmer pitch 5 innings and then run sprints in the outfield. Earl said, do what Palmer does and you will be fine.

Palmr heard about that and brought it up later. Earl (non plussed) said, I told that to everybody.

Earl Weaver. RIP.

[victoryfactory]

From the Baseball almanac:


"A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December."

"A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don't know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me."

"Bad ballplayers make good managers, not the other way around. All I can do is help them be as good as they are."

"Coaches are an integral part of any manager's team, especially if they are good pinochle players." Source: Winning! (Earl Weaver, 1972)

"Don't worry, the fans don't start booing until July."

"Economics played a role. Raleighs have gone from six fifty to nine dollars a carton, but there's a three-quarter cent coupon on the back. You can get all kinds of things with them, blenders, everything. I saved up enough one time and got Al Bumbry." Source: The Sporting News (July 22, 1985)

"Every time I fail to smoke a cigarette between innings, the opposition will score."

"I don't think, in all the years I managed them, I ever spoke more than thirty words to Frank (Robinson) and Brooks Robinson."

"If you know how to cheat, start now."

"I never got many questions about my managing. I tried to get twenty-five guys who didn't ask questions." Source: Baseball... A Laughing Matter (Warner Fusselle)

"I think the National League has better biorhythms in July."

"I think there should be bad blood between all clubs." Source: Sports Illustrated (July 21, 1982)

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

"Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same - pitching." Source: Los Angeles Times (June 16, 1978)

"No one's gonna give a damn in July if you lost a game in March."

"On my tombstone just write, 'The sorest loser that ever lived.'" Source: Washington Post (October 6, 1986)

"The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game."

"The key step for an infielder is the first one, to the left or right, but before the ball is hit."

"The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers."

"The only thing that matters is what happens on the little hump out in the middle of the field." Source: Late Innings (Roger Angell)

"There was nothing to keep him (Cal Ripken, Jr.) from being a star in the Major Leagues. That was inevitable." Source: MLB.com (07/25/2007)

"This ain't a football game, we do this every day." Source: George Will (Syndicated Column, March 28, 1982)

"We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow."

"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."

"You got a hundred more young kids than you have a place for on your club. Every one of them has had a going away party. They have been given the shaving kit and the fifty dollars. They kissed everybody and said, 'See you in the majors in two years.' You see these poor kids who shouldn't 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 them cry, some get mad, but none of them will leave until you answer them 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 no. 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."

What a fantastic character!