Earl Weaver, former Balitimore Oriole manager, R.I.P
January 19, 2013 12:01 PM   Subscribe

 
“It broke my heart, but right then I started becoming a good baseball person,” he told Time magazine in 1979. “When I came to recognize and more important accept my own deficiencies, then I could recognize other players’ inabilities and learn to accept them, not for what they can’t do, but for what they can do.”
posted by goalyeehah at 12:03 PM on January 19, 2013


I was raised in Maryland, but I was never much of an Orioles' fan; however, I always liked and respected Earl Weaver and Cal Ripken, Jr.

R.I.P, Earl.
posted by terrapin at 12:06 PM on January 19, 2013


. f-in .
posted by learnsome at 12:14 PM on January 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


Weaver headed to the dugout screaming, "I'm going to check the rule-book on that" to which the umpire replied, "Here, use mine." Weaver shot back, "That's no good - I can't read Braille.

Weaver was what the hat-on-backward, dirt-kicking, in the ump's face stereotype is based on. He was the real fucking deal.
posted by 445supermag at 12:28 PM on January 19, 2013 [14 favorites]


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posted by Cash4Lead at 12:41 PM on January 19, 2013


My first (and, really, only) exposure to him was via EA's early Amiga game, Earl Weaver Baseball. Whenever I hear his name, I immediately think of the robotic Amiga voice announcing batters. (the emulator has some glitches on the pitcher and batter graphics; the original had no such problem. The animation was quite good.)

I put a heck of a lot of time into that game, way back when. My exposure was indirect, but he had a very small, direct influence on my life. It was obvious that the EA team thought very highly of the man; once upon a time, they were run by really cool people, not the soulless, greedy marketroids of 2013.

Thanks, Mr. Weaver. I'll have to fire up an inning or two in your honor.

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posted by Malor at 12:43 PM on January 19, 2013 [3 favorites]


Malor, I had the exact same experience. I have warm childhood memories of the synthetic voice announcing, "Now batting, Tris Speaker."
posted by steinsaltz at 12:49 PM on January 19, 2013




Somewhere, Alice Sweet's tomato plants just wilted.
posted by delfin at 1:16 PM on January 19, 2013 [5 favorites]


steinsaltz, the name I remember most is "Harmon Killebrew". The way the synthesizer pronounced it always made me smile.

Oh, and wasn't Tris Speaker weirdly emphasized on "speak"?
posted by Malor at 1:22 PM on January 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


Normally, I'd leave the customary period, but in Earl's case, that bit of punctuation doesn't seem to suffice. Maybe a exclamation mark. But it'd have to be surrounded by %@#&

RIP Earl. Even after death, I would have preferred you as manager to a live Bobby Valentine.
posted by .kobayashi. at 1:33 PM on January 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


Somewhere, Alice Sweet's tomato plants just wilted

Manager's Corner
posted by Arch_Stanton at 1:52 PM on January 19, 2013 [5 favorites]


Somewhere, Alice Sweet's tomato plants just wilted

Manager's Corner


Oh my goodness: Expletive Earl.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:10 PM on January 19, 2013


A pie chart of the reasons Earl Weaver was ejected from MLB games.

I love how the third most common single reason is arguing a balk call, and also how he got ejected twice during the lineup exchange.
posted by Copronymus at 2:13 PM on January 19, 2013 [5 favorites]


Copronymus: "I love how the third most common single reason is arguing a balk call, and also how he got ejected twice during the lineup exchange."

Both times he was ejected during the lineup exchange was before the 2nd game of a doubleheader that he was ejected in the first game already. He just wanted to continue the discussion.

"This ain't no football game, we do this everyday." Earl Weaver

Earl was ahead of his time. He started using stats and matching hitters v pitchers way before the technology made it easy to do. Way before other teams did it.

Even this Yankee fan will miss Earl.

RIP

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posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:35 PM on January 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


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Ooh, read Ron Luciano's "The Umpire Strikes Back" to get some good info about Earl. Apparently their relationship was so bad that they reassigned Luciano to never work Oriole games. Among other things, Luciano said, "...he'll never change. He'll continue to win ball games and be impossible to work with until they drag him kicking and screaming into the Hall of Fame."
posted by Melismata at 4:30 PM on January 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


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posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:43 PM on January 19, 2013


As a kid in Baltimore, I thought Earl's temper tantrums were cool and funny. Now that I'm grown up, I wonder if they're really something to celebrate, especially since they were probably a direct result of his issues with alcohol.

But here's the thing about Baltimore: For better or worse, our defining characteristic as a city is an inferiority complex to the bigger, richer, more cultured cities of the Northeast: New York, Boston, even Philly. Baltimore loved Earl because he went out there and fought for us. When "they" screwed us over (again), Earl was sure as hell going to yell and scream and kick dirt about it.

His anger was always against authority, always for the underdog. For all his tantrums, he was a big softie who worried about hurting players' feelings. As noted above, he looked the things that less-skilled players could do, and so his teams were often groups of lovable misfits. He was perfect for Baltimore.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:12 PM on January 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


The Manager's Corner.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:13 PM on January 19, 2013


(Which I see Arch_Stanton already linked above)
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:14 PM on January 19, 2013


Though it should be noted that was a spoof they did for fun, not an actual on-air meltdown.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:15 PM on January 19, 2013


Weaver on Strategy is a great and insightful read even if you don't give a flip about baseball...
posted by jim in austin at 7:01 PM on January 19, 2013


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posted by ILuvMath at 7:55 PM on January 19, 2013


I'm not from Maryland and don't have any special reminiscences of Earl Weaver. But, the public radio show I work on had David Simon on to interview Earl Weaver several years ago. It is worth a listen.
posted by Dalton at 8:18 PM on January 19, 2013


And now word that Stan Musial died today too. One of the best hitters that ever lived.

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posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:35 PM on January 19, 2013


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