Earl Weaver

Earl Sidney Weaver (August 14, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was an American professional baseball manager, author, and television broadcaster.

After playing in minor league baseball, he retired without playing in Major League Baseball (MLB).

(1942–44) to win 100 games in three straight seasons.

After playing for Beaumont High School in his hometown, St. Louis, Missouri, the St. Louis Cardinals signed the 17-year-old Weaver in 1948 as a second baseman.

A slick fielder but never much of a hitter, he worked his way up to the Texas League Houston Buffaloes (two steps below the majors) in 1951, though never made it to the big league club.

Weaver was later traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, then moved on to the Orioles, where he began his managing career.

Palmer once noted: "The only thing that Earl knows about a curve ball is he couldn't hit it."

Weaver started his minor league managerial career in 1956 with the unaffiliated Knoxville Smokies in the South Atlantic League.

He joined the Orioles in 1957 as manager of their Fitzgerald, Georgia, club in the Georgia–Florida League.

The Orioles moved him up to their franchise in Dublin, Georgia, in 1958, and to their Aberdeen, South Dakota, club in 1959.

In 1960, he managed the Fox Cities Foxes in Wisconsin in the Class-B Three-I League.

He advanced to the AA Elmira Pioneers in 1962 and to the AAA Rochester Red Wings in 1966.

As a minor league manager, he compiled a record of 841 wins and 697 defeats (.547) with three championships in 11½ seasons.

Weaver was appointed to replace Gene Woodling as the Orioles' first-base coach on October 3, 1967, and spent the first half of the 1968 season in that capacity before succeeding Hank Bauer as manager on July 11.

His contract was for one year; he would continue to work under one-year contracts throughout his tenure with the team.

He became a minor league manager, and then managed in MLB for 17 years with the Baltimore Orioles (1968–1982; 1985–86), winning a World Series championship in 1970.

Weaver's style of managing was summed up in the quote: "pitching, defense, and the three-run homer."

He did not believe in placing emphasis on "small ball" tactics such as stolen bases, hit and run plays, or sacrifice bunts.

During his tenure as major league manager, the Orioles won the American League pennant in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1979, each time winning 100 games.

Weaver was the first manager since Billy Southworth

In 1969, the Orioles were defeated in the World Series in five games by the New York Mets team known as the Miracle Mets.

He was ejected in Game 4 of that series by umpire Shag Crawford for arguing balls and strikes.

In 1970, the Orioles won the World Series by defeating the Cincinnati Reds (The "Big Red Machine") in five games.

In 1971, the Orioles lost the World Series in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pirates pitcher Steve Blass pitched a complete game and gave up four hits in the deciding seventh game, allowing the Orioles to score only one run.

Weaver loved scoring with three-run home runs, "a great plan if you have Boog Powells and Frank Robinsons and Brooks Robinsons," according to Palmer.

The 1974 Orioles were not hitting as many home runs, yet Weaver insisted on continuing to use the strategy.

With the team eight games behind the Red Sox in late August, the Orioles held a secret player's-only meeting at Paul Blair's house.

Their new strategy, according to Palmer, was "Squeeze every hit and every base and every run you can out of every play."

To accomplish this goal, the players came up with secret signs they would use in games.

The new strategy worked, as Baltimore overcame the deficit to clinch the division at the end of the year.

According to Brooks Robinson, "It took Earl about three or four games to finally figure out what the heck we were doing in that situation, and I think he ended up saying, 'Well, you'd better be right.'...It worked out well. And Earl loved us all, anyway."

Weaver's 1,000th MLB career victory as manager was a 5–3 Opening Day result over the Chicago White Sox at Memorial Stadium on April 6, 1979.

That year, the Orioles, which saw Weaver use 140 different lineups during the regular season, would reach the World Series again, this time losing in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He had originally targeted the expiration of his contract upon the conclusion of the 1980 campaign to step away from the sport.

He expressed plans to retire following the 1982 season prior to Game 6 of that World Series on October 16.

In 1982, Weaver announced he would retire at the end of the season.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.

He was the son of Earl Milton Weaver, a dry cleaner who cleaned the uniforms of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, and Ethel Genevieve Wakefield.

Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, who pitched under Weaver for 14 seasons in the major leagues, wrote that his manager was "brought up in St. Louis on the bad side of a street where even the good side isn't too good."