Earl Weaver, the feisty Hall-of-Fame Baltimore Orioles manager and persistent Yankee nemesis died early Saturday morning of an apparent heart attack while on an Orioles' fantasy cruise in the Caribbean. Weaver collapsed in his compartment on the ship at about 2 a.m. and was unable to be revived by the ship's doctors. His wife, Maryanne, was at his side. He was 82.
Loud, profane, egotistical, belligerent, confrontational, Weaver never denied being any of those things, but they were merely part of the makeup of what best described the Hall-of-Fame Baltimore Orioles manager: Winner.
In baseball's manager annals, Weaver, who piloted the Orioles to six division titles, four American League pennants, five 100-win seasons and one World Series championship from 1968-86, ranks seventh all-time in winning percentage (1,480-1,060, .583) and first among managers whose careers began after 1960.
Most of those years, Weaver's Orioles were beating out George Steinbrenner's Yankees and in 1980, after the O's swept the Yankees in an August series at Yankee Stadium, a frustrated Boss vented that Weaver had out-managed his manager, Dick Howser. "I wouldn't invite Earl Weaver to Christmas dinner," Steinbrenner fumed, "but you've got to give the devil his due."
The "Earl of Baltimore" was one of baseball's most colorful characters, an irascible and volatile 5-foot-6 "gnome" whose arguments with umpires and even his own players, like Hall-of-Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, are the stuff of legend. Weaver's 97 ejections rank third on the all-time list behind Bobby Cox and John McGraw and to the best of anyone's knowledge he never apologized for any of them. When asked one time by Orioles outfielder Pat Kelly if he wanted to participate in team chapel and "walk with the lord," Weaver famously replied: ("No thanks. I'd rather walk with the (bleeping) bases loaded."
Born in St. Louis, Aug. 14, 1930, Weaver signed to play professional baseball with his hometown Cardinals in 1948 and spent 12 years in their minor league system as a light-hitting second baseman, rising as high as Double A ball, before turning to managing in 1956. Legendary Orioles farm director Jim McLaughlin, who knew Weaver's father from St. Louis, hired him to manage in the Baltimore system in 1957 and, from there he worked his way up the chain to Triple A Rochester by 1966. While in the minors, Weaver was credited with developing what became known as "the Oriole way" after Baltimore GM Harry Dalton gave him the responsibility for organizing all the fundamentals workouts for the Baltimore farmhands below Triple A. In 1968, he was brought to the big club as first base coach and on July 11 was named by Dalton to replace Hank Bauer as their manager.
Loud, profane, egotistical, belligerent, confrontational, Weaver never denied being any of those things, but they were merely part of the makeup of what best described the Hall-of-Fame Baltimore Orioles manager: Winner.
In baseball's manager annals, Weaver, who piloted the Orioles to six division titles, four American League pennants, five 100-win seasons and one World Series championship from 1968-86, ranks seventh all-time in winning percentage (1,480-1,060, .583) and first among managers whose careers began after 1960.
Most of those years, Weaver's Orioles were beating out George Steinbrenner's Yankees and in 1980, after the O's swept the Yankees in an August series at Yankee Stadium, a frustrated Boss vented that Weaver had out-managed his manager, Dick Howser. "I wouldn't invite Earl Weaver to Christmas dinner," Steinbrenner fumed, "but you've got to give the devil his due."
The "Earl of Baltimore" was one of baseball's most colorful characters, an irascible and volatile 5-foot-6 "gnome" whose arguments with umpires and even his own players, like Hall-of-Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, are the stuff of legend. Weaver's 97 ejections rank third on the all-time list behind Bobby Cox and John McGraw and to the best of anyone's knowledge he never apologized for any of them. When asked one time by Orioles outfielder Pat Kelly if he wanted to participate in team chapel and "walk with the lord," Weaver famously replied: ("No thanks. I'd rather walk with the (bleeping) bases loaded."
Born in St. Louis, Aug. 14, 1930, Weaver signed to play professional baseball with his hometown Cardinals in 1948 and spent 12 years in their minor league system as a light-hitting second baseman, rising as high as Double A ball, before turning to managing in 1956. Legendary Orioles farm director Jim McLaughlin, who knew Weaver's father from St. Louis, hired him to manage in the Baltimore system in 1957 and, from there he worked his way up the chain to Triple A Rochester by 1966. While in the minors, Weaver was credited with developing what became known as "the Oriole way" after Baltimore GM Harry Dalton gave him the responsibility for organizing all the fundamentals workouts for the Baltimore farmhands below Triple A. In 1968, he was brought to the big club as first base coach and on July 11 was named by Dalton to replace Hank Bauer as their manager.
