Post by Rob Durkee on Jan 19, 2013 21:59:27 GMT -5
Earl Weaver, the feisty Hall of Fame and former Baltimore Orioles' manager who was ejected the third most times (97) in baseball history, died of a heart attack today (1/19/13) at about 2 a.m. while on a Oriole fantasy cruise in the Carribbean. He was 82.
Only Bobby Cox and John McGraw got ejected more times in their careers than Weaver.
Sadly and ironically, Earl Weaver's passing comes on the day that rocker Janis Joplin would've celebrated her 70th birthday. The two had a lot in common. Both were feisty, unique and not afraid to be different.
Weaver's confrontations with umpires were legendary. In one 1979 game in Cleveland, Weaver reacted by being ejected from a game vs. the Cleveland Indians by going into the Oriole dugout and coming out with a rule book. He went to the pitchers' mound...and tore up the rule book. Earl would often switch his cap with the bill behind him…thus wearing the cap backwards…during his arguments with umpires.
Weaver's hatred for one umpire, the late Ron Luciano, was exemplary. The two hated each other so much that the American League would arrange for Luciano to not work Oriole games for as long as a whole season. According to Wikipedia, Luciano twice ejected Weaver before a game started. Plus, Luciano once kicked Weaver out of all four games of a 4-game minor league series and another eight times in the majors.
Of course, Luciano's carefree antics didn't help the situation. In one game, Tommy John of the White Sox was pitching when, during the delivery of a pitch, he suddenly had the ball slip from his hands, fall onto the ground behind the pitchers' mound and roll a few feet.
So what did Luciano do? He threw up his right hand and yelled out "strike!" The batter, Don Buford, was stunned and asked Luciano, "What in the Hell are you doing?" Luciano replied, "He caught the inside corner." Ed Herrmann, the White Sox catcher, even backed Luciano's call, nothing, "It was a good pitch, Don."
In spite of his run-ins with umpires, Earl would stick up for them. After one 1972 game, this writer told Weaver how one of his players, who'd been ejected, said some uncomplimentary things about the ump who ejected him. After hearing this, Weaver told me, "Excuse me." At that point, Weaver went to the player to scold him for bad-mouthing the umpire to the news media.
Weaver piloted the Orioles to one World Series title (1970), four American League pennants, six division titles and five 100-win seasons. His winning percentage of .583 (1480-1060) ranks seventh overall.
Weaver was among the first managers to extensively use statistics to set up pitcher-batter matchups. He wrote three books. In one of them, "Weaver On Strategy" written by Terry Pluto, Earl talked about his love of the three-run homer.
Plus, he talked about how important it was to get himself ejected from a game before an Oriole player would suffer the same fate during an argument with an umpire. Earl's theory, essentially, was that the Orioles could still win the game with the player that doesn't get ejected even though HE (Earl) would be ejected.
Oh, and here's a classic Earl Weaver clip of his getting ejected…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLUuxVX4Z10
More on Weaver (beware of profanity)…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWQbN0jFo_k
Only Bobby Cox and John McGraw got ejected more times in their careers than Weaver.
Sadly and ironically, Earl Weaver's passing comes on the day that rocker Janis Joplin would've celebrated her 70th birthday. The two had a lot in common. Both were feisty, unique and not afraid to be different.
Weaver's confrontations with umpires were legendary. In one 1979 game in Cleveland, Weaver reacted by being ejected from a game vs. the Cleveland Indians by going into the Oriole dugout and coming out with a rule book. He went to the pitchers' mound...and tore up the rule book. Earl would often switch his cap with the bill behind him…thus wearing the cap backwards…during his arguments with umpires.
Weaver's hatred for one umpire, the late Ron Luciano, was exemplary. The two hated each other so much that the American League would arrange for Luciano to not work Oriole games for as long as a whole season. According to Wikipedia, Luciano twice ejected Weaver before a game started. Plus, Luciano once kicked Weaver out of all four games of a 4-game minor league series and another eight times in the majors.
Of course, Luciano's carefree antics didn't help the situation. In one game, Tommy John of the White Sox was pitching when, during the delivery of a pitch, he suddenly had the ball slip from his hands, fall onto the ground behind the pitchers' mound and roll a few feet.
So what did Luciano do? He threw up his right hand and yelled out "strike!" The batter, Don Buford, was stunned and asked Luciano, "What in the Hell are you doing?" Luciano replied, "He caught the inside corner." Ed Herrmann, the White Sox catcher, even backed Luciano's call, nothing, "It was a good pitch, Don."
In spite of his run-ins with umpires, Earl would stick up for them. After one 1972 game, this writer told Weaver how one of his players, who'd been ejected, said some uncomplimentary things about the ump who ejected him. After hearing this, Weaver told me, "Excuse me." At that point, Weaver went to the player to scold him for bad-mouthing the umpire to the news media.
Weaver piloted the Orioles to one World Series title (1970), four American League pennants, six division titles and five 100-win seasons. His winning percentage of .583 (1480-1060) ranks seventh overall.
Weaver was among the first managers to extensively use statistics to set up pitcher-batter matchups. He wrote three books. In one of them, "Weaver On Strategy" written by Terry Pluto, Earl talked about his love of the three-run homer.
Plus, he talked about how important it was to get himself ejected from a game before an Oriole player would suffer the same fate during an argument with an umpire. Earl's theory, essentially, was that the Orioles could still win the game with the player that doesn't get ejected even though HE (Earl) would be ejected.
Oh, and here's a classic Earl Weaver clip of his getting ejected…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLUuxVX4Z10
More on Weaver (beware of profanity)…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWQbN0jFo_k
