Earl Weaver -- Oriole Legend

It's been a sad week as this is my second post in the week about loss. Earl Weaver, the great Oriole Manager died late Friday. I do not think too many people from the Positive Coaching Alliance will hold him up as a model for great coaching, but many in baseball believe he is one of the greatest managers of all time. I got to watch him manage 100's of times between 1975 and 1982. In fact even though I still consider myself an Oriole fan, once he retired for the first time in 1982, my interest in the team was never as strong. 

Earl was the spirit of the great Oriole teams of the 1970's and early 80's. He was known most for getting in arguments with umpires and getting ejected -- close to 100 times in his career. But he had so many greater accomplishments in baseball. 

He and Cal Ripken's father Cal Sr. were partly responsible for creating the Oriole Way, which was a systematic method of teaching baseball fundamentals from Rookie League through the Major League. The Orioles always had a great farm system that created stars for the Major League team. That system many feel led to the most successful franchise in Major League Baseball from the mid 1960's to the mid 1980's.

Earl believed in pitching defense and the three run home run. The Orioles never seemed out of games. There were always great power hitters on the team like Lee May, Boog Powell, and Eddie Murray. But others on the team could hit homers too. One of the most exciting Oriole games I ever saw must have been in late 1976 when the Orioles beat the Red Sox late in the season on a Bobby Grich 2 run home run with 2 outs in the ninth. Only the Orioles had a power hitting 2nd baseman. And the Orioles always had great pitching. 

Earl in so many ways reflected the community. He was not good enough to play major league baseball himself, just as Baltimore as a city never seems to shine as much nationally as cities like Boston, New York or Washington DC. Like the blue collar fans in Baltimore he worked hard. He had extensive notes on every player and how they performed against every pitcher long before there were computers. He was loyal. People in Baltimore loved that he got thrown out of so many games because he was sticking up for his players. Although Baltimore fans loved Jim Palmer too, they also loved that Earl called Palmer out on being a prima donna. 

Earl was funny. My favorite story is when Oriole outfielder Pat Kelly told Earl he was going to be a minister and said "Earl, I'm going to go walk with the Lord." to which Earl responded "I'd rather you walk with the bases loaded." 

Deep down people knew that Earl cared about them. When he spoke at Brooks Robinson Day, Earl ripped up his speech, ad libbed and cried at the microphone. 

Earl Weaver may have been the self described "sorest loser that ever lived", but we loved him in Baltimore. Rest in Peace.