Earl Weaver

Earl Sidney Weaver (August 14, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was an American professional baseball manager, author, and television color commentator. Weaver played in minor league baseball as a second baseman from 1948 to 1960. In 1956, he began his managerial career, serving as a player–manager for five seasons before he stopped playing to concentrate on managing, without ever having played in Major League Baseball (MLB). He progressed through the minor league system before going on to become a manager in the Major Leagues with the Baltimore Orioles (1968–1982; 1985–86), winning a World Series championship in 1970. In 1996, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Weaver was born on August 14, 1930, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of Earl Milton Weaver, a dry cleaner who cleaned the uniforms of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns (who would later become the Baltimore Orioles), 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." The Weavers lived in a crowded section of St. Louis, within a mile of Sportsman's Park, home to the Cardinals and Browns. As a child Weaver accompanied his father into the team's clubhouse to make pickups and deliveries of their uniforms.

Weaver was an avid baseball fan. His baseball hero was Cardinals' shortstop Leo Durocher, who would go on to become a Hall of Fame manager. He was fascinated with managers and studied them carefully, even as an adolescent and teenager. Among the managers he studied was Cardinals skipper and future Hall of Famer Billy Southworth (1940–45), whose teams won at least 105 games each season from 1942 to 1944. The next team to win over 100 games three consecutive years would Weaver's Baltimore Orioles (1969–71).

In his teens, Weaver was a three-sport athlete at at Beaumont High School in St. Louis, also playing for its state championship basketball team and serving as a co-captain of its football team. He played on his father's St. Louis city league baseball team that went 53-2 and won three city titles and also played four years of American Legion baseball in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Cardinals signed the 17-year-old Weaver in 1948 as a second baseman. Playing for the Class D West Frankfurt Cardinals in 1948, he had a .268 batting average, with 92 bases on balls and 96 runs scored and only 24 strikeouts. He was named an All-Star. Playing for the Class C level St. Joseph Cardinals in 1949, his average improved to .282, with an on-base percentage of .382, 75 bases on balls, 101 runs batted in (RBI), 80 runs scored and 17 stolen bases. In 1950, he hit .276 playing Class B baseball for the Winston-Salem Cardinals of the Carolina League; though he had been hitting around .300 before a thumb injury. In 1951, he hit .279 with the Single-A Omaha Cardinals, and was again an All-star. He was known for his defensive ability and aggressive style of play. However, he did not hit with power, lacked speed, and had a weak throwing arm overall.

Weaver's opportunity to make the St. Louis Cardinals major league roster came in the Cardinals' spring training of 1952 when he was part of the team's 40-man roster. He performed well and many believed he could make the team as a backup second baseman. But his competition for backup second baseman was the Cardinals new manager, 35-year old Eddie Stanky, who had final decision making authority over who made the Cardinals final roster. Stanky ultimately chose himself over Weaver. Weaver became dispirited, falling into drink and depression. He spent the next nine seasons in the minor leagues, serving as a player-manager from 1957-60.

Following the 1953 season, his rights were sold to the Denver Bears in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. In 1956, he played for the independent Montgomery Rebels. By 1957, he was in the Orioles farm system.

Two of Weaver's minor league managers influenced his own future as a manager: George Kissell at Winston-Salem and Andy Cohen in Denver. Kissell had worked with Branch Rickey in building the Cardinals farm system and influenced the club's style of play; Cohen, who taught Weaver about the psychology of handling players, had played under Hall of Fame manager John McGraw. Weaver considered Kissell and Orioles manager Paul Richards to be his greatest managerial influences. In addition to Weaver, Kissell was a mentor to Hall of Fame managers Sparky Anderson, Joe Torre, and Tony La Russa.