The Little Man with a Big Heart

I woke up this morning to a bright sunny day with anticipation of watching two baseball games today.  I also knew going into tonight that it would the celebration of Earl Weaver game.  While searching over the internet, I came across the following article from our friends at Eutaw Street Report.

The basic summation of the article can be boiled down at its conclusion:

Based off of his career numbers…I think Earl was an above average manager but I don’t think his numbers represent greatness.  Not when you win one title in 17 years.  With that said, his utilization of his rosters was great.  His passion for winning was great.  His mark on the game and his importance to a small market baseball team was great.  But was he as great as most Oriole fans believe?  He sure kept us all entertained.  But was he a prize marlin or was he more like a 9-inch white perch that became bigger and bigger with the passing of time?

I sat there muddling over this for a few seconds.  My initial reaction was “Who in the hell could be that idiotic?”.  My mind then turned to, “Well maybe he’s right.  Baltimore does have a tendency to glorify the old days such as the Colts and Johnny U”.  I let it sit for a while longer and came back to it in preparation for today’s game.

The article makes the assumption that championships define greatness.  However, I would argue that it couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Let’s take the example of another Oriole in Cal Ripken.  He played for the Orioles for 21 seasons (81-01), but still only managed one world series and three playoff appearances during this time.  Does that mean we shouldn’t consider him one of the greatest players to ever play?  The argument could be made though that Ripken was a player and not a manager.  However, let’s move outside the organization and consider Bobby Cox.  Bobby Cox when he retired in 2010 was considered one of the greatest managers of all time.  He along with Weaver shared a fiery passion with 158 ejections, but also failures to deliver championships.  Five pennants, but only one world series to show for all of them.  He also had a lower winning percentage (.556) compared to Weaver (.583).

Weaver will always be loved in this town for his passion of the game.  His ability to say exactly what everyone was thinking and not give manager speak is what we as fans can truly respect.  Baltimore isn’t known for sugar coating it.  We go to work, take care of our business, and say what needs to be said.  We may not always win the title, but we’ll scrape and fight trying to get there.  And when we lose, we come back the next day wanting to win even more.

We love you Earl.  You’ll always be a great manager in our hearts.