Earl Sidney Weaver (August 14, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was an American professional baseball manager, author, and television broadcaster.

He did not believe in placing emphasis on "small ball" tactics such as stolen bases, hit and run plays, or sacrifice bunts.

He was the son of Earl Milton Weaver, a dry cleaner who cleaned the uniforms of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, and Ethel Genevieve Wakefield.

Weaver was appointed to replace Gene Woodling as the Orioles' first-base coach on October 3, 1967,[3] and spent the first half of the 1968 season in that capacity before succeeding Hank Bauer as manager on July 11.

With the team eight games behind the Red Sox in late August, the Orioles held a secret player's-only meeting at Paul Blair's house.

"[7] Weaver's 1,000th MLB career victory as manager was a 5–3 Opening Day result over the Chicago White Sox at Memorial Stadium on April 6, 1979.

[9] That year, the Orioles, which saw Weaver use 140 different lineups during the regular season,[10] would reach the World Series again, this time losing in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

[14] The Orioles played poorly for the first half of the year before climbing in the standings to just three games behind going into a season-ending four-game series against the division-leading Brewers at Memorial Stadium.

A year later on August 26, 1979, in the third inning of the opener of an Orioles-White Sox doubleheader at Comiskey Park, he ejected Weaver who then publicly questioned Luciano's "integrity" and received a three-game suspension.

On September 15, 1977, in Toronto, Weaver asked Springstead to have a tarpaulin covering the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen area removed; the tarp was weighted down by bricks and Earl argued his left fielder could be injured if he ran into the bricks while chasing a foul ball.

When the umpire refused to order the Blue Jays to move the tarp, Weaver pulled the Orioles off the field.

[23] After Weaver was ejected, he launched into a profanity-filled argument in which he accused Haller of blatantly calling the game out of the Orioles' favor.

Luciano's crew-mate Don Denkinger walked over to Weaver's cap, stepped on it with the sharp cleats of both shoes, and slowly twisted back and forth.

[citation needed] Weaver strongly believed in finishing as high in the standings as possible, even if a championship was not involved: In 1977, the Orioles entered the final weekend of the season tied for second place in the AL East with the Red Sox, three games behind the division-leading Yankees, to play a scheduled three-game series against the Red Sox in Boston, while the Yankees played three at home against Detroit.

The following day, the Orioles won, 8–7, eliminating the Red Sox (the Yankees having lost on both days) and leaving the teams tied for second place headed into the series' and the season's final game, which was rained out, resulting in the Red Sox and Orioles finishing in a tie for second place.

He allowed mustaches, but not beards, and, as a rule, players had to wear a suit or jacket and tie on board an airplane for a road trip.

[citation needed] Weaver "was fiercely loyal to his players," said Palmer, who recalled that in 1976 the manager took his side when he was negotiating for a raise with the Orioles' owners.

"[1] In 1984, Weaver was credited by sportscaster Craig Sager, then of CNN, with being the first major league manager to have used computerized statistical records as part of his decision-making process.

[37] In the Orioles teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Weaver made frequent use of platoons, with the most obvious example being the use of Gary Roenicke and John Lowenstein in left field, without affordable full-time solutions.

Weaver also exploited a loophole in the designated hitter rule by listing as the DH one of his starting pitchers who would not be appearing in that day's game, who would then be substituted before their first at-bat.

This gave him another opportunity to exploit pitcher-batter matchups, in the case the opposing starting pitcher left the game early because of injury or ineffectiveness before it was the DH's turn in the batting order.

[citation needed] Weaver used radar guns to track the speed of pitched balls during the 1975 spring training season.

[45] Between his stints as manager, Weaver served as a color commentator for ABC television, calling the 1983 World Series (which the Orioles won) along with Al Michaels and Howard Cosell.

This policy forced Weaver to resign from the Orioles consulting position in October so that he can work the World Series for ABC.

Weaver and Marr once recorded a prank version of the program, giving hilarious off-color answers to queries ranging from Terry Crowley, "team speed" and even growing tomatoes (Weaver and groundskeeper Pat Santarone had a friendly rivalry on this topic, and the latter had a fenced off tomato patch in left field foul territory at Memorial Stadium.).

[54] Weaver died about 2 a.m. on January 19, 2013, of an apparent heart attack while on an Orioles' fantasy cruise aboard the Celebrity Silhouette in the Caribbean Sea.

[57][58] By coincidence, another Baseball Hall of Fame member, the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, died later that day.

Upon Weaver's death, Bud Selig, then-commissioner of Major League Baseball, released the following statement: "Earl Weaver was a brilliant baseball man, a true tactician in the dugout and one of the key figures in the rich history of the Baltimore Orioles, the club he led to four American League pennants and the 1970 World Series championship ... Having known Earl throughout my entire career in the game, I have many fond memories of the Orioles and the Brewers squaring off as American League East rivals.

Earl's managerial style proved visionary, as many people in the game adopted his strategy and techniques years later.

On behalf of Major League Baseball, I send my deepest condolences to his wife, Marianna, their family and all Orioles fans.