[nfbwatlk] Fw: Baseball Greats Stan Musial and Earl Weaver Die

[Mary ellen]

I was fortunate to have attended the last game Earl Weaver managed in 1986.
I'm sorry that he lost the last game.  That year the Orioles finished in the
cellar.  He was an amazing man and well loved in Baltimore.  

I am too young to remember Stan the Man.  I mention that because it's
becoming increasingly rare for me to be able to say I'm too young to
remember something.  They did have horseless carriages when I was a kid.
Grin!



-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Albert
Sanchez
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 2:51 PM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: Baseball Greats Stan Musial and Earl Weaver Die

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----- Original Message -----
From: Steve
To: msb-alumni
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2013 10:36 PM
Subject: Baseball Greats Stan Musial and Earl Weaver Die


We lost two baseball hall of famers today.
And attached is a great little autobiographical song, although they took
poetic license with his year of birth which was 1920, not 1921.


Hall of Fame Cardinals OF Stan Musial dies at 92 By R.B. Fallstrom
Associated Press ST. LOUIS - Stan Musial, one of baseball's greatest hitters
and a Hall of Famer with the St. Louis Cardinals for more than two decades,
has died. He was 92. Stan the Man won seven National League batting titles,
was a three-time MVP and helped the Cardinals capture three World Series
championships in the 1940s. The Cardinals announced Musial's death in a news
release. They said he died this evening at his home surrounded by family.
Musial was so revered in St. Louis, two statues of him stand outside Busch
Stadium. He spent his entire 22-year career with the Cardinals and made the
All-Star team 24 times - baseball held two All-Star games each summer for a
few seasons. 


********

Earl Weaver, Hall of Fame manager, dead at 82 By Paul White USA Today Sports
The lasting visions of Earl Weaver always will include an irate man with hat
askew, kicking dirt and screaming at an umpire. But the Hall of Fame manager
was more innovator than instigator. Weaver, who won four American League
pennants and a World Series during his 17 seasons as manager of the
Baltimore Orioles, died early today after collapsing during an
Orioles-sponsored cruise. He was 82. The cause of death was not immediately
revealed. It was Weaver who pioneered use of radar guns to measure pitchers'
velocity. It was Weaver who kept a stack of index cards to keep track of
pitcher-vs. -batter matchups, long before the computerization of the game's
statistics. And, of course, it was Weaver whose 94 ejections - often
flamboyant and even once before a game even started - that made him most
memorable. That total still is an American League record, topped in the
majors only be the recently retired Bobby Cox and Hall of Famer John McGraw.
The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager," Weaver once
said. It won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game. But he also
said, in a 1986 interview, "On my tombstone just write, 'The sorest loser
that ever lived.' " The Orioles are holding their annual FanFest this
weekend and a moment of silence was held as the event opened this morning.
Earl Weaver stands alone as the greatest manager in the history of the
Baltimore Orioles and one of the greatest in the history of the game,"
Orioles owner Peter Angelos said in a statement released by the team. Earl
made his passion for the Orioles known both on and off the field. This is a
sad day. Weaver, who never played in the majors, replaced Hank Bauer as
Baltimore manager midway through the 1968 season. His 48-34 record the rest
of that season wasn't enough to catch the Detroit Tigers in the AL race, but
the Orioles' second-place finish was a message to the rest of the league.
Weaver's teams would win the next three pennants and the 1970 World Series.
Bad ballplayers make good managers," Weaver said. Not the other way around.
... A manager's job is simple. For 162 games, you try not to screw up all
the smart stuff your organization did last December. Weaver's organization,
the one he joined in 1957 at manager of a minor league team in Fitzgerald,
Ga. He worked his way through the Baltimore farm system and was added to the
major league coaching staff in 1967. The Orioles team he inherited certainly
was talented. It included future Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Brooks
Robinson. Another, pitcher Jim Palmer, would be promoted from the minors in
1969, the year Weaver's heavily favored team lost the World Series to the
New York Mets. He got his World Series victory a year later, winning seven
of eight post-season games - a three-game sweep of Minnesota in the AL
Championship Series and a five-game World Series triumph over Cincinnati.
Weaver's relationship with his players often was as colorful as his
celebrated battles with umpires. Palmer once said, "The only thing Earl
knows about a curveball is that he couldn't hit it. But Weaver hardly was
worried about his relationships. I don't know if I said
10 words to Frank Robinson while he played for me," Weaver said. But those
players understood the Weaver was ahead of his time. He used to keep these
little cards with what guys used to hit off certain guys," said current
Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson, who was an Oriole in Weaver's
first five seasons as manager. This guy was 2-for-6. This guy was 1-for-10.
I tried to explain to him, 'Earl, you know what the standard deviation curve
is? He says, 'What the hell is that.' " But he knew how to use players,
making frequent use of platoons, having a left- and a right-handed hitter
share a position. He also would list as the designated hitter in his
starting lineup a pitcher who he didn't plan to use, then insert a real
hitter when that spot in the batting order came up. Weaver managed the
Orioles through the 1982 season, then replaced Joe Altobelli during the 1985
season and retired for good after 1986, the only losing season of his major
league career. His final record was 1,480-1,060, the .583 winning percentage
ranking fifth all-time among post-1900 managers. The Orioles retired his No.
4 in 1982 and a plaque with his name and number is on the corner of the home
dugout in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Weaver was know for positioning himself at the corner of a dugout nearest
the runway to the clubhouse so he could go up the tunnel and sneak a
cigarette, especially in the late innings of tight games. Reliever Don
Stanhouse, who for awhile was Weaver's closer, was nicknamed "Fullpack" for
his effect on his manager. Weaver, who has spent most of his post-baseball
life in South Florida, was in Baltimore last summer at an unveiling of a
statue honoring him.

Steve
Lansing, MI