September 21, 1986: Earl’s last ride: Feisty Weaver gets final career ejection

Earl Weaver did not go gently.

Nearing the end of his disappointing final season in 1986, the Baltimore Orioles’ fiery manager continued to dispute umpires’ calls. On September 21, Weaver received an 11th-inning ejection from home-plate umpire Al Clark while arguing a catcher’s-interference call. It was the 97th and final ejection of the manager’s volatile 17 seasons as the Orioles’ manager.1 Weaver lost the argument, and the Orioles lost the game, 5-4, to the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.

Weaver’s ejection total did not set a record,2 but the energy, creativity, and elan he brought to his arguments were legendary. He was ejected for ripping up a rule book on the field; for piling dirt on second base; for bumping umpires; for smoking in the dugout. Twice he was thumbed from both ends of a doubleheader – and both times he was run from the nightcap before it started, still gnawing on disputes from the first game. Retrosheet’s description of one 1979 ejection reads simply “constant arguing,” and those who saw Weaver in action would agree that those words could have been cast on the Hall of Fame plaque he received in 1996.3

Weaver presented some of his tantrums as strategic. He believed that players affect the outcome of games much more than managers do. So in heated moments, it was a manager’s duty to argue – and get ejected, if need be – to reduce the risk of losing a player to ejection. When Weaver codified his 10 Laws of Managing, the 10th declared: “The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won’t hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game.”4

Weaver’s approach yielded undeniable results in his first stint as manager from 1968 through 1982. Baltimore won one World Series title, four American League pennants, and six AL East Division championships.5 The Orioles won 100 games or more five times under Weaver’s reign and finished in the top half of the division in every season but one, 1978, when they won 90 games but placed fourth in the AL East Division.

The Orioles lured Weaver out of retirement in June 1985, and he eked out a 53-52 record in what remained of that season. But the team’s talent had declined, and the 1986 Orioles brought a 71-77 record into the September 21 game, including wins in the first two games of a three-game set with Milwaukee. Weaver told team officials in late August that he did not plan to return in 1987, and the news was publicly announced on September 9.6

The last-place Brewers entered the game with a seven-game losing streak and an even worse record, 68-81. Manager George Bamberger had been Weaver’s pitching coach from 1968 through 1977; like Weaver, he was enduring a less successful second act as his team’s skipper.

Bamberger had won 93 and 95 games with the Brewers in 1978 and ’79 before retiring in September 1980.7 After an unsuccessful stint managing the New York Mets in 1982 and 1983, he’d been rehired in Milwaukee in 1985, but posted a 71-90 record. The September 21 game was one of Bamberger’s last as a major-league manager. He announced his retirement four days later.8

The Orioles started 29-year-old right-hander Mike Boddicker. Boddicker had earned The Sporting News’ AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award and the AL Championship Series MVP Award in the Orioles’ championship season of 1983, and won 20 games and the AL ERA title the following year. Subsequent seasons saw him fall to earth along with the rest of the Baltimore team. He’d lost 17 games in 1985 and entered the game against Milwaukee with a 14-11 record and a 4.70 ERA. Boddicker had allowed three runs in seven innings to beat the Brewers on June 11.

The Brewers started 21-year-old lefty Juan Nieves, who was struggling through an uneven rookie season. He entered with a 10-11 record and a 4.94 ERA, including a five-hit shutout of Baltimore on July 2. Nieves went on to throw the first no-hitter in Brewers history in April 1987 against the Orioles in Baltimore.

With 23,039 fans in Memorial Stadium on a Sunday afternoon, each team stranded a runner at second early on. Cal Ripken Jr. – whose father, Orioles coach Cal Sr., replaced Weaver in 1987 – doubled with two out in the first but was stranded on Eddie Murray’s groundball. Milwaukee’s Rick Manning, replacing Robin Yount in center field because of Yount’s bruised shoulder,9 singled and stole second with two away in the second inning. After a walk, rookie second baseman Dale Sveum’s fly to right field ended the inning.

The Orioles scored the game’s first run in the third inning. With one out, Manning misplayed John Shelby’s fly ball for a two-base error. Ken Gerhart, playing his seventh major-league game, singled in Shelby for a 1-0 lead. Gerhart took second on the throw to the plate, but the two future Hall of Famers who followed – Ripken and Murray – stranded him with fly outs to left.

Cecil Cooper tied the game with a two-out solo home run in the sixth, his 12th and final round-tripper of the season. A veteran of the Brewers’ 1982 AL championship team who had also played for Bamberger in 1978 and ’79, the 36-year-old Cooper was in his final season as Milwaukee’s regular first baseman.10

The Brewers seemed poised to take over the game in the seventh. Manning led off with a ground-rule double and Gorman Thomas bunted him to third. Sveum grounded to third baseman Floyd Rayford, who threw the ball away while trying to catch Manning in a rundown between third and home.11 Manning scored and Sveum took second base. Boddicker fell and sprained his right wrist during the rundown and was removed from the game.12

Journeyman Odell Jones replaced Boddicker and faced four batters, giving up a single to Charlie Moore, striking out future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, walking Ernie Riles, and allowing a two-run single to Glenn Braggs that made Milwaukee’s lead 4-1. Mike Kinnunen13 relieved Jones and gave up a single to Cooper that loaded the bases. Baltimore’s fourth pitcher of the inning, righty Tony Arnold, was making his sixth big-league appearance. He struck out Rob Deer – one of Deer’s 179 strikeouts that season – to close the inning.14

The Orioles rallied with two out in the eighth. Ripken singled to center, and Murray hit his 15th homer of the season, to left field. Rookie lefty Dan Plesac replaced Nieves but fared little better. Juan Beníquez walked, Mike Young singled him to second with an infield hit,15 and Rick Dempsey singled to tie the game, 4-4, and send Young to third. Weaver called for a double steal; Dempsey reached second, but Moore tagged out Young at home to end the inning.16

The Brewers wasted two baserunners in the ninth. Otherwise, the game passed uneventfully until the top of the 11th.

Sveum drew a leadoff walk, and catcher Dempsey called for a pitchout from Baltimore’s sixth pitcher, Rich Bordi. Moore stuck his bat out toward the ball, hitting Dempsey’s glove; umpire Clark called interference and awarded Moore first base. Weaver and Dempsey argued that Moore had illegally thrown his bat at the ball – a claim TV replays seemed to support17 – but Clark stood fast. Weaver put on a show, throwing his cap and kicking the dirt, and Clark thumbed him. It was Weaver’s fifth ejection of 1986. A Baltimore sportswriter termed it his “wildest tantrum of the season.”18

The odd, sloppy game got odder and sloppier. Molitor’s sacrifice resulted in a force at third, putting Moore at second and Molitor at first.19 Dempsey recovered a bounced pitch by Bordi and caught Molitor straying off first. Molitor stayed off the base, trying to draw a throw; Dempsey, knowing that a throw would allow Moore to advance, held the ball and ran to the baseline to try to tag Molitor. Molitor wriggled away and reached second without a tag, with Moore taking third.

Dempsey argued that Molitor should have been called out for leaving the basepath, pointing to his footprints as proof, but the umpires disagreed.20 With the infield in, Riles grounded to Murray, and the three-time Gold Glove first baseman bobbled the ball as he attempted a rushed scoop and throw.21 Moore scored the game-winning run, gained without a hit.22  

Plesac allowed a leadoff single by Beníquez in the bottom half, then retired Young on a popup and Dempsey on an around-the-horn double play to finish the game in 3 hours and 59 minutes. The loss went to Brad Havens, who walked Sveum to begin the 11th inning.

Bamberger summarized the game tartly: “There were two [bleep] clubs playing. It was a [bleep] played game. But for the fans, it was good to watch.”23 Weaver kept the newspaper censors busy as well: “We —— up the damn rundown. … If we can’t trap people off base and get them out, it’s a sad affair.”24

Starting on September 21, the Orioles went just 2-12 the rest of the way, trading places with Milwaukee and finishing last with a 73-89 record. It was the only losing record of Weaver’s career. The Brewers closed at 77-84.

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy edited by Len Levin. The author thanks the Milwaukee Public Library for research assistance.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for general player, team and season data and the box scores for this game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL198609210.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B09210BAL1986.htm

Photo credit: Image of 1986 Topps card #321 downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 As of June 2024, Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference differed on the number of Weaver’s career ejections: Retrosheet said 97, Baseball-Reference 96. The discrepancy is in 1969, where Retrosheet credits Weaver with five ejections and Baseball-Reference with four. (It’s possible that Baseball-Reference, which does not individually list the ejections, does not include Weaver’s thumbing from Game Four of the 1969 World Series.)

2 In terms of managerial ejections, Weaver ranks behind Bobby Cox (165 ejections on Retrosheet, 162 on Baseball-Reference), John McGraw (124 ejections on Retrosheet, 121 on Baseball-Reference) and Leo Durocher (99 ejections on Retrosheet, 100 on Baseball-Reference.) These totals do not include additional ejections received by McGraw and Durocher during their playing and coaching careers. “Career Leaders & Records for Manager Ejections,” Baseball-Reference, accessed September 4, 2024, https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/mgr_ejections_career.shtml.

3 All descriptions of Weaver’s ejections taken from Retrosheet’s Earl Weaver page, accessed June 2024. https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/W/Pweave801.htm.

4 Earl Weaver with Terry Pluto, Weaver on Strategy (Washington: Brassey’s Inc., revised edition, 2002), Chapter 8. It says something about the role of umpires in Weaver’s legend that he devoted an entire chapter of his book to his interactions with them.

5 The Orioles won the 1983 World Series under Weaver’s more laid-back successor, Joe Altobelli; it’s an open question whether Weaver would have claimed his second Series championship if he’d stayed another season.

6 Tim Kurkjian, “Weaver Will Manage the Rest of the Season,” Baltimore Sun, September 10, 1986: F1.

7 Bamberger suffered a heart attack in March 1980 and Brewers coach Buck Rodgers managed the team until Bamberger’s return in early June. The 1980 Brewers went 47-45 under Bamberger and 86-76 for the full season. Associated Press, “Bamberger Steps Down; Will Remain on Scene,” Salisbury (Maryland) Daily Times, September 7, 1980: C1.

8 Susan Shemanske, “So Long, Bambi!,” Racine (Wisconsin) Journal Times, September 26, 1986: 1B.

9 Tom Haudricourt, “Notes & Quotes,” Milwaukee Sentinel, September 22, 1986: 2:5.

10 Cooper is considered to have been the 1987 Brewers’ regular designated hitter by dint of playing more games at the position than anyone else, but he appeared in only 62 games as DH and one as a pinch-hitter. It was his final major-league season.

11 Mike Lurie, “Brewers End Losing Streak with a Slapstick Victory,” Milwaukee Journal, September 26, 1986: C1.

12 Kent Baker, “Wrist Sprain May End Boddicker’s Season,” Baltimore Sun, September 22, 1986: 3C. X-rays on Boddicker’s wrist were negative and he pitched twice more that season, including another start against Milwaukee on September 26.

13 Kinnunen, a former Minnesota Twin, had resurfaced with the Orioles in September 1986 for his first major-league appearances since 1980. This was the third of Kinnunen’s nine big-league games in 1986.

14 Deer struck out 120 or more times every season between 1986 and 1993. He was second in the AL in this category in 1986, trailing Pete Incaviglia of Texas, who struck out 185 times. Deer led the AL in strikeouts four times, peaking at 186 in 1987.

15 Gordon Beard (Associated Press), “Major League Baseball, My Foot,” Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, September 26, 1986: 22.

16 Jim Henneman, “This Was Another One the Orioles Would Love to Forget,” Baltimore Evening Sun, September 26, 1986: C7; Lurie, “Brewers End Losing Streak with a Slapstick Victory.”

17 Beard, “Major League Baseball, My Foot.” Replay review of disputed plays was not yet part of the game in 1986; it was instituted during the 2008 season. “Replay Review,” MLB.com, accessed June 2024, https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/replay-review. Lurie’s Milwaukee Journal story reported that Moore “clearly threw his bat at the ball.”

18 Henneman, “This Was Another One the Orioles Would Love to Forget.”

19 Beard, “Major League Baseball, My Foot.”

20 Further complicating this play, the umpiring crew was operating one member short, as umpire Larry Young was ill. Ump John Shulock, who made the call, conceded after the game that he did not know whether Molitor was out of the basepath; he based his “safe” call on the fact that Dempsey failed to make a tag. Kent Baker, “Orioles Find Another Way to Lose,” Baltimore Sun, September 22, 1986: 1C.

21 Lurie, “Brewers End Losing Streak with a Slapstick Victory.”

22 Baker, “Orioles Find Another Way to Lose.”

23 Henneman, “This Was Another One the Orioles Would Love to Forget.” The Milwaukee Journal’s game story suggests that the censored word was “horseshit”; it reproduced Bamberger’s quote as: “There were two horse … clubs playing today. It was a horse … played game.”

24 Baker, “Orioles Find Another Way to Lose.”