Firstman: Earl Weaver’s love affair with the three-run homer
From SABR member Diane Firstman at Value Over Replacement Grit on January 21, 2012:
As you know, Earl Weaver, perhaps the best manager of the post-expansion era in baseball, passed away at 82 on Saturday. As described in “Pitching, Defense and Three-Run Homers: The 1970 Baltimore Orioles“, Weaver’s overarching philosophy relied heavily on the long-ball:
Weaver preached his prescription for winning: “pitching and three-run homers.” He explained, “Pitching keeps you in the games. Home runs win the game.” That formula developed with experience; in his first seasons with the Orioles he called for more sacrifice bunts than the average AL manager, but he came to believe that “your most precious possessions on offense are your 27 outs,” and “if you play for one run, that’s all you’ll get.”
The VORG celebrates the life of Earl Weaver by providing a comprehensive breakdown of all the three-run homers hit by the Orioles during his tenure as manager:
- Games with at least one such home run: 259
- W-L record in those games: 213-46 (.822)
- W-L record in all other games: 1,267-1,014 (.555)
- Most consecutive games won in which such a homer was hit: 24 (8/11/71-6/29/73)
Read the full article here: http://valueoverreplacementgrit.com/2013/01/20/earl-weavers-love-affair-with-the-three-run-homer/
Originally published: January 21, 2013. Last Updated: January 21, 2013.