Wendel: Palmer and Weaver and the Orioles’ tough love
From SABR member Tim Wendel at The National Pastime Museum on December 18, 2016:
Oh, how they loved to argue. Debates about what pitches to throw, how to manage the game, even how to deploy everyone else on the Major League roster. Yet the fractious, volatile relationship between Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver in many ways personified “The Oriole Way.”
While the best pitcher and the best manager in franchise history rarely got along, they enthralled fans for decades and both reached the Hall of Fame. That they were so different, and willing to talk about it, only added fuel to the fire.
“The only thing Earl knows about a curveball is that he couldn’t hit it.”
That line was first attributed to Dave McNally, another great Oriole pitcher, but Palmer certainly believed it and often repeated it. As with many successful managers, Weaver wasn’t much of a player. At 5 feet, 7 inches, he had a weak arm, barely any power at the plate, and didn’t make the grade with the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet Weaver soon proved that he knew how to motivate a ball club.
Read the full article here: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/palmer-and-weaver
Originally published: December 19, 2016. Last Updated: December 19, 2016.