Earl Weaver Quotations

You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and five the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all.

On my tombstone just write, 'The sorest loser that ever lived.'

No one's gonna give a damn in July if you lost a game in March.

Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same - pitching.

The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers.

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.

In baseball, you can't kill the clock. You've got to give the other man his chance. That's why this is the greatest game.

I became an optimist when I discovered that I wasn't going to win any more games by being anything else.

I think there should be bad blood between all clubs.

Momentum? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.

This ain't a football game, we do this every day.

Don't worry, the fans don't start booing until July.

A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December.

The only thing that matters is what happens on the little hump out in the middle of the field.

I think the National League has better biorhythms in July.

Coaches are an integral part of any manager's team, especially if they are good pinochle players.

A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don't know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me.

You win pennants in the off season when you build your teams with trades and free agents.

The key step for an infielder is the first one, to the left or right, but before the ball is hit.

Momentum is only as good as tomorrow's starting pitcher.

I don't think, in all the years I managed them, I ever spoke more than thirty words to Frank and Brooks Robinson.

Bad ballplayers make good managers, not the other way around. All I can do is help them be as good as they are.

I'd rather you walk with the bases loaded.

If you know how to cheat, start now.

We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow.

Some have said that I can accept inadequacies in my players but not in umpires. That completely misses the point. I can't tolerate anyone's mistake.

There was nothing to keep him (Cal Ripken, Jr.) from being a star in the Major Leagues. That was inevitable.

The guy who says, 'I love the challenge of managing,' is one step from being out of a job. I don't welcome any challenge. I'd rather have nine guys named Robinson.

Every time I fail to smoke a cigarette between innings, the opposition will score.

The key step for an infielder is the first one, but before the ball is hit.

Economics played a role. Raleighs have gone from six fifty to nine dollars a carton, but there's a three-quarter cent coupon on the back. You can get all kinds of things with them, blenders, everything. I saved up enough one time and got Al Bumbry.

I never got many questions about my managing. I tried to get twenty-five guys who didn't ask questions.

I gave (pitcher) Mike Cuellar more chances than I gave my first wife.

Optimism is the cheerful frame of mind that enables a teakettle to sing, though in hot water up to its nose.

Leadership can be defined in one word - honesty. You must be honest with the players and honest with yourself.

Team speed for Christ's sake. You got bleeping' bleep bleep little fleas on the bleeping' bases getting picked off, trying to steal, getting thrown out, taking runs away from you. You get some big bleep bleepers that can hit the bleeping ball out of ballpark and you can't make any bleep bleeping mistakes.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get a hold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.'

The Chinese tell time by 'The Year of the Horse' or 'The Year of the Dragon.' I tell time by 'The Year of the Back' and 'The Year of the Elbow.' This year it's 'The Year of the Ulnar Nerve.' Someone once asked me if I had any physical incapacities of my own. 'Sure I do,' I said. 'One big one - Jim Palmer.'

Do the dull things right so the extraordinary things will not be required too often.