Earl Weaver Marquee Hall of Fame 1996

Earl Weaver managed Baltimore for seventeen seasons after a playing career that never reached the majors. He signed as a second baseman at seventeen, spent thirteen seasons in the minor leagues without a call-up, then managed there for eleven more before the Orioles gave him the job in 1968.

He ran the Orioles for seventeen seasons — 1968 through 1982, then two more from 1985 — and won 1,480 games against 1,060 losses, finishing first six times. The approach he is remembered for was pitching, defense and the three-run home run, argued against bunting and stealing at a time when both were orthodoxy.

He was thrown out of games often and enjoyed it, and turned his cap backwards to argue nose to nose without the brims touching. He appeared on three Hall of Fame ballots and the Veterans Committee elected him in 1996, seventeen years before he died.