The Earl of Baltimore.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.

IMAGINE a keg of dynamite in the form of a short, gray-haired, gravel-voiced man ready to explode at the slightest provocation--arms flailing furiously, legs kicking up large billowing clouds of infield dirt, lips spewing curses like lava from an angry volcano. An incensed CEO? An escaped madman? A Prozac-deprived lunatic? None of the above. The dynamo in question is none other than the Baseball Hall of Fame's latest inductee, Earl Weaver, manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

For all of its strategies, intricacies, and shades of gray, baseball is a simple game, and Weaver treated it that way, unlike today's managerial geniuses who have the annoying knack of making the simple complex. "Pitching, defense, and three-run homers" was Weaver's credo, and he used all three elements to pile up championships and incredible won-lost numbers year after year. While few would dispute the first two-thirds of his equation, Weaver forever was badgered about his Big-Bang Theory of Baseball, despite the fact that, in 75% of all games, the winning team scores more runs in one inning than the losing club scores in the entire contest. (Doubters can check the daily box scores and chart it themselves.) Accordingly, Weaver always played for the big inning on offense (religiously refusing to use the sacrifice bunt) and did everything possible to prevent it on defense (his infielders rarely played in with runners on base and were more than willing to trade outs for runs).

Weaver's vast success during his 17-year reign in Baltimore seems to bear out his theory, as he won six division titles, four American League pennants, and a World Series. From 1969 to 1982, his Orioles finished lower than second only twice. Five of his clubs won 100 games or more, and his .583 winning percentage (1,480-1,060) ranks seventh on the all-time list of those who managed 10 or more seasons exclusively in this century. His O's set A.L. standards for most wins in two consecutive seasons (217 in 1969-70) and three consecutive seasons (318 during 1969-71).

In a strange way, those three years represent Weaver's greatest triumph and tragedy. The Orioles of that era undoubtedly deserve to be ranked among the greatest the game has ever known. The trouble is, they failed the ultimate test: World Series success. In 1969, Baltimore fell to New York's Miracle Mets. In 1971, Pittsburgh's Roberto Clemente put on a superhuman show as the Pirates triumphed in the Fall Classic. Only in 1970, when the O's...