Loyalty Has Put Weaver Back in Oriole Dugout

Earl Weaver ran his fingers through his permed gray hair, lit another cigarette and tried to explain why he left the comfortable life of retirement to return to managing the Baltimore Orioles.

“I was happy doing what I was doing, playing golf and going to the race track,” said Weaver in his raspy voice as he sat in the visitors’ dugout in Anaheim Stadium. “But I promised Mr. (Oriole owner Edward Bennett) Williams that I’d help him if he needed it.

“And, of course, you can’t overlook the economics.”

No, you can’t. Weaver’s decision to return made dollars and sense. He won’t say exactly what he is making, but it was reported he was offered $500,000 for agreeing to manage the Orioles the rest of the season after Williams fired Joe Altobelli on June 13.

Weaver, 54, had received several offers from other teams--11 to be exact--since he retired in 1982 after managing the Orioles for 14 1/2 seasons. Some were a little more lucrative, but none played on the Duke of Earl’s sense of loyalty the way Williams’ offer did.

So, after a two-year hiatus, Weaver is back, leading the Orioles and tormenting American League umpires the way only he can.

And don’t believe that he’d rather be on the links in Miami or playing the horses at Hialeah or in a press box working for ABC television. Weaver is happiest wearing his familiar No. 4, orange and black Oriole uniform.

Only one thing seems out of place about Weaver’s return, and that’s the fact that Baltimore is not a contender.

The Orioles are in fourth place in the American League East with a 65-58 record, 12 1/2 games behind first-place Toronto. That’s not a position Weaver, who won six division championships, four pennants and one World Series title at Baltimore, is accustomed to.

The reason? Certainly not hitting. The Orioles lead the major leagues with 163 home runs, are second in the majors in runs with 649 and key players such as Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken are having their usual outstanding seasons.

However, Baltimore’s pitching, usually a strength, has been nothing short of miserable. That best explains why Weaver’s Orioles haven’t fared much better than Altobelli’s Orioles. Only one starter, Dennis Martinez (11-7), has a winning record, and no starter has an earned-run average below 4.07.

“All of our pitchers are having an off-year,” Weaver said. “It’s not that they’re getting old, or anything like that. They’re just in a long, long slump.

“You look at our offensive statistics and you’d think we’d be in first place. We’re hitting home runs and we’re scoring a lot of runs. But the pitching is just allowing too many runs.”

Still, though, he’s not ready to concede the AL East to either Toronto or the surging New York Yankees.

“I still have hopes we can win it,” Weaver said. “There are still 40 games left, and that’s enough time. We just have to get hot, and hope the Yankees and Blue Jays slump.

“It’s frustrating, though. We went on a streak a few weeks back where we won 11 out of 15, but we still lost two games to the Yankees because they were winning 13 out of 15.”

One of the reasons Weaver wants the Orioles to win the division is because he wants to have something to do in October. His days as a television colorman for ABC are over because the network decided not to renew his contract.

Weaver said he wasn’t hurt or surprised.

“I enjoyed working on TV, but there just wasn’t enough work to give me the experience I needed to be at expert at the business,” he said. “Including last year’s playoffs, I worked only 23 games for ABC, and that’s just not enough time to learn to be able to say more than, ‘That was a high fastball’ or ‘That was a low fastball.’

“And the time restrictions were very tough for me to deal with. I’d work and prepare and do research all week for a Monday night game, and then they’d only give you a minute and a half to say what you knew. Sometimes, it was even less time than that. As soon as you started talking, the little voice from the truck would start counting down, 10, 9, 8, 7 and that would be it.”

One thing Weaver will never forget is working as Howard Cosell’s broadcast partner.

“Everyone at ABC was wonderful to me, including Howard,” he said. “You just have to learn not to take Howard’s airtime. When he’s right, you agree with him, and when he’s wrong, you don’t say anything.”

The question that looms remains unanswered: Will Weaver be back next season?

At this point, he’s not sure.

“At the end of this year, I’ll have a long talk with my wife, Mariana, and decide about the future,” Weaver said as he lit another cigarette. “She’s commuting now, back and forth between Baltimore and Miami, and I don’t know if she’s happy about that or if she’s miserable.

“Returning to Baltimore has given me the chance to live in a city I love for a few months out of the year, and the chance to see a lot of my old friends. But I just don’t know if I’ll be back. The contract I signed only runs for the rest of the year.”

And with that, Earl Weaver, who when he argues with umpires can be downright surly, politely excused himself to sign autographs and acknowledge fans’ requests to take his picture.

Somehow, you got the feeling he’ll be back next season, and that in 1986, the Orioles would be back in the pennant race.