Thursday, August 4, 2016

The Orioles are Tortoises

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-baltimore-orioles-are-baseballs-slowest-team-in-decades-1470261727

3 comments:

  1. There is a classic Earl Weaver "prank" interview that was recorded on a rainy day while on the road. The Orioles were stuck in a monsoon that had scratched several games and boredom was prevalent. Orioles broadcaster Tom Marr stopped by Earl's room at the hotel to record some Earl sound-bytes for their pregame radio show entitled "The Manager's Corner". I guess the two of them were giddy and recorded one of the funniest, profane interviews in baseball radio history. The premise of the interview involves Earl answering "write-in questions" from Oriole fans. Earl is cantankerous and grumpy so his answers are a little sharper than we are accustomed to hearing. The "bit" ends with Earl offering sage advice to a make-believe fan named Alice Sweet who requested suggestions on how to improve her garden tomatoes. * Earl shares his theory on team speed into the diatribe. It goes like this. "Team speed my f&*@ing a*s. Let those big c^&@#suckers go up there and hit a 3-run homer.
    I think Buck Showalter may have found the 1983 interview on You Tube and adopted Earl's passion for the hit and run or stolen base.

    * - Note: Earl Weaver and the Orioles groundskeeper Pat Santarone held a yearly contest as to who could grow the best tomatoes in a sliver of space located in foul territory at Memorial Stadium.

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    Replies
    1. I hate to admit it but he got that bad language from Beaumont high school in St. Louis.

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  2. In case anyone is interested, here is the You Tube URL for the bit. https://youtu.be/QWQbN0jFo_k

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