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Originally Posted by seth70liz76
Weaver was one of the best. Pitching, defense, and the 3-run Home Run.
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What can you say about Earl Weaver? The tenth best record in MLB history, a .583 winning percentage, a 1,480-1,060 win-loss mark, five 100+-victory seasons, four pennants, and a world championship. From 1968 until he retired in 1982, he managed the Orioles to a first or second place finish in thirteen out of fifteen seasons.
Weaver was an innovator. He invented/perfected complex platooning - he would platoon by flyball/groundball, by one-on-one matchup, by fastball/curveball pitchers, by offense/defense, by park factors, by grass/turf, by night/day; he would platoon three guys in one position according to the situations the team faced...and it would work. He essentially invented the use of complex situational charts and the use of situational statistsics in baseball.
Weaver somehow understood sabremetrics - something that wouldn't be developed until after he retired - intuitively. When Billy Beane was still in grade school, Weaver was busily acquiring players with high OBP's. Weaver understood about the value of outs, and, by minimizing sacrifices and stolen base attempts he produced a series of teams that got the maximum run value for each out. He also understood the value of power; the ideal Weaver player was a high-OBP, high-SLG, high-OPS guy. His other two areas of emphasis were pitching and defense. His teams scored runs, sometimes on his trademark three-run homer, and didn't give as many up.
I can attest that Weaver's managing methodology works well in OOTP (which is not to say that it's the best way or the only way to manage, just that it really does work).
If you play your games out, I strongly suggest you go buy a copy of WEAVER ON STRATEGY, which you can get for a whopping dollar and change on Amazon at the moment. It's full of baseball wisdom and good advice.