BOOK REVIEW
So, I finished Weaver on Strategy by Earl Weaver with Terry Pluto. I now know what it is like to talk to Earl Weaver, former Orioles manager, for about six hours. The prose is a little stilted, with quotes like, "a radar gun can be a big help. It enables you to know exactly how hard a pitcher is throwing. Knowledge like that eliminates the sneaky fastball." Ugh. However, there are a number of useful pieces of coaching wisdom if you make it through the conversational style. First, Weaver was always a stats guy, which is now in vogue. However, he was doing it in the 1970's. He also is a big believer in Big Baseball, so there is almost no bunting, hitting-and-running etc. in his game. Of course, he never addresses the crutch of the designated hitter in this analysis. Still, interesting to read a real nuts and bolts dissection of how stupid most bunts are.
Throughout the book, Weaver lists his ten laws of baseball. One, two, and eight are about getting the team ready for the season, three through six are all different ways of saying to go for the big inning. Seven and nine are defense, and ten is to preserve the integrity of the team. The laws are:
(1) No one's going to give a damn in July if you lost a game in March (Spring training).
(2) If you don't make any promises to your players, you won't have to break them (advice that goes beyond baseball…)
(3) The easiest way around the bases is with one swing of the bat.
(4) Your most precious possessions on offense are your twenty-seven outs.
(5) If you play for one run, that's all you'll get.
(6) Don't play for one run unless you know that run will win a ballgame.
(7) It's easier to find four good starters than five.
(8) The best place for a rookie pitcher is long relief.
(9) The key step for an infielder is the first one—left or right—but before the ball is hit.
(10) The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game.
All things considered, if young players actually learned (3) (in conjunction with 4 so they knew not to strike out all the time), (4) through (6), and (9), they would be doing OK. They would try to get on base on offense, and always get a good jump on the ball on defense.
A WEEKEND IN AMSTERDAM
The President sent a $2.4 trillion ($2,400,000,000,000.00) budget to Congress and Reuters has a headline saying that "Deficits Force Widespread Cuts in Bush Budget," and I'm thinking, "$2.4 trillion is WITH widespread cuts?" Can you imagine going to Amsterdam or Vegas with this guy? Drunken sailors are trying to get him to put the wallet away.
FINALLY, THE JANET JACKSON BOWL
Come on, people. It was staged. It breaks my heart to know that Penny grew from the projects in Chicago, living with JJ, Thelma, Michael, Florida, James, and Willona to be a successful pop singer, and did something stupid like this. Just a damned shame.
So, I finished Weaver on Strategy by Earl Weaver with Terry Pluto. I now know what it is like to talk to Earl Weaver, former Orioles manager, for about six hours. The prose is a little stilted, with quotes like, "a radar gun can be a big help. It enables you to know exactly how hard a pitcher is throwing. Knowledge like that eliminates the sneaky fastball." Ugh. However, there are a number of useful pieces of coaching wisdom if you make it through the conversational style. First, Weaver was always a stats guy, which is now in vogue. However, he was doing it in the 1970's. He also is a big believer in Big Baseball, so there is almost no bunting, hitting-and-running etc. in his game. Of course, he never addresses the crutch of the designated hitter in this analysis. Still, interesting to read a real nuts and bolts dissection of how stupid most bunts are.
Throughout the book, Weaver lists his ten laws of baseball. One, two, and eight are about getting the team ready for the season, three through six are all different ways of saying to go for the big inning. Seven and nine are defense, and ten is to preserve the integrity of the team. The laws are:
(1) No one's going to give a damn in July if you lost a game in March (Spring training).
(2) If you don't make any promises to your players, you won't have to break them (advice that goes beyond baseball…)
(3) The easiest way around the bases is with one swing of the bat.
(4) Your most precious possessions on offense are your twenty-seven outs.
(5) If you play for one run, that's all you'll get.
(6) Don't play for one run unless you know that run will win a ballgame.
(7) It's easier to find four good starters than five.
(8) The best place for a rookie pitcher is long relief.
(9) The key step for an infielder is the first one—left or right—but before the ball is hit.
(10) The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game.
All things considered, if young players actually learned (3) (in conjunction with 4 so they knew not to strike out all the time), (4) through (6), and (9), they would be doing OK. They would try to get on base on offense, and always get a good jump on the ball on defense.
A WEEKEND IN AMSTERDAM
The President sent a $2.4 trillion ($2,400,000,000,000.00) budget to Congress and Reuters has a headline saying that "Deficits Force Widespread Cuts in Bush Budget," and I'm thinking, "$2.4 trillion is WITH widespread cuts?" Can you imagine going to Amsterdam or Vegas with this guy? Drunken sailors are trying to get him to put the wallet away.
FINALLY, THE JANET JACKSON BOWL
Come on, people. It was staged. It breaks my heart to know that Penny grew from the projects in Chicago, living with JJ, Thelma, Michael, Florida, James, and Willona to be a successful pop singer, and did something stupid like this. Just a damned shame.
posted by David at 1:48 PM
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