a memorial patch for earl weaver

earlier today i posted about the memorial patch that the cardinals wore for stan musial who passed away on january 19, 2013.  that same day, the orioles lost hall of fame manager earl weaver who died at the age of 82.  like the cardinals did for musial, the orioles wore a patch honoring weaver during the 2013 season.  the orange patch featured weaver's name, number 4, and 'hall of fame' text.  you can see it on jj hardy's 2014 topps card

as well as wei-yin chen's

and on manny machado's 2014 topps gypsy queen card as well

during the 2013 all-star game, the patch was worn on the chest, as shown on adam jones' 2013 topps update card

which also features the stan musial patch on yadier molina's sleeve

jones also represents the sleeve placement of the patch in my collection via this 2013 bowman platinum card

weaver managed the orioles from 1968 through 1982, and again in 1985 and 1986.  he led the club to four pennants and the 1970 world series title over the reds, and his early retirement following the 1982 season cost him the chance to win another title - the 1983 world championship team was managed by joe altobelli.

growing up watching 'this week in baseball' and the nbc game of the week in the late 1970's, i knew two things about earl weaver: he was not shy about arguing with umpires, and he was a believer in the power of the 3-run home run.  it turns out that he was also a believer in platoons and tracking statistical match ups and other things that we see so much of in the game these days.  those things worked for weaver, as his teams won 1480 games over his 17 years at the helm, and he was inducted into the hall of fame in 1996.