Earl Weaver

BOSTON -- Having tried to deflect questions about salaries and what pressures they may create on him, Ray Miller has conceded that the Orioles' crush of long-term contracts limits a manager.The issue was raised recently when a reporter suggested how Earl Weaver might handle a delicate personnel matter. Miller replied that such comparisons are irrelevant when his struggling closer has a four-year, $16 million deal and his controversial right fielder carries a five-year, $65 million contract with no-trade leverage.

What makes baseball the greatest game God gave man the opportunity to invent:Those golden memories, still so vivid in the theater of the mind, that no one can take away, of Hank Greenberg, Brooks Robinson and Mickey Mantle.It's where a father can be with his son, and explain how once, with his own father, he actually saw Dizzy and Daffy Dean on a cold October night at Oriole Park in 1934 -- making it sound as timely as yesterday, not yesteryear.Such distinctive nicknames. Pepper, Boog, Flea, Shanty, Mudcat, Stan The Man, Schoolboy, Rowdy and Rabbit.

MONTREAL -- The standings suggest desperation, but manager Ray Miller still can envision a scenario in which the Orioles make a run for the postseason. Drawing upon an adage handed down by his former boss, Earl Weaver, Miller says the team must demonstrate slight improvement in its next 20 games, wait for some pitchers to return, then make a serious push."Earl Weaver used to say you try to be around .500 after 100 games, then play .600 the rest of the way. That'll get you around 90 wins," Miller said.

"It's an unbelievable feat. Some day, somebody might hit 100 home runs, but nobody's ever going to play that many games in a row. And the fact is, that streak could still be going on."+ Earl Weaver, former manager"He called from home and said he was going to sit down. I said 'You're what?' I think what Cal's done is remarkable, and I'm just glad he was able to do it himself rather than someone else doing it just to do it."' Vi Ripken, Cal's mother"I think young kids today and even veteran players look at Cal and the streak and admire him I think it has helped baseball Young players are keeping themselves in better shape so they can play longer."

Ups and downke Mussina UPTwo weeks ago, everyone was talking about Mussina's elbow. Now they're raving about his past two starts. Thursday's 1-0, three-hit, eight-inning lockdown of the White Sox was vintage Mussina. He has allowed one runner past second base in his past 15 innings.Jimmy Key UPThis guy has more career victories than Greg Maddux and pitches like an American League version of Tom Glavine. A study in professionalism.Shawn Boskie DOWNThe supposed No. 4 starter given the 15-day absence of Rocky Coppinger, Boskie found himself in a no-win situation appearing on 10 days' rest Wednesday.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Earl Weaver wasn't the only former Baltimore manager inducted to the Hall of Fame yesterday.Ned Hanlon managed the Orioles from 1892 to 1898 and won three consecutive championships beginning in 1894. Hanlon was innovator, implementing the hit-and-run, bunt and stolen base long before they were popular.Hanlon died in Baltimore in 1937 and all nine of his children also are deceased. However, 118 of his grandchildren and other descendants were at the induction ceremonies and at one point they all stood in unison.

IN A SENSE, we are all Jim Palmer.During his playing days with the Baltimore Orioles, the Hall of Fame pitcher's arguments with Earl Weaver were legend. Mr. Weaver described them as occasionally bordering on "violent." But when ample time elapsed to consider Mr. Weaver himself as a candidate for induction to the baseball shrine in upstate New York, Mr. Palmer penned a hearty endorsement for his former boss. Like an adult who comes to value his parents' guidance in ways he couldn't appreciate as an adolescent, so had Mr. Palmer come to understand the fiery brillance of Earl Weaver.

Now that the nomination is going Dole's way, his Buchanan problem is just beginning.If Bill really wants to do most of the Irish in Ireland a favor, he will let Gerry Adams come to the U.S. and not let him leave.Earl Weaver goes to the Hall of Fame for winning ball games and developing players, not for kicking dirt or saying stupidities.Maryland experiments with juvenile justice rehabilitation programs and kills any one that works.Pub Date: 3/08/96

WASHINGTON -- He's Baltimore's other Hall of Fame manager and even greater than Earl Weaver.Ned Hanlon was the manager of the historic Orioles team that won three straight National League pennants a century ago. He had none of Earl Weaver's flamboyance. He left tramping on the umpires' toes to his players.But he was an inventive strategist who left far more of an impact on the national game. No three-run homers for Hanlon. He was TC the father of ''scientific'' or ''inside'' baseball the bunt, the Baltimore chop, the hit-and-run.

HAD THIS not been the summer Earl Weaver would be so deservedly inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, it still offered plenty of reminders of his glory days managing the Orioles in Baltimore.There was his former second-baseman, Davey Johnson, as the team's new manager. There was the fevered debate about whether to move Cal Ripken Jr. to third base; it was Earl Weaver, after all, who spotted the shortstop potential in Mr. Ripken 2,261 consecutive games ago.There was the return of slugger Eddie Murray, one of only three Oriole greats to return after having had his number "retired."

It was typical Brooks. He might be the greatest third baseman who ever lived - and certainly one of Baltimore's most beloved figures - but he just about had to be dragged to Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Monday night for "An Evening with Brooks" - a night of testimonials for the benefit of the Legends Sports Museum and the American Cancer Society. "They had to twist my arm for about a month," he said. Everybody knows the story by now. It took some special arm-twisting by Sandy Unitas to get Brooks to show up. It didn't take much persuasion at all for anybody else, and just about everyone who is anyone in Baltimore sports was on hand to honor "Mr. Oriole."

Urban myth? Or Orioles legend? In the end, I wish I had never sent the e-mail and never asked the question. Ignorance isn't so bad, is it? At least not as it concerns Earl Weaver and his linguistic skills, dirtier than the Preakness infield on a rainy day. "I watch the YouTube clip about once a week, just to remind myself about Alice and her tomatoes," I wrote in an e-mail. "But a part of me has always wondered if it's real. And if it is, what's the back story?" Tom Marr was still on the air, but he fired back an e-mail within minutes.

Wednesday's 18-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels hardly evoked memories of past Orioles glory, but for a moment at least, manager Dave Trembley channeled predecessor Earl Weaver. After a seemingly blown call at second base in the fourth inning, Trembley stormed out to argue and was quickly ejected. But before leaving, he drew a line in the sand with his cleats and motioned as if he were ejecting umpire Paul Emmel. The blowup gave Orioles fans a rare reason to cheer. Trembley, however, will have to manage a long time or show a much hotter temper to join these kings of the on-field outburst: Earl Weaver - The greatest skipper in Orioles history was also the most-ejected manager in American League history (97 times)

Cal Ripken Jr. joked that if he thanked everyone who was deserving, it would take longer than The Streak, so there were many names that were noticeably absent from his speech, including those of teammates, managers and many members of the Orioles organization. Anyone holding his or her breath to hear Ripken thank team owner Peter Angelos went home disappointed. After the ceremony, the six Hall of Famers who were inducted as Orioles - Ripken, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson and Earl Weaver - posed together for a group photo.

Autographs are part of induction weekend, and yesterday so was gridlock a block away from the museum. A group of 39 former players -- including 32 Hall of Famers -- was scheduled to sign autographs inside the Tunnicliff Inn throughout the weekend. If yesterday was any indication, it will be bedlam until tomorrow morning. Late yesterday afternoon, fans were 10 deep outside the inn's quaint restaurant, and another group was crammed across Pioneer Street while police were sternly requesting that passers-by get off the road.

He's considered the most prepared player to wear an Orioles uniform, perhaps the most prepared athlete in the history of the game. So it's fitting that days before he'll stand on a dais in Cooperstown, N.Y., and attempt to summarize his stellar 21-season career, Cal Ripken Jr. had a dry run for Sunday, a dress rehearsal of sorts, before 42,579 of his closest friends at Camden Yards. Billed as Cal Ripken's Hall of Fame Sendoff, yesterday's pre-game ceremony had the feel of a mini-induction, complete with his family and a selected set of Hall of Famers in attendance and a five-minute Ripken thank-you speech at the ready.

Oh, Andy MacPhail, your words melt in our ears like ice cream on a summer sidewalk. You signed on this week to save the Orioles and instantly you cooed: "At the end of the day, the fans are the boss. They have the ultimate power. Something we all have to keep in mind, whether we're players or running baseball operations, they're customers and you have to treat them that way." You had 'em at hello, Andy. We all know you're busy scouring the country right now to find the right manager, and the guess here is that Joe Girardi's rejection hurt at least a little.

The Atlanta Braves hadn't won a thing in seven years when they installed Bobby Cox as manager 65 games into the 1990 season. They haven't finished a full season out of first place since. So a manager must be pretty important to a baseball franchise, right? Well, consider an alternative example from Orioles history. Earl Weaver was a genius, pretty much any baseball person will tell you. He went through 15 seasons and three generations of talent without guiding a loser and retired after the 1982 Orioles won 94 games.

Ripken night just a way to divert fans' attention I notice that there's another Ripken night coming up! ["Ripken's `Iron Man' record to be celebrated Sept. 5, 6," July 6]. Oh boy, one can hardly wait as Ripken waves to the crowd and slowly, ever so slowly, runs around the field throwing kisses to the crowd. This reenactment of the record-breaking day will cause the fans to forget that another team with a meager payroll, less than an hour away (Washington), is in first place; managed by Frank Robinson, one of the great Orioles who refused to play a flunky role to Angelos.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The fight and fury of Earl Weaver is all gone. The Hall of Fame manager admitted as much yesterday, when he made his annual stop at Orioles camp to pick up his spring training tickets and shake a few hands. Short and sweet: That about describes Weaver's visit -- and, strangely, after all these years, it describes Weaver, too. "I had a lot of happy years, but managing is not easy. It's not fun. You're always stepping on someone else's toes. You have to be that kind of person.