Weaver on Strategy: The Classic Work on the Art of Managing a Baseball Team [Paperback]

Terry Pluto (Author), Earl Weaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

During his career as the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, Earl Weaver was called “baseball’s resident genius.” His distinctive style of managing helped his teams finish first or second thirteen times in his seventeen years as a manager. This volume reveals Weaver’s approach to the game, with a focus on how to manage a roster, a lineup, and a pitching staff. He defines the differences between running a team during a single game and managing it during an entire season. In his characteristically blunt style, Weaver explains everything from how to tell when a pitcher is tiring to how and when to argue with an umpire. Successful ball clubs still mimic his offensive strategies. Readers of this updated edition will learn new ways to think about the game as it’s played today.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Terry Pluto is one of the most prolific sportswriters of our day, writing primarily about baseball and basketball. He lives near Akron, Ohio.

Earl Weaver was enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1996 after a career marked by intensity, innovation, wit, and winning. He has done television and radio work and now lives in retirement in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; Revised edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574884247
• ISBN-13: 978-1574884241
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Coaching > Baseball

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting reading, January 24, 2003

By 

Ray Kidder (Woodbridge, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Weaver on Strategy: The Classic Work on the Art of Managing a Baseball Team (Paperback)

Earl Weaver reveals some of the reasons he was such a successful manager. Baseball fans can use this book to get a better understanding of the strategy behind the managerial decisions. Some of Earl Weaver's advice is admittedly questionable for the current game, so he added a 2002 epilogue to comment on his past advice. Earl Weaver was not as hot headed as was the impression from his arguments with umpires. His additude is that it was better for the manager to be thrown out of a game than to have one of his valuable players thrown out. He explains how he looked upon each decision as a type of gamble, basing the odds of success largely on past performace when a player was in a similar situation. That is why he kept and used lots of player statistics.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great advice for a fan, coach or manager, February 1, 2008

By 

Aaron T. Whitehead "Aaron Whitehead" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Weaver on Strategy: The Classic Work on the Art of Managing a Baseball Team (Paperback)

Years of statistical research and number-crunching have proven one thing: Earl Weaver was a pretty smart guy. Weaver, who didn't frown on using numbers himself, was a living hybrid of old-fashioned baseball wisdom and a forward-thinking organizational mind that helped turn the Baltimore Orioles into a dynasty.
For the fan, you can read about how Weaver achieved such great success in the majors with methods not out of line with modern, or "sabermetric" analysis.
For a manager or coach, Weaver offers a lot of practical advice about managing a ballclub. This won't teach you how to hit a curveball, but it will tell you what lineup to use against a curveball pitcher, how to handle players both young and old, and how to run an effective spring training regimen.
Weaver's advice is pertinent and insightful even now, 20 years after he managed his last game.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Natural at Managing, August 27, 2011

By 

Khalil Gibran - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Weaver on Strategy: The Classic Work on the Art of Managing a Baseball Team (Paperback)

This is a great, quick read on the basics of managing a Major League Baseball Team. Weaver preaches many principles of sabermetrics, before they had come into vogue. Instead, he had come to espouse many sabermetric principles (i.e. high OBP guys at the top of the lineup, eschewing stealing/the hit and run/sacrifice bunting) not by reading Bill James, but simply from watching thousands of baseball games. His book lays out his simple yet innovative approaches to the game, and also, indirectly proves how intelligent of a manager he had been.

Admittedly, this book is a little dated, but his main points still hold true in today's game. For anyone who wants to talk intelligently about managers in the Majors. This is a must read.