39 years ago today

The gold standard.

 

Whenever I watch Earl Weaver clips I think about the stories I read of the late 1800's Orioles. A short, angry guy like Weaver would have fit in perfectly with those teams.

 

My great grandfather, Ned Hanlon, was the manager of those teams, with future HOF managers Hughie Jennings, Wilbert Robinson and John McGraw.

 

I could totally see Haller and Weaver fishing together having the same conversation. "GAMES - I'm talking about GAMES!"

 

That might have been the greatest collection of angry Micks ever assembled, outside of a Southie barroom.

 

Your GGF Ned, himself a HOFer, was quite a baseball personality himself, starting with being a star player in the 1880s. His "managing tree" is probably the GOAT.
Plus, he's more or less personally responsible for the nickname of the
Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ned Hanlon (baseball) - Wikipedia

 

I went to the induction for him and Earl in 1996. From most accounts, Ned was quite a bastard. But hey, he invented the Baltimore Chop, so all's forgiven.

He got the shaft from the Hall for many years. As noted in that wiki entry:

In December 1937, the Centennial Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its inductees, including three managers, John McGraw, Connie Mack, and George Wright.Cap Anson and Charles Comiskey were inducted two years later in 1939. Two more Hanlon disciples, Wilbert Robinsonand Hughie Jennings, were inducted in 1945. In the 1946 votethat led to the creation of the Honor Rolls of Baseball, Hanlon received the 10th highest vote count. Eight of the nine individual receiving more votes than Hanlon in that 1946 vote were granted full induction into the Hall of Fame by 1964 with the ninth, Bucky Harris, being inducted in 1976. Hanlon was not inducted until 1996.​

 

Supposedly Hanlon also invented the hit-and-run, the legality of which was argued for several seasons.

Must have been a hell of a time to be a player/manager/writer or fan.

 

Cool! Just read a book about the 1911 Giants and he was mentioned prominently in the background chapters on McGraw.

Stealing Games: The Amazing 1911 New York Giants and Their World by Maury Klein

I'd read about Charles "Victory" Faust in previous books about the Giants, this book has even more info on one of the most unusual characters in MLB history. It's impossible to conceive of a similar situation existing today.

Everyone loves the Brooklyn Dodgers but for some reason I have always been more interested in the NY Giants, even though they ceased to exist when I was three years old. I would have loved to have seen a game at the Polo Grounds (and at Ebbets Field as well).

 

In that same vein..

 

That Weaver-Haller clip is good, but this is the greatest Earl Weaver clip ever:

 

Going to the Hall of Fame?

For fucking up the World Series?

That's fucking cold.