Louisiana’s Link to a Legend: Earl Weaver’s Time in the Pelican State

Earl Weaver is one of the most legendary managers in the history of baseball. Earl is known for winning championships and yelling at umpires. And, if we're being honest, his blow ups on the umpires are probably more memorable than his championship runs.

But, before becoming one of the most influential figures in the sport, he was a minor league prospect with big league dreams. One of his stops during his playing career is one that is often forgotten - his two years in New Orleans.

Earl Weaver's Minor League Journey

Before becoming one of the most influential and winningest managers in the history of baseball, Earl was a minor league second baseman with dreams of becoming a big leaguer.

While I knew Earl played second base and was a prospect, I didn't realize how good he actually was. Later in life, while discussing his career as a player, Earl often said he wasn't good enough to be a big league player. However, according to a new biography on Earl Weaver, that couldn't be further from the truth. He was named MVP at multiple minor league levels. In fact, at one point, he was favorited to win the second base job for the St. Louis Cardinals - but their player-manager at the time Ed Stanky was also a second baseman and awarded himself the job instead of Weaver.

That brush with greatness kind of ruined Earl's self-esteem and he was never the same, MVP winning player after that. With that said, Earl managed to have a pretty long minor league career as a player before transitioning into a manager's role. One of those minor league stops was in New Orleans playing for the Pelicans as a Pirates prospect.

Earl Weaver's New Orleans Career

While the New Orleans Pelicans were a pretty good minor league club, this was near the end of Earl Weaver's playing days. They got one really good year and one bad one out of Weaver. However, that bad year, is what ultimately led Weaver into becoming a manager - we'll get to that in a bit.

Earl's first season with the Pelicans was pretty darn good. The spark plug second baseman hit .278 with a .405 on base percentage. He knocked in 69 RIBs and scored 77 runs. Which for a second baseman is pretty darn good. This was Earl's last great year as a player.

The second year in New Orleans wasn't very good at all. He only hit .228 with 8 RBIs over 26 games. In fact, he was so bad, the Pirates decided to cut ties with Weaver and sell his contract to an unaffiliated team in Montgomery, Alabama.

While it may sound like a sad ending to a playing career for Earl Weaver, it ended up being a blessing in disguise.

How Earl Weaver's Time In New Orleans Set Him Up for a New Career

For a lot players, getting sold to an unaffiliated club may be the end of the road. It's time to quit baseball and get a real job. But, for Earl Weaver, the disappointment in New Orleans actually worked out in his favor and helped him become a legend.

After Weaver's arrival in Montgomery, the team decided to relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee. The team sucked, for lack of a better term, and the owners wanted to try and make the team profitable. So, they decided a change was in order. The team fired their current manager and named Weaver as the interim player-manager for the new Knoxville Smokies.

The Smokies still were a bad team after naming Earl manager, but the players loved him. The fans loved him. And he just had a way about it him in the managerial role. That swagger, attitude and attention to detail caught the eye of the newly relocated St. Louis Browns - the Baltimore Orioles.

Earl's Quick Move from New Orleans to MLB Legend

Earl's last year as a full-time player in New Orleans was 1956. In 1957, he was hired as a player manager in the Orioles system for their Class D ballclub in Fitzgerald, Georgia. The O's also put him in charge of their new player development system - where he earned the nickname of the 'Hatchett'.

By 1962, he was a full-time manager their leading the Orioles high A affiliates. Ultimately, 13 years after getting let go by the New Orleans Pelicans, he was named the big league manager for the Orioles in 1968.

From that point forward, Earl became a legend. He won ballgames, he won championships, he was the first major league manager to use analytics to help him manage was unheard of at the time - now every team in the league has a huge analytics department. The Orioles way that he invented, changed the game of baseball.

And indirectly, New Orleans giving up on him as a prospect when he was only 25, set him on his path to greatness.