In Saturday evening’s loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox was ejected from a game for the 130th time in his managerial career. This leaves him one behind the all-time record held by John McGraw.
While Cox may be closing in on the record, as far as I’m concerned he’s not nearly as animated and colorful as was Earl Weaver. In his 17 seasons as Baltimore Orioles manager in the 70s and 80s, Weaver was ejected an American League record 99 times. I found a couple of videos on YouTube with ol’ Earl accosting umpires. However, his tirades were so profanity-laced that I didn’t feel it appropriate to post them here. Suffice to say that Weaver got his money’s worth out of his ejections.
But off the field is where Weaver solidified his reputation as one of the game’s more colorful characters. Since he smoked like he was on fire and drank like he was trying to put it out, his nights out after ball games were the stuff of folklore.
One of the more infamous stories had Weaver attempting to drive home after a night of heavy drinking. Shortly after beginning his commute, a cop pulled him over and asked him a few questions. The cop then told Weaver that he was going to administer a field sobriety test, to which he replied “Take my word for it pal. I’m drunk!!”
Yup, they don’t make ‘em like they used to.
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