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Whatever the state of Weaver's health (umpires have given him indigestion 70 times in nearly eleven years as a big league manager, a record for banishments among current managers), the condition f his Baltimore Orioles was hearty. With the 26 major league teams preparing to break for this week's mid-season Ail-Star Game, the Orioles last week owned the best record in either league (57 wins and 31 losses for a .648 winning percentage) and this in a baseball year as exciting as any in recent memory. There were fascinating races in each division of both leagues, and none of last year's division champs was in first place. In the National League West, the Houston Astros finally were fulfilling their promise, leading the Cincinnati Reds, while the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1978's pennant winner slumped to last. The Montreal Expos, of all people, were trailed by the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies, winners of the National League East for the past three years. Kansas City, usually ruler of the American League West, was floundering in fourth, while the greatly improved Texas Rangers and California Angels fought for the lead.
The Baltimore Orioles were playing in the toughest territory in the sport, the -.
American League's Eastern Division Pit ted against the defending World Cham pion New York Yankees and the pow erful Boston Red Sox, teams of great talent, rich payrolls and huge egos, Baltimore wins without benefit of free agents fat salaries or superstars. Their top hitter, Outfielder Ken Singleton, was batting only .294, and American League fans neglected to elect a single Oriole to the Ail-Star team. Nonetheless, Baltimore wins baseball games with a masterly blend of young, home-grown talent and unassuming veterans playing solid, back-to-basics baseball. And they win with the benefit of Earl S. Weaver, by consensus, the best manager in baseball.
Since taking over the Orioles from Hank Bauer in the mid dle of the 1968 season, Weaver has a winning percentage of .596, an average that places him second among the alltime best major league managers. He is in the august com pany of Joe McCarthy (.615), man ager of the Ruth/Gehrig/Dickey/ DiMaggio Yankees, and Billy Southworth (.593), whose St. Louis Cardinals dominated the National League during World War II. For all their glory, John P. McGraw (.587), Connie Mack (.484) and Casey Stengel (.509) did not win as consistently. In the past eleven years, Weaver's Ori oles have finished either first or sec ond in their division nine times, won five Eastern Division titles, three pennants and the World Series in 1970.
Though no team in the majors has come close to Baltimore's remarkable record over the past two wins, 1,408 losses), Orioles struggle in relative anonymity alongside their more glamorous colleagues on the Eastern seaboard. The Birds play to yawning rows of empty seats. The record season attendance, set in 1966, is 1.2 million; by the end of June, the Red Sox had already drawn 1.1 million this year. The Orioles' owner, Baltimore Beer Tycoon Jerold C. Hoffberger has had the team on the market for five years, and buyers bursting with plans to move the franchise to nearby Washington or faraway Moosejaw are forever sniffing around the front office.