The Earl of Baltimore
There is a surprisingly long list of great thinkers and philosophers associated with Baltimore. When most people think of Baltimore, things like riots, crack cocaine, murder rates, and bad beer come to mind more quickly than great thinkers.
I have lived in Baltimore and became very familiar with the great minds like H.L. Mencken, Upton Sinclair, Edgar Allan Poe, John Waters, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Slappy White who have called the city home for some period of their lives.
However, I think that the greatest philosopher and biggest thinker produced by Baltimore is overlooked and rarely mentioned except by those who spent time in the 1960s and 1970s nursing cheap beer and listening to the dulcet tones of Chuck Thompson recite the day’s antics at the world’s greatest outdoor zoo on 33rd Street.
Rather than the rarefied air and pleasant savagery of the Algonquin Round Table, this philosopher was more likely to be quoted in Sam Lorea’s Tavern on the docks of Annapolis or The Horse You Came In On Saloon along the Fells Point waterfront.
It is a philosophy built on cold beer and unfiltered cigarettes, but I believe that the mind and often colorful words of Earl Weaver contain many of the secrets of life.
Earl managed 17 seasons in Baltimore and won over 1,400 games with just one losing season. His teams won 4 pennants and one World Series. They had 5 seasons of 100 wins or more. Earl did not make many friends among the umpires or his own players, but the barstool regulars in Highlandtown and Dundalk loved the man. He won often, and he took no grief from anybody. He was one of the more quotable managers of all time, and his words leave us with genuine guidance for living a life that might win as much as he did.
It’s What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts
This was the title of one of Earl’s books and should serve as a guide for all of us. At many points in our lives, we will be convinced that we know everything that matters. This starts in the teenage years and repeats itself several times throughout our lives. The day after college graduation is often among the worst of these moments, when those who earned top marks in law school or business school or some other advanced degree program emerge to challenge the world with their brilliance, only to discover that not one thing they learned in the last seven years has one ounce of practical usefulness in their chosen profession.
To succeed, they will have to unlearn nearly everything except the most basic principles they spent so much to acquire. All the elegant formulas and grandiose theories they accumulated are largely beside the point. It is a shock to discover that you do not, in fact, know everything — and that it is highly likely you know very little about a great deal. The moment in life when we realize that is when we begin to learn the most.
The most dangerous people you will ever meet are those who believe they know everything because of their superior intellect or their number of social media followers. These people are highly unlikely to learn anything once their leaders have filled their heads with falsehoods and dogma, and they convince themselves they hold the moral high ground to simply destroy anyone who disagrees with them.
You do not know everything. You do not even know as much as you think you do.
A liberal use of the phrase “I don’t know” will make your life considerably more enjoyable, and as a bonus, you are far more likely to actually learn something.
I Became an Optimist When I Discovered I Wasn’t Going to Win Any More Games by Being Anything Else
We do not have a great deal of control over what is going to happen in the world, and I do not see any real point in spending a great deal of time worrying about it. Most of the things I have worried about in my life never happened anyway, so why waste the energy?
There is a lot that can go wrong in the world and in life, but there is also a lot that can go right. I prefer to focus on the latter. I prepare for what can go wrong as best I can, and then I concentrate on the brighter parts of the future.
Not even the most optimistic soul back in 1950 could have conceived of what our cars, medicines, and homes look like today. The pessimist of that era would have assumed we would all be radioactive dust by now. Both of them would be stunned by the advances in the quality of life over the past 70 years.
Life will bring what it will bring. In the meantime, there is music, books, kisses, love, wine, beaches, bourbon, and baseball to enjoy. You might as well look on the bright side. If the light at the end of the tunnel does turn out to be a train, at least you will die singing.
Do the Dull Things Right, So the Extraordinary Things Will Not Be Required Too Often
The simple truth is that life is made up of a great deal of routine work that simply has to be done. Earning a living, cleaning the house, doing the dishes — all the dull business that is so easy to put off. Just do it, and do it well.
It takes ten minutes to do the dishes, or you can let them pile up until they constitute a genuine health hazard requiring a cleanup crew armed with Brillo pads. Do the unglamorous work, and do it well. Your life will be better for it.
You Win Pennants in the Offseason When You Build Your Teams with Trades and Free Agents
A great baseball team is great because of the people on the roster. You need someone who can play the game and add something to the team, whether that is an arm, speed, a bat, or a glove. You need good people to build a great team. If they do not add something, you have to move on and find someone who does.
Apply that standard to the people in your life. Do they add value? Do they encourage you, or do they simply sit around cataloging life’s bad breaks? Does their presence in your life actually make your life better?
Now apply that same standard to yourself. Do you add value to the lives of those around you? Do you make their lives better? If not, perhaps it is time to start being a genuine part of the team.
Surround yourself only with people who make the team better. Make sure you are doing something every day to make the team better yourself. Your life will improve dramatically if you apply these simple tests to your relationships and acquaintances. And do not be afraid to make the difficult cuts when necessary. If your shortstop is making errors that are costing games, you move on and find someone who can play.
The Key to Winning Baseball Games Is Pitching, Fundamentals, and Three-Run Home Runs
This, in my opinion, is the key to life itself. It deserves a place on your wall, stitched into a pillow, or for the more adventurous among you, read in the mirror every morning.
Fundamentals matter. Do what you need to do and do it well. Stand out from the crowd because you execute consistently and execute with care. If you are a ditch digger, be a good one. If you are a writer, write well. If you manage other people’s money, do it honestly with integrity as your first concern. If you are a police officer, be a good one. If you are a parent, be a good one.
Learn what you need to know to be good at living your life. Ask questions, practice, read, and acquire the knowledge you need to be good at your work, your marriage, or whatever else matters to you most. Learn it, practice it, and keep looking for ways to get better.
Avoid the foolish mistakes that cost games and can derail a life.
Do what you can to get on base every time you step up to the plate. If you get on base, someone else can drive you in. Runs matter, no matter who scores them. When life floats one up there — when opportunity hangs a curve ball right over the middle of the plate — rear back and knock that thing ten rows back. If you drive someone else in, they get to score and you get credit for the run that mattered. Help others when you can, and swing hard when the moment arrives.
Life will hang curves. I see it all the time in the financial markets. It has certainly happened to me personally — I eventually found the one person in the world who can live with me without giving in to any understandable desire to do me harm. That one swing has made all the difference.
It happened to me professionally back in 2008, and I have had the best years of my life as a result. The key is that when I recognized the pitch was not going to break, I swung from the heels and seized the opportunity.
I have missed a few in life. But I also missed every single one when I did not swing. If life offers you a hanging curve, swing. If you miss, there is another game tomorrow.
Protect yourself, avoid unforced errors, do not make careless mistakes, and when life offers you a gift, do not let it pass by.
You and Earl have got this.
