Irascible, chain-smoking, umpire-baiting longtime Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver penned his own epitaph.
"On my tombstone just write, 'The sorest loser that ever lived,'" he once said.
Weaver, 82, a member of baseball's Hall of Fame and the winningest manager in the franchise's history, died late Friday while on a baseball-themed cruise, said Monica Barlow, a team spokeswoman.
The cause apparently was a heart attack, the team said on its website.
Weaver, who piloted the Orioles from 1968 to 1982 and 1985-86, led the team to the 1970 World Serieschampionship, four American League pennants and sixAmerican League East Division titles.
His teams won 1,480 games and lost 1,060, and his winning percentage (.583) ranks ninth all-time and fifth among managers in the modern era who managed 10 years or more.
Five times, Baltimore won at least 100 games for Weaver, who was 5 feet 7 but stood mythically tall to his players.
"Having Earl gives us a four-game lead on everybody," pitcher Sammy Stewart once said.
