Before “The Earl of Baltimore”: Earl Weaver’s Signed 1966 Rochester Red Wings Payroll Check

This is a payroll check issued by Rochester Community Baseball Inc., made out to Earl Weaver for $90.00 and dated July 7, 1966, drawn on the Lincoln Rochester Trust Company. It’s boldly signed by Weaver on the back and deposited through the Royal Bank of Canada’s King Edward Hotel branch in Toronto on July 12, 1966, presumably while the Red Wings were on a road trip to face Toronto. It comes from the best minor league season of his career. Weaver’s 1966 Rochester team went 83-64 and finished first in the International League. It posted the league’s best record, led by MVP Mike Epstein, and Weaver won 163 games in two seasons with the Red Wings.

He wouldn’t be there long. The Orioles promoted Weaver from Rochester to first base coach for 1968, and he replaced Hank Bauer as manager in July of that year. Over the next 17 seasons, he led Baltimore to four AL pennants (1969 to 1971 and 1979) and the 1970 World Series championship, and he was among the earliest managers to use computers to analyze data on opposing pitchers. He finished 1,480-1,060 (.583), was ejected from 98 games, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996. A check from his last full year in the minor leagues, signed in his own hand and carrying a PSA/DNA authentication (cert 83198351), is a scarce piece of the years before one of baseball’s most colorful managers became famous