With the passing of Whitey Herzog earlier this week, many memories flooded back from his time as the Manager of the Cards. Many younger people have never had the opportunity to learn about this brilliant MLB manager who always stayed “down to earth” in his handling of men & his speech. Let’s take a look @ some more about him. Let’s look at the memories and post-playing career  of the “White Rat”.  For any reader under the age of 40, this will be completely new territory for you. However, I’m thinking  that ALL of you will learn something more about this one-of-a-kind man. ( I sure did)

….the White Rat was an ordinary MLB player. He played parts of 8 seasons in the MLB. A left-handed outfielder with little HR punch, he bounced around. Like so many other successful managers, Herzog was an “average” player, batting just .257 over eight seasons and playing several positions. His best year was with Baltimore in 1961, when he hit .291. He also played for the Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics and Detroit Tigers, with whom he ended his playing career, in 1963. Even Whitey knew it when he said, “Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it”.

….Whitey brought players with speed, defense and always a strong bullpen to the Ball Park every night of his regime. Prior to StL, Whitey had a variety of baseball positions. He held a variety of positions for the Mets from 66-72. When he was snubbed by the Mets when Manager Gil Hodges died in ’72, so he looked around and was hired by the pitiful Texas Rangers. He began ’73 season with the Rangers but never finished the season there. With his team holding a 47-91 record, he was replaced by Billy Martin.

…He became an Ast Coach for the Angels in ’74, then he succeeded Bobby Winkles as manager. He handled the team for just 4 games in the 1974 season!!! He left the organization at the end of the year because the Angels had already decided to part with some of their stars who were now free-agents.

….in 1975, he was hired by the KC Royals as manager in mid-season—July 24, 1975, to replace Jack McKeon. At the time of his hiring, KC was in 2^nd place behind the Oakland Athletics by 11 games. The Royals fell short that year but won the Western Division titles in 1976, 1977, and 1978.

…Whitey managed the Cards for 73 games in 1980. He moved into the GM job on Aug 26, 1980. He turned the team over to Red Schoendienst for the rest of the season. But….in the following off-season, Whitey reclaimed the manager position! He was both the GM AND Manager for almost 2 complete seasons! During this time, he acquired several of the Cardinals who would later help him reach the World Series 3 times and to win the World Series in 1985.

….Whitey loved teams with speed! They stole bases at any time of the game (unless they were “blowing out” the opposition). That put tons of pressure on the opposing pitcher. A Whitey Herzog team had pitching, speed, and ALWAYS a very, very speedy & strong defense. Home runs were an occasional treat:😊 Often he used a lineup that put the speedy, base-stealing threats at the top of the lineup. Then, you’d find the (usually only 1 or 2) power hitting guys. (like Jack Clark & George Brett). Following those sluggers were generally two or three productive batters. They may not be huge HR threats, but drove in a bevy of runs. After those heavy-hitters, more base stealers were utilized someplace towards the bottom of the lineup. The constant “running, bunting, going for the extra base” was dubbed “Whitey Ball”. Fans loved it…it was ACTION, SPEED and USUALLY SUCCESS!! I still hear the phrase “Whitey Ball” today around ol’timers at the Ball Park.

…Whitey’s wit added to his personality! He was fun to listen to because it was honest, direct and expressed only as Whitey could do. Apparently, he was honest, straight-forward and somewhat blunt with his players. Most seem to prefer that style to “being in the dark” about the expectations that were established for you.

…BTW….Whitey left a deep, long-lasting impact…there’s a new trend to baserunning.. with teams stealing more bases in 2023 than in 2022. Some of the teams that are best at stealing bases are:

 In 2023, the #1 team in Stolen bases was the Cincy Reds with 190 SB!; #2 was the AZ Diamondbacks-165; KC Royals-163; Tampa Bay Rays-160; #5 was Cleveland Guardians-151. Our Cardinals were 20^th (and fewest in our division) with 102 stolen bases!!!

OUTSIDE OF WHITEY……THERE WAS MORE IN THE SPORTS WORLD!

…the State of Virginia just approved a law that allows the State’s universities/Colleges to directly PAY athletes through NIL deals!! The door has been broken down NOW!  Clearly, the bigger the school, the bigger the “on hand” cash….I think that Conferences will now be realigned …not by geography but by the size of their “Hope Chest”.

…Apparently some leaders of leagues are “looking into” electronic officiating. I think that would be a very dangerous path to walk. Partially, it seems, driven by the fact that it’s harder & harder to get new younger officials. Officials have NEVER been 100% right just like no player in any sport has ever been 100% good in all phases of the game. It sounds good but…..careful what you ask for!

…StL City might have played its best game of the season last week as the defeated Austin FC 1-0. The all important goal was scored by Brazilian forward Joao Klauss. It was his 2nd goal of the season. with Rasmus Alm and Tomas Totland picking up the assists on the goal. The assist was Alm’s 5th of his MLS career and Totland’s 2nd of the ’24 season. But, it was the City defense that sparkled. The team allowed zero shots on goal, the first time accomplishing this feat in its young history!! Can’t lose that way 😊 I’m still adjusting to a sport that has a season that’s 10 months long.

….In the category of some things don’t ever seem to change… Georgia was rated as having the best football signing” class this year. Bama was rated as #2 (even with Saban retiring). Moving down the list, #3 rated was Oregon; #4 Miami (Fla); #5 Ohio State; #6 Texas; #7 LSU; #8-Oklahoma. In another poll, Tennessee was ranked highly. Sooo..no matter how you cut it, the SEC had a banner year recruiting. It goes to show—MONEY (NIL) TALKS!

…Wrapping up with a look @ the teams with the best young MLB talent according to Fox Sports. Tied @ #1 are Baltimore & Atlanta!  Looking @ the O’s very young talent–  Adley Rutschman, C, 26;Jordan Westburg, INF, 25; Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, 24;Colton Cowser, OF, 24;Gunnar Henderson, INF, 23;Jackson Holliday, INF, 20. It’s almost completely unproven!! Only a couple have reached the MLB. Yet, the O’s are only ½ game behind the NYY as I write this. Seeing Atlanta more often, one has to marvel at their ability to “rebuild” and STILL WIN BIG. Some of these names are already recognizable …Ozzie Albies, 2B, 27 years old; Austin Riley, 3B, age-27; Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, age-26; Spencer Strider, RHP, age-25; Bryce Elder, RHP, age-25; Jarred Kelenic, OF,age- 24; Michael Harris II, OF, age-23;AJ Smith-Shawver, RHP, age-21. Our Cardinals didn’t show up anywhere in the Top 10 of this list that was written by Fox Sports Writers.

…THANKS FOR YOUR READ!   Please feel free to react. Put directly on my FB page or send to me in an email. If you’ve missed some of my Buzz articles, you can find them on www.bobryansportsblog.com. Bob