Herzog could manage today
Sports
Posted By BOB ELLIOTT
Posted 1 month ago
Earl Weaver screaming at a player after a game at Camden Yards?
Wouldn't work today.
Dick Williams not speaking to his ace pitcher, Steve Rogers, for more than a year?
That wouldn't work, either, in Bud Selig's year of 2010.
Whitey Herzog, who will be inducted in Hall of Fame ceremonies Sunday, along with former Montreal Expos outfielder Andre Dawson and umpire Doug Harvey, would have adapted and adjusted.
Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog could have managed in this era. He managed 18 seasons in the majors, winning the 1982 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Nicknamed the White Rat, Herzog was a man of action. Gary Templeton cussed out a fan at Busch Stadium and made an inappropriate gesture in 1980. The next day, he was dealt to the San Diego Padres.
All Herzog, who had general manager's powers under owner Gussie Busch, picked up for trading a player everyone knew he had to deal, was future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.
Herzog could have managed in this post-steroids era because he believed that speed never had a day off. He managed the Texas Rangers for one season, the Kansas City Royals for five and St. Louis for 11. His teams played fundamentally sound, the way the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels do.
They also ran and ran. Eight times, the league's stolen base leader was sitting in his dugout: Vince Coleman six times (1985- 90, with St. Louis) with a high of 109; Willie Wilson (1979 Royals, 83 steals) and K.C.'s Freddie Patek (1977 Royals, 53 bags) once each.
Herzog's Cards lost Game 7 of the 1985 Series to Kansas City and Game 7 in 1987 to Minnesota.
"I'm tired of everyone coming up and saying: 'Tough year, Whitey,' " Herzog said at the post-game celebrations in 1987. "Tough year? Losing Game 7 of the Series? I can't name a whole bunch of teams who'd have been real happy in spring training if they were told they knew were going to make Game 7. I'd take my chances."
Herzog wasn't as insightful two years before when St. Louis lost.
The Cards should have won in six games, but first base ump Don Denkinger missed a safe call, Jack Clark then missed a foul pop-up and Dane Iorg hit a game-winning single to right to beat them.
The next night, John Tudor lasted 2 1/3 innings, reliever Joaquin Andujar was ejected by plate ump Denkinger as was Herzog, who yelled: "We shouldn't even be here tonight!"
When the Cards were fighting the Expos in the 1980s and were scheduled to fly from New York to Montreal, Herzog would insist the Cards spend the night in New York and go in the day of the game, rather than flying in the night before which was customary.
He wanted to keep his players away from the Montreal night life.
In 1981, the Expos came within a run of making the World Series, so they went into 1982 as the pre-season favourites.
A day after the Expos were knocked out at Olympic Stadium in the final week of the season, a writer asked Herzog if he "actually thought his Cards were better than the Expos?" "Well," Herzog said sarcastically, "I only went to school in New Athens, Ill., but we were taught early that 91 wins were more than 83. That's better."
Lefty Jim Kaat played the final four seasons of his 25-year career for Herzog. Kaat used to say when he was with the Cards: "We'd look over in the other dugout and know we'd win because we had Whitey. He was two innings ahead of the other guy all the time."
And more than one ex-Card has told us over the years the reason St. Louis was usually able to handle the New York Mets in September was the Herzog- Davey Johnson matchup.
bob.elliott@sumedia.ca
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best day
Billy Williams
Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer
"Without a doubt, June 29, 1969, we played the Cardinals at Wrigley, swept them and moved into first place," said Williams, who had 2,711 hits and 426 career homers.
The Cubs beat St. Louis 3-1 in the
opener and 12-1 in the nitecap.
"The first game, I had a couple of hitsWilliamsoff Bob Gibson
and Fergie Jenkins pitched a complete game," Williams said.
"The second game, I had four hits and knocked in three runs as we beat Mudcat Grant."
Williams singled in the first off Grant, doubled off Chuck Taylor in the second, tripled against Mike Torrez in the fifth, tripled again off Ron Willis in the sixth and struck out against Dave Giusti in the eighth.
"They gave me a standing ovation.
"A standing ovation after a strikeout, I'd never had that before," Williams said.
-- Bob Elliot, QMI Agency
