The man was the end of an era of baseball that I loved.
When he left, I went with him, more than less.
Baseball has never been the same, IMO.
R.I.P. and thank you for so many great memories...
Grew up in Dallas and learned to love baseball when the Rangers came in the early 70s. We had Ted Williams, Billy Martin, and Whitey Herzog as managers, good baseball men.
Different era, game was changing.
Herzog turned out to be a bit of a throw back with his small ball philosophy. Although his record speaks for itself.
The White Rat.
Herzog also had a lot of success managing the KC Royals in the 1970s.
Lest anyone forget, Whitey Herzog was also a very successful manager with the Kansas City Royals before moving to St. Louis. His regular-season win percentage at KC was higher than that at St. Louis but he didn’t have the post-season success at KC like he did at St. Louis. He is a member of both teams’ HOF as well as baseball’s HOF.
R.I.P., Whitey! Your teams were a LOT of fun to watch.
RIP.
Within 3 days, we lose Herzog, Ken Holtzman, wife-swapper Fritz Peterson, and Carl Erskine.
And within the week, lost NY Mets catcher Jerry Grote.
Herzog. Holtzman. Gullett. Grote. All have passed within the last few days and weeks. Baseball was once enjoyable.
Probably the fastest team in baseball history. Sprinters who could hit right or left side of the plate and stretch a single into a double or triple. And Ozzie doing ballet at Shortstop.
From a fan viewpoint, an exciting and interesting game.
Thanks Whitey.
I got to meet him once. What a great manager. Rest in peace, Whitey.
As told by the great Vin Scully:
One of the things that Bill Veeck did as a promotion, he signed Satchel Paige, who was very close to being 50 years old and still pitched very well in Triple-A. On that ballclub, back in 1956, was Whitey Herzog — now a Hall of Fame manager.
But Whitey was an outfielder, and they were playing in Rochester, New York, and Herzog was out in the outfield and he noticed a promotional thing in the Rochester ballpark. There was a hole in the fence in center field, and above it was a sign — “If you hit the ball in the air through the hole, you get $10,000.”
So Herzog went back into the clubhouse, got a bunch of balls, went out to center field and tried to throw a ball through the hole. And he couldn’t do it. So then when he went back in before the game started, Whitey was talking to Satchel Paige. And he said, “Satch, you see that hole out there in center field?”
And Paige said, “Yes, wild child.”
He said, “I’ll bet you a bottle of bourbon that you can’t throw the ball through that hole.”
So the next day, before batting practice, Herzog got a bunch of balls and he took Satchel Paige out. Herzog marched off 60 feet, 6 inches from the hole. He gave Satchel Paige the ball.
He gave Satchel Paige the ball. And Satchel said, “Wild child, does the ball fit through the hole?”
And Whitey Herzog said, “Satch, it sure does.”
He said, “Then you have a bet.”
So he held the ball up and looked over the ball like he was aiming a rifle. Now, Paige winds up and throws. The ball goes into the hole, spins around, and pops out again. And Herzog thinks, “Holy mackerel! He’ll never come any closer than that.”
Paige picks up the next ball, aims: right through the hole. Clean as a whistle. He said, “Wild child, I will take that,” and walked off the field.
I never will forget seeing the footage of him yanking Garry Templeton off the field after Templeton flipped off the home crowd. Great manager who didn’t put up with nonsense.