Whitey Herzog, the gruff and ingenious Hall of Fame manager who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and a World Series title in the 1980s, and perfected an intricate, nail-biting strategy known as "Whiteyball," has died. He was 92.
Cardinals spokesman Brian Bartow said Tuesday that the team, based in the U.S. state of Missouri, was informed of Herzog's death by his family. Herzog, who had been at Busch Stadium on April 4 for the Cardinals' home opener, died on Monday, according to Bartow.
"Whitey Herzog devoted his lifetime to the game he loved, excelling as a leader on and off the field," Jane Forbes Clark, chair of the Hall of Fame's board of directors, said in a statement. "Whitey always brought the best out of every player he managed with a forthright style that won him respect throughout the game."
A crew-cut, pot-bellied tobacco chewer who had no patience for the "buddy-buddy" school of management, Herzog joined the Cardinals in 1980 and helped end the team's decade-plus pennant drought by adapting it to the artificial surface and distant fences of Busch Memorial Stadium. A typical Cardinals victory under Herzog was a low-scoring, 1-run game, sealed in the final innings by a "bullpen by committee," relievers who might be replaced after a single pitch, or temporarily shifted to the outfield, then brought back to the mound.
The Cardinals had power hitters in George Hendrick and Jack Clark, but they mostly relied on the speed and resourcefulness of switch-hitters Vince Coleman and Willie McGee, the acrobatic fielding of shortstop and future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, and the effective pitching of starters such as John Tudor and Danny Cox and relievers Todd Worrell, Ken Dayley and Jeff Lahti. For the '82 champions, Herzog didn't bother rotating relievers, but simply brought in future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter to finish the job.
Under Herzog, the Cards won pennants in 1982, 1985 and 1987, and the World Series in 1982, when they edged the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. Herzog managed the Kansas City Royals to division titles in 1976-78, but they lost each time in the league championship to the New York Yankees.
Overall, Herzog was a manager for 18 seasons, compiling a record of 1,281 wins and 1,125 losses. He was named Manager of the Year in 1985 and voted into the Hall by the Veterans Committee in 2010, his plaque noting his "stern, yet good-natured style," and his emphasis on speed, pitching and defense. Just before he formally entered the Hall, the Cardinals retired his uniform number, 24.
Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog was born in New Athens, Illinois, a blue-collar community that would shape him long after he left. He excelled in baseball and basketball and was open to skipping the occasional class to take in a Cardinals game. Signed up by the Yankees, he was a center fielder who discovered that he had competition from a prospect born just weeks before him, Mickey Mantle.
Herzog never played for the Yankees, but he did get to know manager Casey Stengel, another master shuffler of players who became a key influence.
Like so many successful managers, Herzog was a mediocre 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.
"Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it," he liked to say.
Herzog is survived by his wife of 71 years, Mary Lou Herzog; their three children, Debra, David and Jim, and their spouses; nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
