Hall of Fame Manager Whitey Herzog Dies at 92
Whitey Herzog, a Hall of Fame manager who led the St. Louis Cardinals to three World Series and the 1982 championship and worked for the Mets as a coach and director of player development from 1966-1972, has died. He was 92. “Whitey spent his last few days surrounded by his family,” the Herzog family said […]
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Whitey Herzog, a Hall of Fame manager who led the St. Louis Cardinals to three World Series and the 1982 championship and worked for the Mets as a coach and director of player development from 1966-1972, has died. He was 92.
“Whitey spent his last few days surrounded by his family,” the Herzog family said in a statement released through the Cardinals. “We have so appreciated all of the prayers and support from friends who knew he was very ill. Although it is hard for us to say goodbye, his peaceful passing was a blessing for him.”
Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Herzog built teams around pitching, speed and defense, in contrast to what many other great clubs did in his time. It was called “Whitey Ball.” He led the Kansas City Royals to three consecutive division titles from 1976-1978, but they lost to the New York Yankees each year in the ALCS.
He took over the Cardinals in 1980 and in 1982 with the help of Keith Hernandez, Ozzie Smith and Bruce Sutter, led them to the club’s first title since 1964.
Herzog eventually traded Hernandez to the Mets during the 1983 season.
“Whitey and his teams played a big part in changing the direction of the Cardinals franchise in the early 1980s with an exciting style of play that would become known as Whitey Ball throughout baseball,” Cardinals chairman and CEO Bill Dewitt Jr. said in a statement. “Whitey loved the Cardinals, their fans and St. Louis. He will be sorely missed.”
Herzog’s Cardinals and Davey Johnson‘s Mets became arch-rivals in the mid-1980s, with the Cardinals winning the division in 1985 and 1987 and the Mets taking it in 1986 and 1988.
A couple of memorable games:
- Darryl Strawberry homering off a clock at Busch Stadium on Oct. 1, 1985, to break a scoreless tie in the 11th inning. The Mets won the game 1-0, but the Cardinals clinched the division several days later.
- Terry Pendleton homering at Shea Stadium to tie the game in the ninth inning on Sept. 11, 1987. The Cardinals won the game in the 10th, extending their division lead to 2 1/2 games. They would win the East by three.
Herzog played outfield and first base for the Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers from 1956-1963, hitting .257 with 25 career home runs.
He was a scout and coach for the Athletics after his playing career ended before joining the Mets as a third base coach in 1966. He became director of player development in 1967 and helped find the players that were part of the Mets’ 1969 championship and the pennant in 1973.
Herzog was so instrumental to the Mets’ success, when Mets skipper Gil Hodges died before the 1972 season, Herzog was a candidate to replace him. But Yogi Berra got the job. Herzog would leave to manage the Texas Rangers and never returned. The 1985 Manager of the Year led four teams over 18 seasons to an overall record of 1281-1125.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.
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