OT: MGoObituary: The White Rat dead at 92
The illustrious Hall of Fame skipper of three division winning Royals teams ('76-'78), and three pennant winning Cardinals teams ('82 - World Series champs; '85, and '87), has passed away.
"Whiteyball" was made for the artificial turf era, with teams constructed of incredibly athletic and fast outfielders and aggressive base runners. RIP.
Great Manager and the scourge of many a CUBS fan.
I wish the Tigers knew how to play good fundamental baseball. They can't get timely hits, can't manufacture runs, make too many errors and strike out WAAAAY too much.
This sentiment could be true for many MLB fans. Very frustrating as a fan to see a one out triple and the team can't bring him home and then the team celebrates a three run homer like they won the World Series only to lose 4-3.
At this point, I'm a Savannah Bananas fan all the way.
Games are done in 2 hours tops, they understand how to market the game at a time when the Major League product is becoming more and more sterile.
Why pay for minor league level basball at Major League prices when you can go watch the minor league.
I saw a game between his Cardinals and the Phillies in the mid-80s. I was eagerly anticipating seeing Vince Coleman, Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith in person. I much preferred the base stealers (Rickey Henderson, Coleman) to the home run hitters. Alas, it was a hot Sunday in August, over 100 degrees on the carpet, so only Ozzie played.
The game was in Philadelphia and Mike Schmidt, only - arguably - the greatest 3B of all time, got booed by the Philly faithful because he was having a mediocre season after signing a huge contract in the offseason.
RIP, Whitey.
As Rickey would tell you - "Rickey was the best!". I loved the base stealers too for some reason. Tim Raines was another great.
Speaking of Raines, I saw the Expos play the Cubs in Wrigley. Raines was playing center (or left?) and Andre Dawson was playing RF. It was towards the end of Dawson’s career and you could see what a toll playing on Montreal’s turf had taken on his knees. It was like every step was torture for him.
Became friendly with several retired Red Sox players in the aughts.
Henderson actually did a late-in-career stint with an International League ball club trying to show that he could still play. I'm sitting in the stands at a minor league park with two of these Sox ex-players, one being a pitcher. Henderson draws a walk and my pitcher buddy starts muttering, "this phucker is going to third". Poor young guy on the mound didn't have a chance.
Yep - steals both second and third. After the game, we meet up with Henderson, and the old pros start yakking away - and yes, Henderson starts talking about himself as "Rickey saw this", "Rickey did that".
Yes, that happened. Lol.
That's so cool. I was a huge Rickey fan growing up. My first computer program on a Vic 20 was keeping track of his stats. I met him (paid $5 at a card show) for an autograph but never chatted with him.
He was (probably still is) a nice guy from my brief interactions with him.
The really fun part is sitting privately and quietly with pros who trust you enough to know you're not going to repeat anything. That's when you a great sense of the game from the inside.
Even today, Rickey ranks 163rd all-time in MLB History for career HR (Anthony Rizzo will pass him by Memorial Day, but he may be the only player to pass in 2024 - Judge and Betts may come close).
Anyway, pretty impressive he's still that high: a remarkable speed/power combination.
I like that there's a recent resurgence in speed + power players. Ronald Acuna Jr. obviously. Corbin Carroll, and incredibly this gets overlooked a bit with him (because he's so great at nearly everything), but Mike Trout still has some great wheels.
April 16th, 2024 at 10:03 PM ^
Philly fans were definitely rough. While an undergrad in UM ChE in mid 1980s, one of the grad students was a Philly guy and huge baseball fan. He told me the only people the fans didn't boo were: Pete Rose (Charlie Hustle), Larry Bowa (another hustler) and Steve Carlton (any guy who wins 27 in 1972 for a team that lost 97 in a shortened season deserved the best).
"Whiteyball"
In his case, it’s more appropriately described as “hairist”. He and Sparky had the whitest hair I ever saw.
As someone who lives near St. Louis. He was the best!
I'll admit that I haven't thought about him in a long time, but if you'd have asked me 24 hours ago, I probably would have told you, "Yeah, he died like 15 years ago." I had no idea he was still alive.
Great manager and highly quotable. Still remember this one:
"If I could pick one guy in all of baseball to start an expansion team with, it'd have to be Strawberry," says Whitey Herzog of the St. Louis Cardinals. "I'd put him at cleanup, get me six jackrabbits and a plumber to hit behind him, and I'd have myself a——team. Strawberry's the guy."
Whitey may or may not have said this: “Showing one’s teeth is a sign of submission for primates. When someone smiles at me, all I see is a chimpanzee begging for its life”
Great story about when he told the home plate ump before the last game prior to the All-Star break to dump him in the 1st inning so he could get more time on his fishing trip. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore
Whitey skippered the 1982 Cardinals that beat the Brew Crew from Milwaukee. Cardinals' catcher Ted Simmons and I were both born in Highland Park, Michigan eleven years apart. I wanted the Brewers to win, however, because I was a Robin Yount fan. Those were the days!
Since you mentioned Robin Yount ..... this has nothing to do with Whitey Herzog, but I read just yesterday that Al Kaline played in MLB games against both Satchel Paige and Robin Yount.
Mr. Tiger .... one of the more remarkable baseball facts I've heard in a long time!
Was at a Brewers - Red Sox Twi night DH in 1983 (it was 19 for beer in Wisconsin so my friend and I, both 20, drove from Chitown to the game and sat in the bleachers drinking 1.50 Old Styles or something). I didn't know at the time that Ted was actually at UM for a short period of time. When each Brewer player stepped to the plate, they would play a theme song with a few notes. Ted's song played on the organ - with the note parallelling "hail-to-the-vic-tors." It was cool hearing that in Milwaukee!
Carl Eskine has passed away too. The last surviving member of the" Boys of Summer" those fondly remembered Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the late 1940s to mid-1950s, Erskine died Tuesday at a hospital in his hometown of Anderson, Ind. He was 97.
Seeing those teams with Jackie Robinson at Ebbets Field must have been something.
I work for FedEx Express in Muncie IN and he lived in Anderson IN. I got to meet him a few times delivering to him. He even autographed a baseball for one of my coworkers who’s a diehard Dodger fan. Great guy!
ONE player from the 1955 Brooklyn WS Champs is still alive - the great Sandy Koufax. But I don't think he made Roger Kahn's wonder book on the team (have read that book several times).
Totally ironic KC had the best groundskeeper in the country (George Toma) so he could tend artificial turf. Whitey was my guy til he left then it was great to see him lose to the Royals in ‘85. Saw so many great games at Royals Stadium while he was there. Those were the days of glory with 4 major league teams in town. RIP Whitey.
To White Sox fans, that’s blasphemy. Now if only I could find my Roger Bossard bobblehead.
Loved the Running Redbirds in the 1980s. Amazingly, they went to 3 WS in the 80s and all went 7 games. They got screwed by Don Denkinger in Game 6 1985 and could have won a 2nd title. The 1987 Twins seemed a team of fortune and won every home playoff/WS game.
He started his career as MLB manager for a really bad 1973 Texas Rangers team that had been forced to start a HS grad and #1 pick David Clyde as an appeal to fans.