Whitey Herzog

Playing career

Herzog both batted and threw left-handed.^[1] He was originally signed by the New York Yankees by scout Lou Maguolo.^[4] While playing for the McAlester Rockets in the Sooner State League in 1949 and 1950, a sportscaster gave Herzog the nickname "Whitey" due to his light blonde hair and resemblance to blonde Yankees pitcher Bob "The White Rat" Kuzava,^[2] (rather than the light blonde Yankee starter and future Hall of Famer Whitey Ford, then on the way to a 9–1 rookie season). In 1953, during the Korean War, Herzog served the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, during which time he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and managed the camp's baseball team.^[2]

While he was still a minor league prospect, the Yankees traded Herzog to the Washington Senators on April 2, 1956, to complete a February trade in which the Yankees had sent Lou Berberet, Bob Wiesler, Dick Tettelbach, and Herb Plews to Washington for Mickey McDermott.^[5] He made his major league debut with the Senators in 1956 and played for them until May 15, 1958, when he was sold to the Kansas City Athletics.^[6] Before the 1961 season, the Athletics traded Herzog and Russ Snyder to the Baltimore Orioles for Wayne Causey, Jim Archer, Bob Boyd, Clint Courtney, and Al Pilarcik.^[7] After the 1962 season, the Orioles traded Herzog and Gus Triandos to the Detroit Tigers for Dick Brown.^[8] Herzog retired after playing for the Tigers in the 1963 season.^[1] In 634 games spread over eight seasons, Herzog batted .257 with 25 home runs, 172 runs batted in, 213 runs scored, 60 doubles, 20 triples, and 13 stolen bases. In reference to his relative success as a player versus being a manager, Herzog said, "Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it."^[9]

Player development

After his playing career ended, Herzog rejoined the Athletics for two seasons, as a scout in 1964^[10][11] and a coach in 1965.^[1]

His next seven years were spent with the New York Mets, the first, in 1966, as the third-base coach for manager Wes Westrum. Beginning in 1967 Herzog then made his mark with the club during his six-year tenure as its director of player development. On his watch, the Mets produced young talent that either appeared on one or both of its 1969 and 1973 World Series teams or were dealt and had successful major league careers elsewhere. Among this crop of players was Gary Gentry, Wayne Garrett, Jon Matlack, John Milner, Amos Otis, and Ken Singleton. Herzog was a candidate to become the Mets' manager after the death of Gil Hodges prior to the 1972 season, but was passed over in favor of first-base coach Yogi Berra, a future Yankee Hall of Fame catcher and brief ex-Met player, by chairman of the board M. Donald Grant.^[12] He had been ordered to not attend Hodges' funeral by Grant's associates to avoid speculation.^[13]

Rangers and Angels

Perceiving Grant's actions as a snub,^[12] Herzog left the Mets to accept the first managerial assignment of his career. On November 2, 1972, he signed a two-year contract to lead the Texas Rangers, the only major league team to have 100 losses in 1972. Hired based on recommendations from general manager Joe Burke to owner Bob Short, he'd been given the understanding that he was to help develop the team's young prospects.^[14] He immediately abandoned the platoon system used heavily by his predecessor Ted Williams.^[15]

Herzog debuted with a 3–1 Rangers loss to the Chicago White Sox at Arlington Stadium on April 7, 1973. His first victory was a 4–0 triumph over the Kansas City Royals five nights later on April 12 at Royals Stadium.^[16]

He never got the chance to finish the 1973 season. With the team at 47–91,^[16] he was fired on September 7, three days after a home field 14–0 defeat at Comiskey Park.^[14] Coach Del Wilber replaced him for one game, followed by Billy Martin, who had been fired by the Detroit Tigers on August 30.^[17] Short defended the change by telling reporters, "If my mother were managing the Rangers and I had the opportunity to hire Billy Martin, I'd fire my mother."^[14]

Herzog joined the California Angels as their third-base coach in 1974. He was named the team's interim manager on June 27, 1974, the same day that his predecessor Bobby Winkles was fired and also Hall of Fame bound successor Dick Williams was hired.^[18] The first game he managed was a 5–0 win for the Angels, who split a four-game weekend series against the Rangers at Anaheim Stadium during his brief 4-game stint.^[19][20]

Kansas City Royals

Herzog succeeded Jack McKeon as manager of the Kansas City Royals on July 24, 1975, and managed the team from 1975 to 1979. At the time he took over in 1975, the team was in second place in the American League West but trailed the defending and eventual division champion Oakland Athletics by 11 games.^[21] The Royals went on to win three straight American League Western division titles from 1976 to 1978. However, each of those seasons ended with losses to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, with each one having their own particular brand of sting. In the 1976 American League Championship Series, the two teams traded wins to see an even series by the time of the decisive Game 5 in New York. The Royals trailed by three runs in the eighth before rallying to tie the game. On the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth, Chris Chambliss hit a series-ending walk off home run off closer Mark Littell. In the 1977 series, the teams traded wins again in the first four, but the Royals had a chance to clinch it at home. Game 5 saw them lead 3–1 going into the eighth inning, but the Yankees narrowed it to a run with a pinch-hit RBI. Now going with Dennis Leonard (who had pitched a complete game two days earlier), it all sputtered. He allowed a hit and a walk before being pulled, but the Yankees continued to hit the ball and scored three runs in the inning before Kansas City went down in the bottom half as the Yankees went to the World Series again. In the 1978 series, the Royals won Game 2 and played competitive in Game 3, but Herzog's decision to go with Doug Bird in the eighth inning to face Thurman Munson resulted in him belting a go-ahead two-run shot as the Yankees won 6-5. The Royals scored a run in first inning of Game 4 but the Yankees led by the end of the 5th and never looked back in a 2-1 victory.

Herzog and general manager Joe Burke clashed during the 1979 season over personnel moves, and he openly chafed at being offered one-year contracts by owner Ewing Kauffman, who in turn did not like the treatment given to first baseman John Mayberry, whose lackadaisical play in Game 4 of the 1977 series had led to Herzog benching him for Game 5 before blaming him for the series loss and then demanding him to be traded.^[22] After the 1979 season saw the team finish second to the California Angels, Herzog was fired, and he actually expressed criticism of Burke for not doing it sooner to try and give the team a spark during the season.^[23]

St. Louis Cardinals

On June 8, 1980, Herzog was hired by St. Louis Cardinals (under general manager John Claiborne) to manage the team to replace Ken Boyer. Herzog was quoted almost immediately as the leader when asked, stating “I’m going to take this dang team and run it like I think it should be run. I don’t think I’ve ever had trouble with players hustling. I understand that’s been a problem here. I think you’ll see the Cardinals running out groundballs.”^[24] He won the 1982 World Series, and both won the National League pennant and appeared in the Series again in 1985 and 1987.

Herzog's style of play, based on the strategy of attrition, was nicknamed "Whiteyball"^[25] and concentrated on pitching, speed, and defense to win games rather than on home runs. Herzog's lineups generally consisted of one or more base-stealing threats at the top of the lineup, with a power threat such as George Brett or Jack Clark hitting third or fourth, protected by one or two productive hitters, followed by more base stealers. This tactic kept payrolls low, while allowing Herzog to win consistently in stadiums with deep fences and artificial turf, both of which were characteristics of Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) and Busch Memorial Stadium during his managerial career.

A less noticed (at the time) aspect of Herzog's offensive philosophy was his preference for patient hitters with high on-base percentages:^[26] such players included Royals Brett, Hal McRae, and Amos Otis, and Cardinals Clark, Keith Hernandez, José Oquendo, and Ozzie Smith, as well as Darrell Porter, who played for Herzog in both Kansas City and St. Louis. However, in St. Louis, Herzog also employed free-swinging hitters who were less patient, but speedy runners and fielders, such as six-time NL stolen base champion Vince Coleman and 1985 NL MVP Willie McGee.

Herzog's final season with the Cardinals, and in his managerial career, was the 1990 season; he resigned on July 6 of that year with the team at 33–47 and in last place in the NL East. He jokingly stated, "I came here in last place and I leave here in last place. I left them right where I started."^[27] His overall Cardinals record is 822 wins and 728 losses.^[28]