A Tribute to the White Rat

29/04/2024 20:00

Whiteyball Changed the game in the 1980's

My first era as a baseball fan was the 1980s. Things were different back then. Astroturf was a LOT more popular during that era. There were only two divisions per league, so the Cardinals were in the East. How strange is that? As a kid, my main worry was the... NY Mets. My dad would yell at the tv, making fun of many of the Mets players names and possessing a derision somewhere between playful and utter.

The National League in the 1980s was mostly about the Cardinals and the 1986 Mets, as far as I remember. The Montreal Expos were also quite good. The '86 Mets are a COMPLETELY different topic, other than the fact that Keith Hernandez joined them after he won a world series ring with the '82 Cardinals. And the 1982 Cardinals are a good place to start analyzing the impetus for this writing: a tribute to Whiteyball.

Whitey Herzog was by all accounts a good guy from a small town in mid America. Rather personable you might say, and smart as a whip. He imagined baseball played in a new way, on Astroturf, with highly athletic players on the team, good at defense and offense, but preferably FAST. He would also maximize any additional runs that could be garnered from speed and agility, as well as his own baseball smarts.

About Astroturf: only 14 teams have never had Astroturf in their home stadium... which was 17 teams until only a couple years ago (yes, a few teams are going back to the 'turf now... hmmm). The Cardinals were an early adopter of Astroturf historically, going from 1970 to 1995 with the 'turf! The Astros, Reds and Pirates were the most turfy however. More on the history of Astroturf at this link.

At about 6 years old I became a wondrous fan of this game called Major League Baseball. It's been with me through thick and thin, like an old friend. That's how Whitey Herzog felt to me, like an old friend. Even though I didn't know him, I did read his book White Rat long ago and it just made everything more familiar. Players like Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, and Willie McGee were my favorites, all very speedy and usually good defenders (maybe not so much Vince, but he was the quickest).

Stolen bases were a key part of Whiteyball, after getting on base somehow. He would take a hit, bunt, or walk, just get on base and run! Then take away runs with athletic defense like few teams had seen before. And why not do cartwheels and backflips onto the field to get the crowd riled up? The Runnin' Redbirds of the 1980s were a fantastic team. And those teams produced THREE world series appearances.

1982

To start the 80s the Cardinals were just a middle of the pack team, actually below .500 like they were in the 70s. Keith Hernandez had just produced his best years of baseball in 1979 and 1980, but the team wasn't there yet. Just the next year the Cardinals had already turned it around with an overhaul utilizing the vision of Whitey Herzog. 1981 was a strange players strike interrupted season (which I would like to hear more about if anyone has any insights).

The World Series champion 1982 team consisted of Daryl Porter at catcher, Keith Hernandez at first base, Tommy Herr at second base, the Wizard of defense Ozzie Smith at shortstop, Ken Oberkfell at third base, team leader in total bases Lonnie Smith in left field, Willie McGee in center field, and George Hendrick in right field. That group's average age was 27 years old with Hendrick somehow the main RBI man and oldest of the bunch.

Hernandez, L. Smith, and Hendrick were the big producers on offense for this team, while the middle infield of Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr was one of baseball history's best ever at preventing runs. The rotation had a one-two punch with Joaquín Andújar and Bob Forsch at the top that pitched just under 500 innings between the two... and with Bruce Sutter pitching over 100 innings out of the bullpen, that trio was a force to be reckoned with.

Back in 1982, the Brewers were in the American League and that season they were opposition to the Cardinals in the World Series. That championship could be boiled down to the best hitting team in the major leagues in Brewers versus the Cardinals as an elite defensive team. The two teams were roughly equal at pitching, but pitching wasn't either team's strength. The Cardinals did have another weapon, an x-factor of managing calls altering the game.

Whatever was the main cause, the Cardinals won the world series that year, and that made me a fan for life along with Ozzie Smith winning me over with his backflips and astonishing athleticism on defense. But there was so much more going on with that team. A cult of personality that was perhaps only rivaled by the 1986 Mets was formed in St Louis that would last a decade.

The 1982 World Series was dubbed by the national media The Suds Series because of Miller versus Budweiser. It was the 4th world series win in a row by the National League, the most consecutive in baseball history to this day. (The NL did win three in a row since then, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, of which, of course, the Cardinals were also a part!)

1985

Whiteyball continued! During the 1983 and 1984 seasons the Herzog lead teams fell back to the middle of the pack, but in 1985 the St Louis Cardinals would go back to the World Series again! Newcomers Tom Nieto (C), Jack Clark (1B), Terry Pendleton (3B), Vince Coleman (LF), and Andy Van Slyke (RF) joined now veteran Whiteyballers Ozzie Smith, Tommy Herr, and Willie McGee. This group's average age was only 26!

This time around the Cardinals finished 3 games ahead of the Mets to take the NL East division title. This team was also the winningest of the three 1980s Cardinal World Series teams, winning 101 games, the most in MLB. The 1985 squad would match the St Louis area code with 314 stolen bases! They were a top 10 offense in MLB, absolutely elite on defense, and only inferior to the Royals in the pitching department.

But alas, as they say, good pitching beats good hitting, I guess. Whatever the case, the Royals found a way to win. Many would say Don Denkinger had a lot to do with the eventual outcome, and I do remember this to be a HUGE letdown as a 9 year old boy. In the Royals 17th season, in the not-first but second all Missouri World Series, Kansas City took the crown. (The first was Cardinals versus Browns, an all St Louis series way back in 1944!)

1985 was the culmination of many really good Royals teams over the decade prior, but I'm not sure they would've been champions without the help of a blown call at a terrible moment, especially when considering the Cardinals could not even score a run in game 7, and could not hold back the Royals defense whatsoever. Just goes to show how quickly tides can turn when every game is a new story and a new day.

This was the 2nd all Astroturf world series, one of only 5 no-DH World Series matchups, and the 5th time in history that a team came back from a 2 game deficit while starting at home.

The big star of the 1985 Cardinals team was none other than Willie McGee. Willie had more than 300 total bases, a batting average over .350, and over 50 stolen bases. You don't see that very often, over 7 WAR! Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr provided over 5 WAR each, what a trio! Also of note: Vince Coleman stole over 100 bases, Terry Pendleton was fantastic on defense at the hot corner, pitching staff ace John Tudor's 275 IP at 1.93 ERA, and Jack Clark's .895 OPS. They could just as easily be World Series champs that year.

1987

In 1986 the Whiteyball Cardinals went dormant again and were middle of the pack like they were in 1983 and 1984. But in 1987 Herzog's Cardinals won 95 games, again finishing ahead of the Mets by 3 games just like in 1985. Could this be a second chance after getting robbed in 1985?

This time around Willie McGee was a fraction of himself but somehow hit over 100 RBI. Tommy Herr was quickly becoming toast performance-wise. Vince Coleman still stole over 100 bases though, Ozzie Smith reinvented himself a bit and became a better hitter, and Jack Clark had a monster 176 wRC+ season. They didn't have an ace like John Tudor though, relying on a rookie 22-year-old Joe Magrane, and some good innings-eaters with veterans Bob Forsch, Greg Mathews, and rotation stalwart Danny Cox. John Tudor was there, but not what he used to be, and with just 96 innings pitched.

This team's positional players were almost the same as the last World Series team, except for Tony Pena at catcher and Curt Ford in right field. In 1987 the foe was the Minnesota Twins, who somehow made it to the World Series with not the most scary team. The Cardinals far outclassed them on defense, neither team was that good on offense, or pitching. But somehow the Cardinals couldn't quite beat a sort of lackluster Twins team.

The 1987 Redbirds stole 248 bases, so that was still very much in effect, and MLB leading. Their baserunning was phenomenal overall. 1987 was the first World Series where some games were played indoors, and also the first where the home team won every game. It was the last World Series with any day games.

It was a rather odd World Series where neither team probably should've been there, the bottom half of the ninth was never played in any of the games (the only time that's ever happened in baseball history), and the Twins were the worst regular season record World Series champion in history at the time. Ironically enough, only the 2006 Cardinals outdid that feat by winning a World Series after going only 5 games above .500 (the 1987 Twins were 85-77).

One key component to the story of the 1987 Cardinals is that Jack Clark hit 35 home runs... in only 131 games. On September 9th he sprained his right ankle and was the 1987 Cardinals only legitimate home run threat. He would miss the postseason. Todd Worrell was the closer during this era, which basically started just after the 1985 world series. There are very few Cardinal relief pitchers more impressive than Todd Worrell from 1986 to 1992.

R.I.P. Whitey

That is enough rambling for now. I remember how tough it was to go through the 1985 and 1987 World Series losses, especially with more and more Cubs fans around in the Quad City area where I grew up during the 1980s. Slowly but surely over time that area went from about equal Cardinals and Cubs fans to more Cubs fans, but anyway, my brother ended up a Cubs fan and I lucked out. It's been a fun and wild ride being a Cardinals fan!

I do miss some of the larger than life personalities of baseball's past, but it's still really cool to follow baseball every day. I will leave you with this local article, remembering one of the Cardinals most uniquely successful baseball managers. Please leave any memories of The White Rat and Whiteyball or 1980s baseball in general in the comments.