Whitey Herzog

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Dorrel Norman Elvert "Whitey" Herzog (born November 9, 1931) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was born in New Athens, Illinois.

As an outfielder and left-handed batter, Herzog played for the Washington Senators (1956-58), Kansas City Athletics (1958-60), Baltimore Orioles (1961-62) and Detroit Tigers (1963). In eight seasons, Herzog batted .254 with 25 home runs, 172 runs batted in, 213 runs scored, 60 doubles, 20 triples, and 13 stolen bases in 634 games. In reference to his success as a player versus his success as a manager, Herzog once said, "Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it."

Herzog started his managerial career with the Texas Rangers (1973), following with California Angels (1974), Kansas City Royals (1975-79) and St. Louis Cardinals (1980-90). He had his greatest success in Kansas City, where he won three straight American League Western division titles from 1976 to 1978, and in St. Louis, where he won the 1982 World Series and the National League Pennant in 1985 and 1987. In total, he led six division winners, three pennant winners, and one World Series winner in compiling a 1281-1125 career record.

Herzog's style of play, based on the strategy of attrition, was nicknamed "Whiteyball" and concentrated on pitching, speed, and defense to win games rather than 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 hitters with lesser power, followed by more base stealers. This tactic kept payrolls low while allowing him to win a lot of games in stadiums with deep fences and artificial turf, both of which were characteristics of Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) and Busch 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: such players included Royals Brett, Hal McRae, and Amos Otis, and Cardinals Clark, Keith Hernandez, and Ozzie Smith, as well as Darrell Porter, who played for Herzog in both Kansas City and St. Louis.

[edit] External link

• Complete managing and playing career statistics at Baseball Reference

Preceded by: Jim Frey	National League Manager of the Year 1985	Succeeded by: Hal Lanier
Preceded by: Ted Williams	Texas Rangers Managers 1973	Succeeded by: Billy Martin
Preceded by: Bobby Winkles	California Angels Manager 1974	Succeeded by: Dick Williams
Preceded by: Jack McKeon	Kansas City Royals Manager 1975-1979	Succeeded by: Jim Frey
Preceded by: Jack Krol	St. Louis Cardinals Manager 1980	Succeeded by: Red Schoendienst
Preceded by: Red Schoendienst	St. Louis Cardinals Manager 1981-1990	Succeeded by: Red Schoendienst