Whitey Herzog, who managed St. Louis to...

Whitey Herzog, who managed St. Louis to the National League pennant in what was expected to be a rebuilding year for the Cardinals, was named National League manager of the year by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America, beating Cincinnati’s Pete Rose by one point.

Herzog received 11 first-place votes and 86 points. Rose, who took the Reds to a second-place finish in the NL West as a player-manager, had 85 points and 10 first-place ballots.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, winner of the first manager award two years ago, finished third with 39 points, including three first-place votes. Davey Johnson of the New York Mets had four points, and Buck Rodgers of the Montreal Expos had two.

Two years ago, when the writers introduced the managers’ award, Lasorda beat Bob Lillis, then manager of Houston, by one point, 10-9. In an effort to avoid that close a finish, the ballot was expanded to three names with points awarded on a 5-3-1 basis, but the Herzog-Rose race still came down to one point. One writer, Charley Feeney of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, left Rose off the ballot.