Herzog Managing to Keep a Low Profile

The telephone rings six or seven times before someone finally picks it up.

Then, in that rich baritone voice with the Midwest drawl, “Haaaylo.”

It is Whitey.

And around here, Whitey Herzog needs no surname.

He might have retired six years ago as the Cardinals’ manager. He might have gone off to become the Angels’ general manager for a few years. But now he is back home and is more revered than Bob Gibson or Ozzie Smith.

“When he comes around, everything just stops,” Cardinal closer Dennis Eckersley said. “It’s weird. It’s like you see him and have to catch your breath. People just go crazy when they see him.”

Herzog managed the Cardinals the last time they were in the playoffs in 1987, managed their last three World Series teams and managed their last World Series championship in 1982.

Now, with the Cardinals winners again in a revival of one of the proudest franchises in sports, he is not around.

He attended only a few games all season and wasn’t around for the first round of the playoffs against the San Diego Padres. And he won’t be in attendance today at Busch Stadium for Game 3 of the National League championship series against the Atlanta Braves, tied at one game apiece.

Instead, Herzog will be driving to Osage Beach, Mo., where he will speak to the Missouri Grocers Assn.

“I don’t want to get in the way anyway,” Herzog said. “Let them enjoy what they accomplished. They don’t need me around. They’ve done fine without me.”

It is a peculiar relationship that Herzog now has with the Cardinal organization. He is more popular and respected than Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa or any Cardinal player. He could go from restaurant to restaurant in this town and never pay for a meal.

But he realizes this is La Russa’s moment.

Even in spring training, when La Russa repeatedly invited Herzog to visit the team, Herzog agreed, only to continually cancel.

“He was going to come . . . several times, because he’s such a big part of Cardinal history,” La Russa said. “I mean, we would have to win so much for so long to even be mentioned with Whitey and those guys.

“But every time there was even a whisper of it, there was such a commotion. Whitey was so sensitive to it, and out of respect to us, he backed off. I understand that, and appreciate it.”

That also is why Herzog has been to so few games this season. Instead, he watched at home on TV. He understood the problems La Russa was having during the early part of the season and to have shown up at the ballpark would only have made things worse for La Russa.

“It wasn’t a good scene as it was,” said Eckersley, one of La Russa’s imports from Oakland. “It was strange because it took so long for everyone to feel comfortable. To be honest, I was worried.

“It took a long time for people to accept Tony. Guys used to walk up to me all of the time and say, ‘What’s this guy’s problem?’ I used to tell them, ‘You figure it out.’ ”

The team spent $44.7 million on salaries and bonuses--about $8 million more than the Dodgers--hired La Russa away from the Oakland Athletics for a record salary of $1.5 million and was paying $500,000 to his pitching coach, Dave Duncan.

But on May 19, the Cardinals were in last place with a 17-26 record. They had lost 19 of 25 games. There was bickering in the clubhouse, whispering behind La Russa’s back.

Then the Cardinals swept the Houston Astros in a three-game series at the Astrodome, won 11 of their next 14 and slowly pulled away from the pack in the National League Central.

“I know [La Russa] had his problems at the beginning,” Herzog said. “But I knew they would win the division. They threw a lot of damn money at players this winter. They spent almost twice as much money this winter [$44 million] than any year I had the team.

“When you got a $40-million payroll, you should be in the playoffs, shouldn’t you? Come on, you spend that kind of money, you got to get better players. And if you got better players, you should win.

“We never had a payroll over $23 million. It was $9 million when we won in ’82. I remember I had a deal with [former owner August Busch]. I told him, ‘Let me have any player I want, and if I get him, I promise I’ll get rid of a guy with the same salary.’ That was fair, but the fans were smart. They saw what was going on.

“When Anheuser-Busch comes out and says they made $380 million, and then they’re not raising the [baseball] payroll, squeezing pennies and raising the ticket prices, that don’t sit too well.

“Believe me, it was damn tough.”

These days there is new ownership and Cardinal passion is back. The Cardinals drew 2.65 million fans during the regular season. And don’t even think about picking up a playoff ticket. This is not Los Angeles or Atlanta. Playoff games here were sold out immediately.

“I had been warned about this place after I signed,” La Russa said. “I ran into Orlando Cepeda and he said, ‘You’re going to the damnedest baseball town in the country.’ This sounds corny, but it’s a privilege to be part of it.

“You’ve got to see this place to believe it.”

Said Eckersley, “It took awhile to get used to it. I mean, these people are really into it. It’s not like California, believe me.

“They love their history. You hear them chanting Willie McGee’s name when he just gets into the on-deck circle. They treat him like he’s Willie Mays.”

And, of course, there is the city’s love affair with Ozzie Smith, who announced that he would retire during the season, although Friday he said that he is keeping his options open.

“Ozzie had more retirement ceremonies than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Herzog said. “Now you hear the talk he doesn’t want to retire. I guess it will be like a baby shower. He’ll have to give all that stuff back.”

With continued success--maybe if the Cardinals pull off the upset of the Braves--could Herzog eventually be forgotten here?

“I think Tony’s started to win this town over,” said Walt Jocketty, Cardinal general manager. “And, hopefully, one day he can surpass Whitey’s success.

“But I don’t know if there will ever be a day when anyone will surpass Whitey’s popularity.

“Maybe no one should.”