I remember Thomas Boswell writing something like Herzog’s Cardinals had the audacity to challenge baseball’s conventions and were worth a dozen conventional champions. Something like that.

In any sport, there are different ways to win. There is no one, single path. That’s one of the reasons sports can be so fascinating.

Bravo, Whitey.

congrats whitey!

My guess is that he really impressed with his physical condition and desire to play in STL…..his numbers down the stretch prove he could definitely be worth 7.5 million, though initially this base seems a little high to me. It’s a good signing though—-no compensation to give up and if he has a solid year for us my guess is he could definitely become Type A or Type B compensation after 2010 season.

Well, we’ve come full circle. Whitey stars long before VEB and now is elected to the HOF apparently past the VEB prime.

For the first time in – I forget how long – I’m forced to turn to the P-D for breaking news and quality commentary on the White Rat. The P-D? Heck, VEB is the reason they became irrelevant.

Whitey HOF gets 18 VEB comments in 4 hours. I get it that many of you were not yet born when Whitey Ball ran wild………and that sabremetrics rule….and that civil discussion has been replaced with profanity laced me-first tirades…..and that VEB is not for breaking news…..but still

I’m in Indy tonight and there’s more talk at the winter meeting hotel bars about Whitey than there is on this website.

So, it’s official – I am an old guy complaining about the youngsters………….VEB is not what it used to be………..but, I concede to those under 30………..have at it……I miss you Whitey and lboros.

Okay….let the bashing of me begin…………………..

made me a royals fan for his reign – they weren’t ahead of the birds, of course, but as soon as the merger took place i never cared about the royals again.

I more or less said this at the P-D as well, but I can think of few former managers more deserving at this point.

Yes, as a young person, most of my exposure to the game of baseball came through the Cardinals and Herzog was managing at that time.

However, when you take a 100+ year old game, turn it’s whole philosophy upside down, and win Championships with said philosophy, that makes you HOF material in my book. No mater who you managed for.

If not a time for Whitey Herzog Day at the park, then I don’t know when. Miklasz is dead on: time to retire #24.

And I love this move by the way. A quality starter (who hasn’t necessarily only performed in his “walk year”). And at a decent price to boot.

Almost better yet, it just turned up the heat on Boras to make a deal, and quick with Boston (who at this point is probably the only realistic bidder with the possible exception of Seattle).

And I’m going to say it now: Boras is doing his job in trying to get the best deal for his client. Yea, he’s smarmy and most of what comes out of his mouth is complete B-S, but again he’s doing it on behalf of a guy who’s talent would otherwise be taken advantage of by baseball’s ownership. Everytime a guy like Boras digusts you, think about what happened to Curt Flood. And every agent worth his high commission is doing the same thing right now for his client (or he at least better be). Boras just has to (and benefits by) doing it publicly. Big clients (he’s got ’em), means constantly talking to the press and exacting the last bit of leverage out of the deal.

Now Mo, go finish off with Holiday at a relatively non-crippling number and this will have been a banner off-season.

I could write a tome, but I’ll try bullet points.

- For those who weren’t around, Whitey was essentially an early sabremetrician, although he wouldn’t have described himself as such. He was a big believer in OBP. Look at the OBPs of those 82-87 teams. Probably the greatest indicator of Whitey’s sabremetric chops was him replacing Ted Simmons with Darrell Porter, a move for which he was roundly criticized at the time. Despite generally being a low batting average guy, Porter got on base. Dusty Baker would have hated him, LOL. FWIW, he also “got” the idea of a SB being essentially an additive to SLG, for most intents and purposes, and he believed that the benefits you got from having a running team (shaking up the pitchers, making the defense move around) were more beneficial than the component of SLG that doesn’t show up from a SB (namely, the added ability to move runners already on base over).

- As a General Manager, Whitey also helped build winners in California and New York (for the Mets).

- While saying that Whitey revolutionized the game might be a bit of an overstatement – it’s not like he invented the SB or anything – it is no overstatement to say that he was the first to use the SB as an overall team strategy. He adapted to an unusual time in baseball history and did so in a way that won a lot. Plus, it was a lot of fun to watch. Watching an early 80s Cards’ game was wholly different from watching a game today. They were both baseball, and they are both fun, but watching the speed on the defensive side of the ball was a sight to behold.

- Whitey is perhaps one of the keenest baseball minds in the business. He wasn’t a one-trick pony. He was aware that he was building a team for a unique set of circumstances. As far as the keen mind goes, he has an encyclopedic memory of games and events. I have heard him intereviewed and recounting dates and games and the impications of those games on the waiver wire order and the results therefrom.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness nature of this post in advance.