Whether it was a style of play still decades later demanded from the team, the restoration of championship expectations, or the devoted fans that filled the ballpark and informed and inspired generations to come, the 1980s teams of Whitey Herzog were a force multiplier for Cardinals history.
They amplified the reach and the devotion of the fans.
And Herzog was the exponent, doing more than just double, triple, or even tenfold the fans of the Cardinals for his decade as manager.
This podcast built on remembrance and storytelling becomes a tribute. Herzog, a Hall of Fame manager, died this past week in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. He was 92. His legacy is large, his influence still ubiquitous at the ballpark. And who better to ask about Herzog's lasting impact on the organization and its fan base than a ºüÀêÊÓƵ native born in 1980 and born as a baseball fan during the era of Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and Herzog? So here is the question presented to ºüÀêÊÓƵ sports columnist Benjamin Hochman:
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What was it like being born as a baseball fan into Whiteyball?
Cue the synthesizer.
Hochman talks with Best Podcast in Baseball host and baseball writer Derrick Goold about the teams captured his imagination as young fan and put thousands on the edge of their seats from the moment the leadoff hitter stepped it. Those teams and their gregaroius manager galvanized a city and there are friendships that Hochman still has from his youth that were at least strengthened by a shared love for the Whiteyball-era Cardinals.
They played an innovative and charismatic brand of baseball.
The modern team could benefit from both.
This brand-new BPIB closes with a discussion what to make of the Cardinals' offense as they finish their first division series of the season. With former MVP and an engine of production for the team, Paul Goldschmidt, struggling, the Cardinals have needed some innovation to spark the offense. Where can that come from, and do the traits of Whiteyball offer any hints at how to maximize a roster and conjure a contender even while the top producers are struggling?
The season is young, but the offensive struggles of the team already feel old.
Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck gets the last words with wisdom that applies to 1987 or 2024.
The Best Podcast in Baseball is sponsored by Closets by Design of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, is a production of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ, .
The architect of "Whiteyball" who brought championship baseball back to ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Herzog died Monday. He was 92. How he managed and how his teams played set expectations still chased.
A frustrating spring training has faded into a resounding start to the season for shortstop who typified a Whiteyball theme to Tuesday's 3-2 win in Oakland.
Cardinals return home still looking for their first win of the season in a series finale after Athletics flips the script, scrape together key runs in 6-3 win.
He was the epitome of a manager. With “Whiteyball,†he dictated the way the game was played with speed — a chessmaster on an Astrotuf chessboard.