Did You Know? Whitey Herzog had ties to baseball in Southeast Missouri

The news of former St. Louis Cardinals skipper Whitey Herzog’s death spread quickly Tuesday, April 16.

Herzog was a Hall of Fame baseball manager, who gained popularity in Missouri for his World Series championship in 1982 and National League championships in 1985 and 1987. Herzog’s “Whitey Ball” strategy emphasized speed, defense and pitching, which led St. Louis to an era of dominance in the 1980s. That was after leading the Kansas City Royals to American League division titles from 1976 to 1978.

But Herzog also influenced baseball in Southeast Missouri after his managing days were over.

For a period, when it was first built, the stadium (now called Jackson Indian Stadium) that hosts Jackson’s high school baseball games, was known as Whitey Herzog Stadium. That’s because Herzog was a lifelong friend of Jack Litzelfelner Sr., who pushed for a new stadium to be built.

The two men were roommates during their minor league playing days.

Herzog, born in New Athens, Illinois, near St. Louis, and Litzelfelner played minor league baseball together in 1952 in Quincy, Illinois, which was then the host of a farm team for the Yankees, according to previous reporting in the Southeast Missourian.

Litzelfelner was among those, along with Ron Clark, and his family, who spearheaded the construction of the stadium. The Clarks donated the land and much of the construction labor for the ballpark.

Herzog put $85,000 toward the baseball stadium, the late Jack Litzelfelner Sr. told the Southeast Missourian when the stadium was christened in 2010. The bones of the park cost some $400,000, paid for with private donations from individuals and businesses.

“He’s been a big contributor. Big, big,” Litzelfelner Sr. said at the time.

But Herzog’s contributions to area baseball weren’t limited to the stadium in Jackson. In 2004, at the age of 72, Herzog made the trip to Cape Girardeau County as a special guest in a golf tournament at Bent Creek Golf Course to raise funds for the Southeast Missouri State University baseball program.

“I think any time I can do something to help a college program, young ballplayers, I’m glad to do it,” Herzog said during an interview with the Southeast Missourian. “I really enjoy these kinds of things.”

Southeast baseball coach Mark Hogan said Herzog is “great with everybody and, as a program, we can’t tell you how much it means for him to be here.”

In an interview he gave at the time of the golf tournament, Herzog quipped, “I play golf the way I used to play baseball. The more I played, the worse I got.” That day, Herzog was the featured speaker at the Cape Girardeau Elks Lodge for the evening’s silent auction and dinner.

Herzog was also the guest speaker in 1989 at a Procter & Gamble seminar in Cape Girardeau.

“I’ve said many times that baseball has been very good to me ever since I quit trying to play the game,” Herzog joked, adding later, “Everybody seems to want me to come around and motivate people. But I think the Notre Dame football (coach) Lou Holtz said it best: ‘When I have to motivate somebody, I get rid of them.’”

The comment sent a roar of laughter through the Holiday Inn Convention Center.