Whitey and the Wizard

ST. LOUIS -- Ivan DeJesus, Rick Burleson, Alan Trammel. These were some of baseball's best shortstops in 1981, along with the Cardinals' Garry Templeton.

But after Templeton made an obscene gesture to fans at Busch Stadium late in the 1981 season, manager Whitey Herzog knew he had to replace him.

He inquired about Trammel. No way, the Detroit Tigers said. Burleson was about to be dealt from Boston to the California Angels. DeJesus was about to be traded, too, on his way to Philadelphia for young second baseman Ryne Sandberg -- a deal the Phillies would regret for years to come.

So Herzog turned his attention to a great-field-no-hit shortstop in San Diego -- Ozzie Smith. He was the beginning of a long, successful relationship.

"Even then, Ozzie was the wizard in San Diego -- a great fielder with no pop in his bat," Herzog said.

To say it worked out would be an understatement. Smith, acquired for Templeton prior to the 1982 season, spent 15 seasons in St. Louis, leading the Cardinals to the 1982 championship and pennants in 1985 and 1987. He became a solid offensive player -- especially in clutch situations -- in addition to arguably the greatest defensive shortstop ever. On Sunday, he'll be this year's lone inductee into the Hall of Fame.

"If I could say one thing, one sentence about Ozzie Smith, it is that no matter what happened, he always found a way to get the job done," said Herzog.

Trading Templeton wasn't originally a popular move in St. Louis, considering he was a perennial .300 hitter and capable of spectacular, though inconsistent, defense.

But Herzog was intrigued by Smith, who had already won two Gold Gloves in his four seasons in San Diego. Smith was like a gymnast, leaping over runners trying to break up double plays, diving for and getting to balls seemingly out of reach, tumbling to snare would-be bloop singles.

Smith had a no-trade clause in his one-year contract. His agent, Ed Gottlieb, had asked San Diego for a long-term contract, but the Padres refused and San Diego general manager Jack McKeon was willing to make the trade.

But first, Herzog had to sell Smith, a native Californian, on St. Louis.

Herzog met with Ozzie, his then-wife, Denise, and Gottlieb, the day after Christmas in 1981. His pitch was: "If they would come to St. Louis, I pay him X amount of dollars and at the end of the year, if he didn't like me or St. Louis, I grant him a release."

What Herzog said next still sticks with Smith.

"I remember him coming to California and saying point-blank to me: 'If you play for the St. Louis Cardinals, there will be absolutely no reason we can't win it all.' A person giving you that type of conviction and allowing you to feel good about yourself that way is very special," Smith said.

Smith agreed to the trade. Herzog, also the Cardinals' general manager at the time, gave him a $450,000 one-year deal, up from the $200,000 he was making.

"When we made the deal, I'm being very honest, he was known as a slick fielder but he was better than I expected him to be," Herzog said. "I was surprised how good he was."

The Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games in the 1982 World Series. Smith never left St. Louis, retiring in 1996.

Smith wanted to be a better hitter and Herzog helped him go from a .230s hitter in San Diego to a player who batted .270 or better nine times in St. Louis.

Herzog's had his third base coach, Chuck Hiller, teach Smith to lay off the high pitch and chop down on the ball, taking advantage of Smith's speed and Busch Stadium's bouncy artificial turf of the 1980s.

Herzog devised a bet to help encourage the philosophy. He'd give Smith a dollar for every ground ball; Smith would give Herzog a dollar for every fly ball.

"Everything took off for me offensively," Smith said. "Whitey lost (the bet) very quickly. He called it off after I was about $300 ahead. He said, 'You're killing me.' I said, 'Mission accomplished."'

Smith improved so much that he moved from the eighth spot in the lineup to the second. He earned much of the credit for helping to protect leadoff man Vince Coleman in the mid-1980s when Coleman was stealing more than 100 bases a year.

The relationship between Herzog and Smith deepened. Eventually, Herzog counted on his shortstop to help communicate his message to other players.

"Players get tired of listening to a manager's crap after 10 years so you have to use different ways to reach them," Herzog said. "Every once in a while, I'd bring in Oz and tell him this has to be done and would you mention it. He'd invariably do that. That's something people didn't know too much about. That helped me."

Smith helped mentor young players like Coleman, Willie McGee, Terry Pendelton and Brian Jordan. It was a role he cherished.

"Whitey gave me all the freedom in the world," Smith said. "As a manager, I think, he realized he couldn't do everything. He gave me that responsibility of being able to relate to players when there may have been a problem or something. He wasn't afraid to let me handle what that problem was. I treasured that responsibility."

Smith showed by example as well. After he suffered a rotator cuff injury in 1985, he elected not to have surgery and instead turned to fitness expert Mackie Shilstone, who developed a regimen that allowed Smith to remain successful despite the injury.

"That's how crazy or eccentric he was," Herzog said. "I'll be honest, after he tore that rotator cuff, I didn't know if he'd play again. If I had to move him to second base, I think he probably would have quit.

"He wanted to be remembered as the greatest shortstop ever."