[oldandslow]

I am a Cards & Chiefs fan and really view the trade of TG with the same glasses that I view the 1981 Cardinals.

Ted Simmons was my favorite player. He was a great hitter for a C (most don't hit) but just an avg behind the plate guy. I hated Whitey Herzog for trading him and then picking up Darrell Porter. I thought we would never see another series...

Then Whitey went out and did the heretical - he traded a good fielding, switch hitting SS who got 100 hits from both sides for a career .235 hitter at short.

I thought the Cards were doomed for the 80's.

The rest of the story, however, is that while Simmons was a "good guy" he would not do what was best for the team (move out from behind the plate). He knew his individual value was higher at C than at any other position.

Gary Templeton was a jerk. The "if I ain't startin, I ain't departin" great hitting SS was a cancer in the clubhouse. Moody, flippant, and more into individual stats than anything else, Templeton was sent out to laid back San Diego.

Again, it was gloom and doom for the redbirds.

But something funny happened in the 82, 85, and 87 seasons. Whitey Herzog, it seems, knew what he was doing. My guess is Scott Pioli does as well.

I hope I get to hear "Go Crazy, Folks," when the Chiefs go to a SB, the way I did when Ozzie went deep against the Dodgers.