7 living hall of famers.
BY
DAN O'NEILL
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/13/2010
The "Cardinal Way."
You will hear about it a lot this summer, see it characterized in commercials and pasted on billboards. The baseball team in town has put forth the proposition there is such a thing, a discipline unlike any others, a method tried and true.
Clever concept? Madison Avenue musings? Perhaps some of both.
But when asked to explain 118 years of baseball, 17 pennants and 10 World Series titles, some of those who have participated suggest there is a discernible fingerprint, a Cardinal experience that is unparalleled and unmistakable.
"You're talking about a spirit," said Lou Brock, who found the spirit after coming from the Cubs to the Cardinals in 1964, then rode it all the way to Cooperstown. "When you hear 'Cardinal Way, ' you know full well you're talking about meeting the opponent eye to eye.
"It started long before all of us. It was a scratchy type of baseball that doesn't know how to say no. It's a team that doesn't beat itself. Today, you see a scrappy player like Brendan Ryan and you say, 'Oh, that's a throwback to the old Cardinals teams. That's a dirty uniform, that's the 'Cardinal Way.' "
The personality has manifested itself in different forms over the years, adapting to different eras and unique circumstances. From Gas House Gangs, to El Birdos, to Whiteyball to Tony La Russa's Hard Nine, the texture has evolved. CARDS BASICS
Its creators included sage philosophers like Branch Rickey, Sam Breadon and Bing Devine. Its practitioners are colorful characters like Dizzy Dean and Pepper Martin, fierce competitors like Bob Gibson and Rogers Hornsby and wholesome heroes like Red Schoendienst.
The "Cardinal Way" can be daring as Lou Brock, dazzling as Ozzie Smith and incomparable like Stan Musial.
Long before he put his own signature on the franchise, New Athens native Whitey Herzog was well familiar with the "Cardinal Way."
"I can remember when I signed as a high school player, in 1949 with the Yankees, I was 17 years old," Herzog said. "The three top organizations were the Dodgers, Cardinals and Yankees. They had 24 to 26 minor league teams then.
"And those three organizations taught fundamentals better than everybody. ... I'll say this, and it's true. The guys who played for any of those three organizations were cockier than all the rest. It was different. If you played for the Cardinals, it meant something."
Jack Clark recognized the essence shortly after he was traded from the San Francisco Giants to the Cardinals in February 1985. A feared equalizer in the middle of the lineup, the slugging Clark propelled the club to World Series appearances in 1985 and 1987.
"The 'Cardinal Way' is respecting the game and the name on the front of the shirt, the history of the organization," Clark said. "Stan Musial is at the top of that and it filters down to all of the Hall of Famers and great players who have played here. It's the pride you to have to wear the uniform from the time you go to spring training, to represent it on the field and off the field, too."
Clark readily acknowledged the Cardinals don't have a patent of pride; other organizations value the same. But not many have the same DNA.
"It's just different here because of the fan base, the support," Clark said. "And when I got here we had a Hall of Fame announcer like Jack Buck, and we had an owner like Gussie Busch and they bring you into the family. ... You put it all together and it's like being in heaven — baseball heaven."
Andy Van Slyke advanced through the organization to play four years in St. Louis before being traded to Pittsburgh in April 1987. The strong-armed outfielder knows for a fact there is a "Way."
"For a very long time, the 'Cardinal Way' was the George Kissell way," Van Slyke said. "I'm not necessarily talking about winning all the time. I'm talking about always playing the right way, always running out balls, throwing to the right base, always knowing what you are doing before the ball is in play."
A legendary "baseball man," Kissell passed away in October 2008. He was in the organization for 69 years, serving in various instructive roles. Those who learned from Kissell hold him in the highest regard, and those who didn't the highest respect.
"In the process, you saw a lot of other teams respect the Cardinals because of how they played," Van Slyke added. "You talk to any player who has played for another organization and come over to St. Louis, or one who came up with the Cardinals and went elsewhere, and they really realize what that meant.
"There was a certain pride when you put on the (Cardinals) uniform, and I think players took on the responsibility for themselves to not disgrace that uniform and play up to those standards. ...
"It still exists and you know what, I think Tony La Russa has done a terrific job of continuing that tradition."
Maybe the "Cardinal Way" is a slick marketing campaign, or maybe it's something more. If you were at opening day, saw the parade of legends and luminaries, saw the red-splashed stands and soaring spirits, you bet on the latter.