Herzog itching to manage again, eyes Cubs job

	Whitey Herzog won three pennants and a World Series title with the Cardinals, but he hasn't managed since 1990. Ronald C. Modra/SI

The circumstances would have to be right, but Whitey Herzog told me on the phone Thursday that he would consider coming back to manage a major league baseball team again. The first thing he wants to let any prospective employer know is that he would insist on a short contract, an extremely short contract.

"The one thing I wouldn't ever want is a one-year contract. I'd want a daily contract,'' Herzog said. "That way if I drop dead, they don't have to pay me.''

Herzog is very much alive and kicking at nearly 75, and judging by the short phone conversation he dominated on Thursday, he is as sharp and ready as ever to manage a big league team.

There is no age limit in baseball. Nationals manager Frank Robinson turns 71 later this month. Jack McKeon was a month shy of 73 when he led the Florida Marlins to the 2003 World Series title. Going back, Casey Stengel managed the Mets when he was age 71 to 75, and Connie Mack was 88 when he retired from managing the Athletics. Rather than recycle more youngsters in their 50s this winter, why not Whitey?

Three times Herzog took the Cardinals to the World Series in the '80s after taking the Royals (yes, they once could play) to three straight division titles in the '70s.

"If he's got his health, why not? He was an excellent, excellent manager,'' Jim Leyland, who's 61 and is leading the Tigers to baseball's best record, told Danny Knobler of Michigan's Booth Newspapers. "At one time Whitey could run a game as well as anyone.''

Why not Whitey?

"I think I could do it,'' Herzog said.

Immediately, it's obvious Herzog's been thinking about a comeback even though it's been 16 since he last managed. His mind's as quick as ever, but he admits it wouldn't be easy to do it long-term. "As you get older, things tend to bother you a little bit more,'' Herzog conceded. He isn't speaking of the game but the flying and the moving around. It was travel he cited when he resigned as Angels general manager in 1994. But he believes he could do it for one or two years.

From watching four or five games a day on TV, he surely knows he could still manage a game as well as anyone, and he wonders whether any teams will call. It becomes obvious, too, which team he's been thinking about most (more on that later).

"I don't think the ballplayers would be that much different,'' Herzog said. The key, Herzog believes, is honesty.

Who knows? Maybe his colorful brand of candor plays well. The game has changed since Herzog's Cardinals killed everyone with pitching, defense and speed, lots of speed (his '85 Cardinals had 87 home runs -- and 314 stolen bases).

"It's out of balance [now]. It's a home-run game,'' he said. "You see a lot of opposite-field home runs and some broken-bat home runs. There's probably a lot of HGH. They're not using the body the Lord intended them to have. They're using a different body.''

While the game has changed, Herzog's style is still the same -- straightforward. "We don't pay as much attention to the fundamentals because they don't pay for fundamentals. They only pay for home runs, RBIs, ERA and strikeouts,'' he said. "You never hear anyone say, "The guy's a great ballplayer. He really goes great from first to third.' So why the hell should they pay attention to fundamentals?''

I asked him whether he thought he could get through to today's ballplayers.

"No,'' he said bluntly. "If I could get through to one or two, that would be pretty good. If you've got a good bunch of guys, that's great. But some guys just don't give a [hoot].''

Herzog said he received "five of six offers'' the first 10 years after being replaced as Cardinals manager in 1990 by Red Schoendienst and eventually Joe Torre (Herzog accepted one, to run the Angels' front office) but not one offer in the last three or four.

Herzog won't say which jobs he's turned down ("I can't tell you that!''), but I think it's pretty clear which job would interest him most. He's still a Midwestern boy, after all, having grown up in New Athens, Ill. And there's a certain team -- within driving distance from St. Louis, no less -- that hasn't won a World Series since 1908, which is 23 years before Whitey was born.