Major League Baseball

Classic Whitey: Herzog remembers days with Casey

Published Dec. 12, 2009 8:42 p.m. ET

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Whitey Herzog always knew how to entertain a crowd. On Tuesday, the former manager drew laughs at his Hall of Fame news conference when he recalled his days with the great Casey Stengel. Here's how the popular storyteller told it:

``Well, I got to be very tight with Casey when I went to the Yankees' spring training camp, and then when Casey came over to the Mets and he quit managing and he was kind of just an ambassador for us. Every day, every night, we would be in the press room talking. Every day he would come over and he would keep me from working, really.

``Casey would be there and I couldn't do a damn thing because he wanted to talk baseball all the time. Casey loved me, and for some reason ... I never could figure out when I went to spring training and to the Yankees' rookie school in 1955, 1956 and so forth, why he took so much interest in me.

``He talked with me and worked with me more than Roger Maris or (Mickey) Mantle or Bobby Richardson, and he's always working with me. Well, after I got to know this and I spent a lot of time with him, he came up to Anaheim to see me three or four weeks before he passed away. I said, 'Now, why in the world did Casey take that liking to me?'

``But anyway, I finally figured out that Casey played for John McGraw, and on his team was Buck Herzog, the third baseman. Casey, I know damn well he didn't know who I was. He thought I was his grandson, and that's why he was nice to me.''

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