The Cardinal Family

More Mark McGwire-related comments came out this week, but instead of taking another pass at the hitting coach, I wanted to focus on a different aspect of the remarks.  Bob Gibson came out and dismissed comments from former first baseman Jack Clark and former manager Whitey Herzog, in part because they "were not part of the Cardinal family."

While Gibson might mean that Clark and Herzog are not currently working with or helping out the Cardinals, as he does as a spring training coach, is that all there is to it?  Is this the Midwest version of "not a true Yankee?"

If it were just Jack Clark he was dismissing, I might understand that.  After all, Jack only spent three years in St. Louis and left at the end of his tenure for a higher contract with the Yankees after the Cardinals thought they had him locked up.  While Clark made an impact in his time in St. Louis and was a valued member of two World Series teams, I could at least get a handle on Gibson's thought process there.

Herzog, though?  Ten years as a manager, a World Series title and two other appearances, a stint at GM, and going into the Hall of Fame this year as a Cardinal?  I'm not sure how you'd stretch your definition of "Cardinal family", but I'd think Herzog would have to be there.  Sure, he retired in '90 when the team was terrible, but after a decade of service, it's tough to argue that's a deal-breaker.

I'm not one that really wants to get into "Cardinal family" or not.  If the guy put on the Birds on the Bat, he should, with few exceptions, be considered a Cardinal and treated as such.  I don't think there's any magical threshold that makes a player a "true Cardinal".  Are you really going to say that someone like Tom Lawless is (because of a playoff home run) and Jack Clark isn't?  Really?

Obviously some are more tied to the "family" than others.  Even if Albert Pujols walks at the end of next year, a large section of Cardinal Nation will still consider him part of the "Cardinal family" when he retires (maybe not so much while he's still playing....)  The Hall of Famers (Ozzie Smith, Gibson, Bruce Sutter, Red Schoendiest, and the like) are redder, as it were, than some others.  And of course Stan Musial is the Granddaddy Of Them All.

But just because a guy speaks out against something the team is doing shouldn't get him disowned from the Cardinal family.  There's a lot of room for differing opinions in the mix.


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