Tom Herr and John Tudor, two stars from the decade of the 1980s, have been elected to the Cardinals Hall of Fame, the team announced on Friday.
Herr, who played second base on the Cardinals NL championship teams in 1985 and 1987, and Tudor, one of the leaders of the pitching staff on both of those teams, were the top vote getters in fan voting conducted by the team.
They will be joined in this year’s election class by former first baseman Bill White, a star of the 1964 world champion Cardinals, who was selected in a vote by a veteran’s committee of media members and former managers.
While the Hall of Fame induction ceremony is usually held in August, the Cardinals said plans for a formal induction ceremony for this year’s class will be announced at a later date.
Herr and Tudor received the most votes on a ballot that included Steve Carlton, Keith Hernandez, Matt Morris, Edgar Renteria and Lee Smith.
“Selecting the members of the Cardinals Hall of Fame Induction Class is one of our organization’s greatest traditions,” said Bill DeWitt Jr., the team’s chairman and CEO. “We thank the over 100,000 fans and our Red Ribbon Committee who cast their votes for this year’s induction class and look forward to celebrating the achievements of these remarkable players with Cardinals Nation very soon.”
The Cardinals Hall of Fame was established as a way to recognize the exceptional careers and significant achievements of the greatest players in Cardinals history, as well as those who have made exceptional contributions to the organization. Herr, Tudor and White are the seventh class to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which is located at Ballpark Village.
To be eligible, players must have played for the Cardinals for at least three seasons and must be retired as a player from Major League Baseball for at least three years. The eligible pool of players is divided into two categories of “modern players” and “veteran players”. If a player retired more than 40 years prior to the induction year, he is classified as a veteran player.
Here is a description of each Inductee’s career as a Cardinal:
Tom Herr
Making his debut the same night Lou Brock clubbed his 3,000th career hit, Herr made his mark on one of the most popular eras of Cardinals baseball. He led the National League in both fielding percentage and assists as a second baseman in 1981 and finished in the top-three in double plays turned in six of his 10 seasons in St. Louis. Herr’s finest offensive season came in 1985 when he was named to the All-Star team and finished fifth in NL MVP voting after finishing in the league’s top-ten in on-base percentage, batting average, hits, doubles, runs batted in and walks. That season he had 110 RBI and only eight home runs, making him the last player in NL history to reach 100+ RBI with less than 10 HR. A fan favorite of the Whiteyball era, Herr may best be remembered for hitting a 10th inning walk-off grand slam against the New York Mets on “Seat Cushion Night” at Busch Stadium, resulting in thousands of fans hurling their cushions onto the field.
John Tudor
During his five seasons in a Cardinals uniform, Tudor accumulated a .705 winning percentage and 2.52 ERA over 125 starts, both of which still stand as all-time Cardinals records (minimum 750.0 IP). The left-hander’s finest season came during his first year with the club in 1985 when he won 21 games (including a mind-blowing 20-1 record after June 1) with a miniscule 1.93 ERA and 10 complete game shutouts, and finished second in National League Cy Young voting. A member of two National League pennant-winning teams in 1985 and 1987, Tudor had a 3.16 ERA over nine post-season starts for the Cardinals. Tudor would go on to win at least 10 games in each of the four full seasons he pitched for the Redbirds and remains the only pitcher to reach double-digit shutouts in a single season in the last 45 years.
Bill White
Acquired via trade two weeks before the start of the 1959 season, White would go on to spend the next seven years in the Cardinals starting lineup. The left-handed first baseman was named an All-Star in five of those seven seasons, and was part of the all-Cardinals starting infield in the 1963 All-Star Game. After setting career highs in batting average (.324) and OPS (.868) in 1962, White returned with an even better year in 1963, establishing career bests in hits (200), runs (106), home runs (27) and RBI (109). The next year, White finished third in NL MVP voting after putting up another 20+ HR and 100+ RBI season as the Cardinals won their first World Series title in 18 seasons. In addition to his prowess at the plate, White earned six consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1960-1965. While playing for the Cardinals, White worked part-time for KMOX, a precursor to him becoming the first African-American play-by-play broadcaster for a major league team in 1971 and the first African-American president of a major sports league (National League President) in 1989.
Photo by AP courtesy of KSDK Sports
