ST. LOUIS — He went from undrafted rookie, to one of the most popular Cardinals of the 1980s to now, a St. Louis hall of famer. Tommy Herr may have had an uphill battle to make it in the big leagues, but there's no doubt he made his chance count.
5 On Your Side sports director Frank Cusumano recently was able to catch up with the newest Cardinals Hall of Fame member to talk about his career and his newly-acquired legend status in St. Louis.
It turns out, Herr didn't even get the phone call telling him he was elected until after a bit of phone tag with Bill DeWitt.
It's been no secret that the players of the 80s have received lots of support for the Cardinals Hall of Fame from their Hall of Fame manager, Whitey Herzog. Herzog led the charge for Herr and his teammate, John Tudor, to get their red jackets, and Herr remembers his days playing for Whitey fondly.
Herr is probably one of the most popular Cardinals players of the last 40 years. His popularity in the 80s truly reached celebrity status.
"I heard it described a few weeks ago, I did a radio interview and the one guy said, you know, that I was like a rock star out there in St. Louis. And you know, that's I guess kind of how it was, you know, living through it," Herr said. "I didn't really realize that, but you know after getting voted in, it's kind of unbelievable, because I was a guy that was for one reason or another, really beloved out there. And every time I go back, I'm treated like a king. And I get so many fans coming up to me and saying, 'You know, you were my favorite player'. And that is really flattering and it's humbling, really."
And you can't write a Tommy Herr article without mentioning his most famous moment, right? Herr remembers the famous 'seat cushion night' like it was yesterday. You can watch him recall the walk-off grand slam against the Mets in the video player below.