RetroSimba

In a pairing of two of the most successful and colorful sports leaders of the 1980s, Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka spent an evening with the Cardinals as a guest of their manager, Whitey Herzog.

On July 19, 1988, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Ditka got into a Cardinals uniform, took batting practice with the team and brought out the lineup card to umpires at home plate before the start of a game against the Dodgers.

Ditka came to St. Louis to promote Herzog’s restaurant at Union Station. The management firm that ran Herzog’s restaurant also operated Ditka’s restaurant in Chicago.

Bringing Ditka and Herzog together created the media attention the restaurant managers sought.

Ditka led the 1985 Bears to a NFL championship, winning 15 of 16 regular-season games and all three postseason games. The Bears qualified for the playoffs in seven of his 11 seasons as their head coach. A popular “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketch at the time featured actors playing blue-collar Bears fans who spoke with Chicago dialects about their devotion to “Da Bears” and to Ditka, “Da Coach.”

Herzog led the 1982 Cardinals to a World Series championship and followed that with National League pennant-winning seasons in 1985 and 1987. Dubbed “The White Rat” during his playing career because of his light-colored hair and resemblance to a Yankees pitcher with the same nickname, Herzog transformed the Cardinals into winners by emphasizing a style of play, called “Whiteyball,” featuring speed, fielding, relief pitching and fundamentals

Fan of The Man

Ditka was named Michael Dyczko when he was born Oct. 18, 1939, in Carnegie, Pa. The surname was changed to Ditka during his childhood because it was easier to pronounce.

As a youth in Aliquippa, Pa., where the family moved in the 1940s, Ditka became a Cardinals baseball fan because their best player, Stan Musial, also was from western Pennsylvania.

“I’ve been a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan since I was a kid, basically because of one man, and that was The Man: Stan Musial,” Ditka told the Chicago Tribune in 1988. “Musial was from Donora, Pa., and I was from just outside of Pittsburgh. In the bottom of my heart, I’m still a Cardinals fan. I have to root for the Cubs every once in a while.”

At Aliquippa High School, Ditka played football, baseball and basketball and was coached by Press Maravich, the father of future college and NBA standout “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

Though Ditka was a catcher and outfielder for the high school baseball team, and later for the University of Pittsburgh, he knew his future was in football. “My fondest memories of baseball were playing in Little League and then in Pony League and then American Legion, because we competed pretty good in the state of Pennsylvania,” Ditka said.

After excelling as a receiver and punter for the University of Pittsburgh football Panthers from 1958-60, Ditka went on to become a top tight end in the NFL with the Bears (1961-66), Eagles (1967-68) and Cowboys (1969-72). He was inducted as a player into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Ditka was head coach of the Bears (1982-92) and Saints (1997-99).

“We always enjoyed playing the Cardinals in football,” Ditka said. “St. Louis went through a great era of football down here when Don Coryell was here and Jim Hart and Dan Dierdorf … They were about as good a team as there is in the Eastern Division.”

That’s entertainment

When Ditka got to the Cardinals baseball clubhouse to meet Herzog before the game with the Dodgers, he was issued a uniform with No. 89. That was his uniform number during his NFL playing days.

“Ditka and Herzog appeared to enjoy each other’s company,” columnist Kevin Horrigan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observed, but both “appeared to be just the least bit embarrassed by what their business partners had gotten them into.”

The Cardinals had lost 10 of their previous 11 games, prompting Herzog to tell Ditka, “Let’s don’t joke around with this too much. Bad as we’re going it doesn’t pay to joke too much.”

Ditka stood 6 feet 3 and weighed 230 pounds, and when Herzog saw him in a size 48 Cardinals jersey, he called Tom Brunansky to come over and said to the strapping right fielder, “He’s going to take batting practice. If he hits one out, I may have to move you out of cleanup.”

Replied Brunansky: “He can have right field as far as I’m concerned. Anything for some run support.”

Brunansky, acquired by the Cardinals from the Twins three months earlier, went to his locker and came back wearing a Minnesota Vikings football T-shirt. “What do you think of this?” he said playfully to Ditka.

Hit and miss

In the batting cage, Ditka, 48, hit “a couple of soft-liners, a couple of semi-loud fouls,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Ditka hit “one drive to the warning track after several swings and misses.”

“He’s got a short stroke,” said Herzog. “He’s got potential.”

Ditka gave Cardinals players Bear caps to wear during batting practice. “You know what?” said Herzog. “We hit better with them Bears caps on.”

Wearing his Cardinals uniform with the name Ditka on the back, the Bears coach joined Dodgers coach Bill Russell in presenting team lineup cards at home plate to umpires Tom Hallion, Joe West, Bob Engel and Charlie Williams.

The Cardinals went on to beat the Dodgers, 3-2, that night. Brunansky, batting cleanup, contributed a single, a walk, a stolen base and scored a run. Boxscore

Three days later, Ditka was back with the Bears for the opening day of training camp in Wisconsin.