Hummel: Sports Journalist

It was Thursday, December 17th 1981. It was the day after I worked hosting a remote broadcast for WIBV radio at Fischer's restaurant on West Main street in Belleville. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground that day. And whenever there was snow, the Belleville radio station was a busy place. School closings, meetings cancelled, and snow-related ads and announcements dominated the airwaves. For those who don't remember. the station was the major full-service radio station in the metro-east..much like KMOX was to the entire market at the time. I had worked at the station for eight-plus years by then with on-air and management responsibilities in programming. Late in the morning, I received a phone call from Rick Hummel that surprised and excited me. More on that in a moment.  

Background: I had recommended to Norm Greenberg, our general manager, that we do a live broadcast from the Belleville Area College Express fundraising event at Fischer's because Whitey Herzog was to be the keynote speaker. Whitey was a major player in the sports news of the day and had put together a trade deal with the San Diego Padres to acquire Ozzie Smith in exchange for Garry Templeton. (We all know now how that turned out.) Tempy had become an outcast to Cardinal Nation because of several behavioral issues he was responsible for, and Whitey was not going to put up with him any longer. However, there was a hang-up in the deal that required the Padres and Ozzie to sign off on some things to complete. I told Norm that if we could get permission, we should broadcast the White Rat's speech because he was likely to say something newsworthy. And, boy, did he.

It just so happened that this evening event at Fischer's fell on the same day as Whitey's mother's funeral. I was told that Mr. Herzog had been at a family gathering most of the afternoon which included food, and apparently, plenty of Anheuser-Busch product. Let's just say that, to his credit, Whitey showed for the speaking engagement, but was obviously in a physical and mental condition to "let it fly" when he got to the podium. In fact, one of the first things he said after seeing that we were there with a live broadcast was a not-suitable-for-broadcast comment about not being advised of a radio presence. Once he got going, he didn't hold back on anything. Of course, most of his comments, and answers to audience questions, were about the pending Smith/Templeton situation. 

The Hummel Call: Rick was the beat reporter for the Post-Dispatch covering the Cardinals. Of course, that's something that eventually gained him access to Cooperstown, the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame, and many other accolades in the sports journalism business. In those days, the Post was an evening paper and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat was the morning paper of the market...still a pretty competitive situation. I had met Rick a few times at the stadium before, and had a few conversations, but that was about it. So, when he called the station that December morning and asked to speak with me, I had no idea why. The conversation went something like this: 

Hummel: "I hear you broadcast Whitey's speech last night. Is that right?" 

Me: "Yeah..we did. It was something." 

Hummel: "I understand he said some pretty quotable things."

Me: "You bet he did."

Hummel: "Did you happen to record it?"

Me: "We sure did. I figured it might be worth saving." 

(These were the days before digital and we had recorded everything on a 10" reel-to-reel tape.)

Hummel: "Well, I would like to listen to it to get some quotes for a story. But, with the snow, I don't think I want to drive over to Belleville. Could you set me up to listen to it?" 

I could tell he thought this was important stuff, and had been made aware of some of what Whitey had said the night before. As the supreme journalist he was, he wasn't going to let it go un-reported on his watch. Remember, he was the beat reporter covering the Cardinals. And, if he wrote something that Whitey was going to be unhappy with, he might jeopardize his relationship with the manager, who was also general manager, and the team. I set up a playback of the recording in a separate studio...put a telephone handset in front of a speaker...and I imagine Rick was on the other end with his notepad for an hour-and-a-half. 

Later that day, making the deadline for print, the Post-Dispatch sports section headline was: Herzog: Cards Can't Win With Tempy. I kept the paper headline as a souvenir of this interaction with the Commish. 

The quote from Whitey that made national headlines was included in the story. Hummel didn't ignore it to preserve his relationship with the Cardinals. He reported what was said: "When I came here, I said he (Templeton) had the greatest talent in baseball. But I can't win a pennant with that boy. There's no way I can do it."   

Of course, the boy part of it took it to a whole different level from a national and cultural perspective. And, the national news wires...AP, UPI etc. picked up Rick's story and it became national headlines for days after. It was obvious after that night, and Rick's story, that Templeton was not going to be a Cardinal anymore whether or not the Ozzie trade would be consumated. 

When I heard of Rick Hummel's passing, I immediately was transported back to that moment that we interacted on the phone and became part of the Whitey/Smith/Templeton transaction from a journalistic standpoint. The Commish was a kind and gentle man. But don't be fooled. He was a strong, determined and fierce journalist when it came to getting the truth for his readers. His kind are getting more rare as time goes by.

My last conversation with Rick was at last year's St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame enshrinement banquet where he received the Greg Maracek Award for outstanding contributions in the media. As always, he was eager to talk to me about the Blues and my life. Little did I know his life was nearing its end.

I could not write a tribute any better than his colleagues at the Post have already written. And I won't try. But I thought this story about his journalistic integrity was worth remembering.