What does the 24 patch on Cardinals jerseys mean?

It's already been a difficult year for the St. Louis Cardinals. The team has limped to a 20-26 start, which has put manager Oli Marmol, who the team surprisingly inked to a two-year contract extension this spring, on the hot seat. Star sluggers Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt have struggled to regain their All-Star form, while within the NL Central, the Brewers and Cubs have looked like real playoff contenders, and even the Pirates and Reds have young stars in Paul Skenes and Elly de la Cruz to keep their respective fanbases excited through sub-.500 starts.

The Cardinals' struggles on the field have compounded the grief felt by the team's fanbase, as they are still mourning the loss of franchise great Whitey Herzog in mid-April. Herzog passed away peacefully at the age of 92 shortly after the season began, and with that in mind, the team recently debuted a patch on the sleeve of its jerseys to honor the man who led them to three National League pennants and one World Series championship.

St. Louis Cardinals honor former manager Whitey Herzog with jersey patch

Herzog, known affectionately by fans as "The White Rat," has long been a franchise favorite, and the model against which other Cardinals managers have since been measured. Marmol, in particular, has come under fire after a last-place finish in 2023 and a similarly ineffective start to this season, and Herzog's patch, which features his retired number 24, is a constant reminder now of when times were good in the Gateway City.

Herzog managed the Cardinals for 11 years in all after seven years' worth of stops in Texas, California (with the Angels), and Kansas City, and he even served briefly as the team's general manager at the same time, making several deals that helped propel the Cards to the World Series title in 1982, the team's first since 1967. He managed the Cardinals to 822 wins in all, which at the time was second only to Red Schoendienst and has since been surpassed by Tony La Russa's 1,408.

Herzog was a baseball lifer, having also played in the majors for eight years in the '50s and '60s, but he's best known for being the architect of "Whiteyball," the Cardinals' patented style in the '80s that emphasized speed, with players like Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith, and Willie McGee terrorizing opponents on the basepaths, and defense, with Smith, Keith Hernandez, and McGee combining for over a dozen Gold Gloves in the decade. Herzog was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2010, and said in his induction speech that getting into Cooperstown "was like going to heaven," a quote the Cardinals used in a tribute video to him the day after his death.

Herzog was present at Busch Stadium on Opening Day this year, though his health kept him from taking the field with fellow Cardinals legends and Hall-of-Famers such as Smith, La Russa, Joe Torre, and Scott Rolen. The Cardinals are one of the most storied franchises in Major League Baseball, with deep, lifelong ties that connect each generation of players, managers, and fans. Honoring Herzog's part in that by wearing a patch all season is a beautiful reminder of that.