Somehow, Mike Shildt got the St. Louis Cardinals to buy into "Ball Talk."
It would've been all too easy for the Cardinals players, especially the veterans, to roll their eyes. After all, Shildt had never played a single inning of professional baseball. He had never managed in the majors. But there he was on the first day of the second half of the season, fresh off replacing longtime skipper and former big leaguer Mike Matheny, who had been fired by the club after a 47-46 start, telling his new charges that team meetings would become a regular thing.