ST. LOUIS _ A few hours before a game in the Cardinals' previous homestand, the team's relievers filtered into the clubhouse and, with a quick twist of one wrist, the music started thumping.
Bud Norris, the team's unexpected closer and veteran presence, walked over to the speaker and turned the music down _ not off, just down _ and returned to his locker. Jordan Hicks, the heat-seeking rookie, heard the music soften and walked over and turned it back up. This do-si-do happened twice more: The music turned down and the music cranked up, until Norris flipped the music off and suggested Hicks put on some headphones.
Dancing around clubhouse culture can be tricky.
A rookie, Hicks said later, has to learn the steps.
"It's pretty much like the music thing _ I'm trying to keep track and not get confused," Hicks said. "I'm a rookie. I need guys guiding me. (Norris) actually does care about me. I know that. There are times, though, when he or anyone basically says, 'You should know better.' "
The dynamic between Norris, Hicks and the Cardinals' clubhouse stirred conversation Thursday when an online story illustrated Norris' role as bullpen leader and described how he "mercilessly rides" Hicks. The 33-year-old Norris and the 21-year-old Hicks have been thrust, together, into prominent roles with the Cardinals _ one the late addition and surprise closer and the other a cherished platinum-level prospect with a 104-mph fastball. They also, as manager Mike Matheny told reporters in San Francisco, represent different ends of the modern roster: old-school bite from "a different generation of players" and a new-school greenhorn.
The article, which appeared on The Athletic and had a headline about Norris' "divisive approach," aimed to explore that contrast. Hicks declined to comment in it. The reaction to the story in social media raised questions of bullying and hazing, both of which Hicks quickly dismissed when talking to the Post-Dispatch on Thursday.
"He has the best intentions for me," Hicks said, by phone. "I think he's nudging me in the right direction. That's the best way to put it. ... It's a collective group doing it. You have to learn 10 times faster in the big leagues. You have to adjust 10 times faster. You have to be mentally stronger than you have ever been before. You have to make all of that happen faster. I have no problem with anybody getting on me. I get that. I have to listen.
"Bud is not bad at all," Hicks added. "He's getting on me because he wants me to be a better player, and I know it's to make me a better teammate. That can happen."
Major League Baseball and its union have adopted policies recently to ban rookie hazing in the clubhouse. The widespread, late-season dress-up days that used to wedge rookies into cheerleader outfits, for example, have been eliminated, and any actions that might ostracize or ridicule a young player are subject to review and penalty. Service time still has its privileges _ better seats on the plane, for example _ but not at the expense of a teammate's comfort.
John Mozeliak, the Cardinals' president of baseball operations, spoke with both Norris and Hicks on Thursday about their relationship.
He was assured by both players.
"I feel comfortable," said Hicks, who intended to talk to Norris on Thursday.
"Any time you read the initial headline, you have to be concerned," Mozeliak said. "There is a hierarchy in any clubhouse, but we don't want there to be any time where a young player feels he is not welcome or that he cannot be himself. That cannot happen. There are expectations. There are rules. ... Jordan is learning and growing, and it's all at this level."
Hicks was a last-minute addition to the major-league roster out of spring training, and all the Cardinals were asking the right-hander to do was vault from Class A to the majors.
He didn't have an inning in between.
The Cardinals conceded at the time _ and officials did again Thursday _ that the learning curve would be steep for the nascent talent. Some of the lessons players learned as they advanced in the minors _ or heard from former big-leaguers in Class AAA _ Hicks skipped. The Cardinals put support structures in place for Hicks at the beginning of the year to help him acclimate and to accelerate his comfort level. Part of that was driven by the fact that he missed report times and meetings during spring training enough that he was demoted, abruptly, to the minor-league camp.
Teammates taped the schedule to his locker. One took to social media to publicly chide Hicks for not being on time. He arrived one day to find his things packed and relocated to the minor-league side.
Lesson learned. Hard.
"He's got some guys staying on him," Matheny said this past weekend in San Francisco. "You need leadership at each little subculture that we have out here, and that bullpen is its own little subculture. We need a guy who can be a stickler. ... Bud is going to continue to do what's right as a veteran. You respect that. I've already had conversations with Jordan: 'Listen, that's how he's invested into you. That's how he gets it.' "
The music jockeying was one example, and that day was not the first that Norris and Hicks had a similar exchange. Hicks said he tries to pay attention. Sometimes he just pays a fine. On the most recent road trip, Hicks came to the ballpark wearing shorts _ a violation of a team rule agreed upon during spring training. He was fined $100. (The money went to Cardinals Care, the club's charitable arm.) Norris and Hicks often sit by each other during games and talk through approaches with hitters, or when and how they and other relievers might be used.
They've talked prep.
They've talked hair products.
Norris, and others, have stressed being on time.
And Hicks made Norris a bet recently. A Houston kid, Hicks bet Norris that his Rockets would defeat Norris' Golden State Warriors in the NBA Western Conference. If Norris, a Bay Area native, won the bet, Hicks agreed to wear a Ronald McDonald outfit. If Hicks' team won, the rookie got to go to Norris' wedding this offseason.
The Warriors won. Norris isn't sure he'll hold Hicks to the bet.
Maybe he'll come to the bachelor party, the veteran mused.
After all, they have reached agreement on clubhouse music.
"I'm off the whole music duty," Hicks admitted.
He has some headphones.
