Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst has done it all for the St. Louis Cardinals – All-Star player, World Champion manager and now sage adviser to the scores who followed.
Making his St. Louis debut in 1945, the switch-hitting second baseman played 15 seasons with the Cardinals, including in the 1946 World Series. The 10-time National League All-Star also appeared in two more Series while with Milwaukee.
Red coached in St. Louis from 1961-64 and in 1965 began a 12-year run as Cardinals manager, exceeded in duration by only Tony La Russa. His clubs won the 1967 World Series and the NL pennant the following season. Red also served as interim manager in 1980 and 1990.
He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989 and his uniform was retired by the Cardinals in 1996. Red remains a special assistant to the general manager. When reporting to spring training next month, I am expecting to see number 2 in uniform with fungo bat in hand or heading between fields in a golf cart.
Today, February 2, Schoendienst celebrates his 89th birthday. In recognition of a great Cardinals hero, I am sharing a dozen photographs of Red provided by the Cardinals Media Relations department. If you are interested, join in the discussion below to help identify and date some of the photos.
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The second photo is Red and Bing with the 1967 coaching staff. Dick Sisler, Billy Muffett, Bob Miliken, Joe Schultz. Looks like Al Lang in St. Pete.
“The second photo is Red and Bing with the 1967 coaching staff. Dick Sisler, Billy Muffett, Bob Miliken, Joe Schultz. Looks like Al Lang in St. Pete.”
Actually this is not correct. Stan the Man was the GM in ’67, and Schultz is not in this photo. It’s the 1969 coaching staff, Dick Sisler, Billy Muffet, Bob Milliken and the legendary George Kissell.
Schultz had moved on to manage the new Seattle Pilots, and was somewhat imortalized in “Ball Four”.
Thanks for the correction.
bicyclemike, the 1969 uniforms had a 100th Anniversary of MLB patch on the left sleeve, which these do not. All four coaches, Red and Bing were also on board in 1970, the final year before the pull over jersey.
I’ll take the third one, with the flat-billed hats. It was Red’s last full-season as manager, 1976 – Bob Milliken, Red and Fred Koenig. I wish it had been in color with the road powder blues…
The hats are bad enough…I’d have quit too.
Too bad we can’t read that lineup card.
Actually, Gussie fired Red.
Most common batting order in 1976: Mumphrey, Kessinger, Brock, Simmons, Crawford, Hernandez, Cruz, Tyson, Forsch.
I was thinking the identity of the opponant would tell us the stadium.
The photo of Red and Stan would have to be 1949 or 1950 due to the piping around th belt tunnels, which ended after ’50, and the upright birds, they were more horizontal prior to ’49.
The one Below the Red and Stan photo, the shows Red swinging, is the pre-1949 uni with the piping around the belt tunnels and the more horizontal birds. There is no war-time patch on the left sleeve so it is not 1945, Red’s rookie year. As far as I know the 1946-48 unis were the same.
The first picture looks like the ’51-’55 uni. No piping on the belt tunnels, but there is some piping around the neck and down the leg, which went away after ’55.
The one of Red kneeling with a bat is the ’51-’55 uni. There is no 75th Anniversary patch on the left sleeve so its not 1951. ’52 thru ’55.
Bad news for Rangers. Josh Hamilton relapse problem.
Solid research, bb. Thanks for sharing.
IIRC, Red took a bus to St. Louis and tried out at “open tryouts” and made the team. I’ll have to take a look at my book at home to get the year. I don’t exactly remember.
1945
Do they have open tryouts anymore?
Do I detect the makings of a reality TV show?
bill Veeck would have been all over it already.
Actually, there is a reality show, and the Cards had an opportunity to be the featured franchise this season, I believe.
Don’t believe it involves a tryout though. My guess is KBM is talking about the type of show where one of the contestants is eliminated every week with the winner getting something like a minor league contract.
Yeah, the ubiquitous reality show format. I have grown tired of them.