Red Schoendienst

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Schoendienst was born in Germantown, Illinois, to Joe and Mary Schoendienst, one of seven children. His father was a coal miner, and the family lived without running water or electricity. At age 16, he dropped out of school to join the Civilian Conservation Corps. While working on a fence, he suffered a serious injury to his left eye from a nail. He became a switch hitter to cope with difficulty reading breaking balls. In the spring of 1942, he participated in a St. Louis Cardinals open tryout; though not signed at the tryout, scout Joe Mathes later drove to Germantown to sign him for $75 a month. He began his professional career in the D-level Georgia–Florida League with the Albany Cardinals. In 1944, he was drafted into the U.S. Army but received a medical discharge on January 1, 1945, due to his eye injury and trauma from shooting bazookas.

In Their Own Story

The lights hummed over Busch Memorial Stadium in October 1967. Red Schoendienst stood near second base, hands on hips, watching Bob Gibson warm up. The crowd roared for the pennant race that had been tight all summer. He remembered the smell of the dirt from his own playing days decades prior. Tonight was different; he wasn't fielding a ground ball, but steering a ship toward glory. Under his direction, St. Louis defeated the Boston Red Sox to capture the 1967 World Series, marking his fourth title and third as a Cardinal. Two years later, the Cardinals repeated as National League champions in 1968, though they fell to the Detroit Tigers in seven games. Schoendienst's leadership was so impactful he received Manager of the Year honors for both campaigns. Even after his managerial tenure ended in 1976, he remained a fixture in the organization, winning a fifth World Series title as a coach in 1982.

Reader's Guide

Schoendienst played 19 MLB seasons, compiling a .289 batting average with 84 home runs, 773 RBI, 1,223 runs, 2,449 hits, 427 doubles, 78 triples, and 89 stolen bases in 2,216 games. As a second baseman, his defensive statistics included 4,616 putouts, 5,243 assists, 1,368 double plays, and 170 errors in 10,029 total chances for a .983 fielding average. He was a member of five winning World Series teams, all won in seven games: as a player with the Cardinals (1946) and Braves (1957); as the Cardinals manager (1967); and as a Cardinals coach (1964 and 1982). He also was a member of three teams that lost the Series after leading three games to one: the 1958 Milwaukee Braves, the 1968 Cardinals, and the 1985 Cardinals. His managerial record over twelve full seasons (1965–76) and two subsequent stints as interim manager (1980 and 1990) was 1,041–955 (.522).

Did You Know?

• Schoendienst led the National League in stolen bases (26) in his rookie season of 1945.
• He handled 320 consecutive chances without an error in 1950.
• In the 1950 All-Star Game, he won the contest for the National League with a home run in the top of the 14th inning, the first All-Star game to go to extra innings.
• He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the 1958–59 off-season and underwent a partial pneumonectomy in February 1959, but returned to play in 1960.
• The Cardinals retired his number 2 in 1996.