Red Schoendienst

Infobox MLB retired
name=Red Schoendienst
position=Second baseman
bats=Switch
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1923|2|2
Germantown, Illinois
debutdate=April 17
debutyear=by|1945
debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals
finaldate=July 7
finalyear=by|1963
finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.289
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=2,449
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=773
teams= As Player
* St. Louis Cardinals (by|1945-by|1956, by|1961-by|1963)
* New York Giants (by|1956-by|1957)
* Milwaukee Braves (by|1957-by|1960)As Manager
* St. Louis Cardinals (by|1965-by|1976, by|1980, by|1990)
highlights=
* 10x All-Star selection (1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957)
* 3x World Series champion (1946, 1957, 1967)
* St. Louis Cardinals #2 retired
hofdate=by|1989
hofmethod=Veterans Committee

Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst (pronEng|ˈʃeɪ̪ndinst; born February 2, 1923) is an American former player, coach and manager in Major League Baseball. A second baseman and switch-hitter, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1945-56, 1961-63), New York Giants (1956-57) and Milwaukee Braves (1957-60). After retiring, Schoendienst in 1965 began the longest managerial tenure in Cardinals history (now tied with Tony La Russa, both with 12 years), skippering the team from 1965 through 1976. Under his direction, St. Louis won National League pennants in 1967 and 1968, and defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games in the 1967 World Series. He is currently the special assistant coach for the St. Louis Cardinals

Schoendienst was born in Germantown, Illinois. After being named the International League MVP in 1943 and then spending almost a year in the Army during World War II, he was discharged in 1945 due to a severe eye injury and an injured shoulder. However, he made the Cardinals as a left fielder, and finished the '45 season batting .278 with a league-high 26 stolen bases. In 1946 he moved to second base, helping the Cardinals to win their third World Series title in four years. With sure hands and quick reflexes, he led the league's second basemen for the first of seven seasons, handling 320 consecutive chances without an error in 1950. Schoendienst set a league record in 1956 with a .9934 fielding average, eclipsed 30 years later by Ryne Sandberg. Schoendienst won the Home Run Derby Contest in 1946.

In 1953 Schoendienst finished second in the NL batting race, batting .342 to Carl Furillo's .344. He scored 107 runs and drove in 79 runs from the #2 spot in the order, setting a career high with 15 home runs. He was selected to the All-Star team for the seventh time.A 1957 trade brought him from the second-division Giants to the Milwaukee Braves in mid-season, and he promptly led the team to its first pennant in nine years, batting .309 and finishing third in the NL MVP vote. They followed with a triumph in the World Series over the New York Yankees - the Braves' only championship in Milwaukee, and the first for the franchise since 1914. The Braves repeated as NL champions in 1958. However, in 1959, Schoendienst only appeared in five games (and was hitless in three at bats) as he successfully battled tuberculosis. He returned to the Braves in 1960 and played in 68 games, then rejoined the Cardinals as a player-coach from 1961-63 and a fulltime coach in 1964, just prior to being named manager. His record as a St. Louis pilot, over 12 fulltime seasons (1965-76) and two stints (1980; 1990) as an acting manager was 1,041 victories and 955 defeats (.522). After two years away from the Mound City as a coach for the 1977-78 Oakland Athletics, Schoendienst returned to the Cardinals as a coach, acting manager and special assistant to the general manager.

In his career Schoendienst compiled a .289 batting average, with 84 home runs, 773 runs batted in, 1223 runs, 2449 hits, 427 doubles, 78 triples and 89 stolen bases, in 2216 games played. As a second baseman he put up big numbers: 4616 putouts, 5243 assists, 1368 double plays, and only 170 errors in 10029 total chances, for a high .983 fielding average.

Schoendienst had the dubious distinction of being a member of three of five teams to lose a World Series after leading three games to one. He played for the Milwaukee Braves team that lost to the New York Yankees in the 1958 World Series, was the manager of the St. Louis Cardinal team that lost to the Detroit Tigers in the 1968 World Series, and was Whitey Herzog's bench coach on the Cardinal team that lost to the Kansas City Royals in the 1985 World Series.

Red Schoendienst was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1989 he was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Schoendienst's daughter sang "God Bless America" during the Seventh-inning stretch of Game 4 of the 2006 World Series.

Quotation

* "The greatest pair of hands I've ever seen" - teammate Stan Musial.MLBBioRet


Name = Red Schoendienst
Number = 2
Team = St. Louis Cardinals
Year = 1990|

ee also

* List of major league players with 2,000 hits
* List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
* List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
* List of Major League Baseball doubles champions

External links

* [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/schoendienst_red.htm Page at the "Baseball Hall of Fame"]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/schoere01.shtml Statistics at "Baseball Reference"]
* [http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/red-schoendienst.html St. Louis Walk of Fame]
*Whmc stl photodb|keywords=Red+Schoendienst|title=Red Schoendienst