White’s hire came two years after Dodgers general manager Al Campanis was fired for saying during a Nightline interview that black people did not have the “necessities” to serve as a manager or general manager. Campanis was fired two days later, but baseball continued to face questions about the lack of black executives in the game. At the time White was hired, no Major League Baseball team had a black president or general manager and the Orioles’ Frank Robinson was the only black manager.

Though White helped to break down barriers in MLB executive offices, he preferred that he be recognized for his knowledge of the game.

When the news media started talking about “firsts,” I wish they had paid as much attention to another “first” that I represented: I was the first National League president in more than 70 years who had ever played baseball in the major leagues,” White said.[1]

In his 2011 autobiography, White wrote that he was first contacted about the job by Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, who was on the search committee alongside Mets president Fred Wilpon, former NL president Chub Feeney, Braves chairman William Bartholomay, and outgoing NL president A. Bartlett Giamatti, who was slated to become the new baseball commissioner on April 1. O’Malley told White that the committee was interested in interviewing him for the job. After asking if O’Malley was serious, White politely declined the opportunity. O’Malley thanked him for his time, and White assumed the matter was over.[2]

Approximately a week later, O’Malley called again to say that while he understood that White was not interested, the committee still wanted to interview him. This time, White decided it was worth at least a discussion. When he arrived at the Helmsley Palace Hotel in New York, just a few miles away from MLB headquarters, he realized he wasn’t the only former player-turned-announcer in the running, as he saw former Reds second baseman Joe Morgan in the lobby.[3]

In his 90-minute interview, White spoke about his conflict management and leadership style and discussed how he would handle a variety of issues. He also made clear to the committee members that if he was to be offered the job, it had to be on his merits.

“I wasn’t naïve,” he wrote. “I knew that baseball was under a lot of pressure about minority hiring. But I insisted that if I were to take the job, I would want to be the president of the National League, not the black president of the National League. The committee members assured me that they would hire the best person, regardless of race.”[4]

The committee unanimously voted to name White the 13^th president of the National League. White was selected over another black candidate, Simon Gourdine, the former NBA deputy commissioner who was serving as the director of labor relations for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York. Gourdine took his runner-up finish in stride.

“The appointment of Bill White is historic and very meaningful,” he said. “The symbolism is terribly important to all Americans and to all people interested in baseball and in sports. It’s a start. … The reason that the process was so exhaustive was because they wanted to ensure that they chose the very best person to represent the National League.”[5]

The Sporting News reported that White’s extensive baseball background gave him the edge over other candidates. An eight-time all-star and seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, White played 13 major league seasons, including eight with the Cardinals. St. Louis acquired him in a trade with the Giants in March 1959.

While White was initially concerned about coming to St. Louis, he quickly became a star. In eight seasons with the Cardinals, he hit .298 with 140 homers and 631 RBIs, and finished third in the NL MVP voting in 1964, when he helped lead the Cardinals to the World Series championship. Between 1962 and 1966, he hit at least 20 homers and drove in at least 102 runs in four of the five seasons.

In addition to his impact on the field, White was one of the Cardinals who played a key role in integrating the team’s living arrangements during spring training.

After his playing days were over, White transitioned to broadcasting. In 1971, he became part of the WPIX-TV broadcast team, where he partnered with former Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto. By accepting the NL president position, White was giving up a comfortable seat in the booth.

“There were a lot of good reasons not to take it,” White wrote. “I was well paid in my broadcasting work, and had plenty of free time for fishing, tennis, just enjoying life. I would be giving all that up for an executive job that promised long hours, extensive business travel, and constant headaches. But in the end there was one overriding reason why I decided to accept the position as president of the National League. It was a challenge. And throughout my life, a challenge has been something that is hard for me to resist.”[6]

In speaking with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, White explained it a different way.

“I got to thinking that after 18 years, there’s only so many ways you can say, ‘There’s a ground ball to short, and the throw to first,’” he said. “Maybe I am ready for something different.”[7]

Though it was reported at the time that White was being paid $200,000 per year, a six-figure pay cut from the $300,000 he earned as a Yankees broadcaster,[8] White wrote that his new job actually provided a 30% pay increase with better benefits.[9]

At the press conference announcing his hire, the assembled media wanted to focus on the history of the moment and White’s role as the highest-ranking black executive in baseball. In Newsday, Steve Marcus wrote that, “Minorities clearly will see this appointment as a sign of hope that baseball is ending what has been an unofficial but undeniable existence of sparse opportunities in minority hiring.”[10]

White, however, preferred not to focus on his race in discussing his hire with reporters.

“From the moment my selection as … president of the National League was announced in February 1989, the “firsts” began,” White wrote in 2011. “In every newspaper and magazine and television report, it went something like this: “Bill White will be the first black president of baseball’s National League …” Again, I wasn’t naïve. I knew that after the spotlight the Campanis incident cast on baseball, the team owners wanted a black man for the job. I also knew that being the first African American to hold the position would be news in and of itself. That’s the way the news business works; there’s no escaping it. But I felt the same way I had when I was the “first full-time black broadcaster” in Major League Baseball. I didn’t intend to fail, but if somehow I did, I wanted it to be Bill White who had failed, not a black man who had failed.”[11]

Clifford Alexander, former Secretary of the Army who consulted on the search, cautioned reporters about proclaiming the issue solved by the hire of one black executive.

“I don’t try to set history the day it happened,” Alexander said. “Breaking barriers are useful only if other things happen.”[12]

Despite White’s protestations, several of his friends said that breaking that barrier was more important than he let on.

“Bill is not a crusader, but he understands social responsibility,” said William Eastburn III, White’s attorney and a friend for 25 years.[13]

“He felt this was important for baseball, for himself, and for blacks in general,” Rizzuto added.[14]

Henry Aaron, who had moved into an executive role himself as vice president for player personnel for the Braves, “You can say that Jackie Robinson is resting a little more comfortably in his grave now, because he went through hell. If it weren’t for him, there would not have been a Hank Aaron or a Larry Doby or a Bill White.”[15] In a separate interview, he said, “I don’t think they could have found anyone more qualified than Bill White. He is a baseball man. He knows baseball. There will be nothing that will surprise him.”[16]

That knowledge came in handy as National League president, a role that included overseeing the umpires, mediating conflicts, and handing out discipline. Early in his tenure, White was with Giamatti when Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda called to accuse Astros pitchers of doctoring baseballs during a recent series. Lasorda told White that he was sending pitcher Orel Hershiser over to his office with the doctored baseballs.

Lasorda was shocked when White laughed and told him that not only would the balls need to come from the umpires to be considered evidence, but that he knew for a fact that Dodgers pitchers doctored balls because he had been forced to hit against them while they did it. When Lasorda hung up, Giamatti looked at White with amazement.

“That’s the advantage you have from being in the game so long,” he said. “I never would have been able to talk to Lasorda like that.”[17]

During White’s tenure as NL president, the league expanded to include the Rockies and Marlins. White also overcame conflicts with the umpires union and Reds owner Marge Schott, whose own racist comments had embarrassed the sport. He retired from the post in 1994, and in 2020 he was elected to the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 191.

[2] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 186.

[3] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 187.

[4] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 187.

[5] “Runner-Up Calls Election ‘A Start,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 4, 1989.

[6] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 189.

[7] Dan Caesar, “White Picked For NL’s Top Job,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 3, 1989.

[8] “N.L. President White Fills the Bill,” The Sporting News, February 13, 1989.

[9] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 193.

[10] Steve Marcus, “A Giant Step Forward – White, officials downplay racial aspect of hiring,” Newsday, February 4, 1989.

[11] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 190.

[12] Steve Marcus, “A Giant Step Forward – White, officials downplay racial aspect of hiring,” Newsday, February 4, 1989.

[13] Steve Marcus, “A Giant Step Forward – White, officials downplay racial aspect of hiring,” Newsday, February 4, 1989.

[14] “N.L. President White Fills the Bill,” The Sporting News, February 13, 1989.

[15] “Runner-Up Calls Election ‘A Start,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 4, 1989.

[16] “N.L. President White Fills the Bill,” The Sporting News, February 13, 1989.

[17] Bill White (2011), Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play, Grand Central Publishing, Page 192.

The post How Cardinals great Bill White became NL president first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

“It’s finally over,” White Sox general manager Larry Himes said. “It was a long time coming.”[1]

Negotiations for the right-hander had begun back in November, but Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill refused to include catcher Tom Pagnozzi in the trade.[2]

“I didn’t want to drag it out, but I didn’t want to make the deal with Pagnozzi in it,” Maxvill said. “Maybe I’m hard-headed, but that’s the way I wanted it.”[3]

In DeLeon, the Cardinals acquired a 6-foot-3 right-hander with flashes of brilliance, but also maddening inconsistency to that point in his career. Armed with a 90-mph fastball that he mixed with a curveball, the native of Rancho Viejo, Dominican Republic, had been drafted by the Pirates in the third round of the 1979 draft.

He made his major-league debut as a 22-year-old in 1983, going 7-3 with a 2.83 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 108 innings. DeLeon slumped in his sophomore season, going 7-13 with a 3.74 ERA over 192 1/3 innings, and in 1985, he led the league in losses with a 2-19 record and 4.70 ERA.

“When I came up in ’83, Pittsburgh had a good team, and I pitched great,” DeLeon said. “The next year, I figured that with the same team, it would be easy. It wasn’t as easy. You learn from your mistakes.”[4]

In July 1986, the Pirates traded him to the White Sox for rookie Bobby Bonilla. In his only full season in Chicago, DeLeon went 11-12 with a 4.02 ERA, walking 97 and striking out 153 in 206 innings. He spent most of the season as a starter, but spent time in the bullpen late in the season after he was in an auto accident.[5]

“All the people in the Cardinals organization have liked DeLeon for a number of years now,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said. “I know they think he’s got potential. I think he might be ready to come into his own. He’s got some stats that are good and some that are bad. When you’re 2-19 like he was, it’s tough to have good stats.”[6]

DeLeon was set to earn $375,000 with a chance to make an additional $70,000 if he reached an innings-pitched milestone.[7] The Cardinals sent the White Sox $100,000 as part of the trade to offset the salary difference.

“There are not many pitchers who can throw 90 miles an hour consistently,” Maxvill said. “DeLeon won 11 games last year and we would like to think that in a bigger ballpark, with our defense, that he can improve on that number.”[8]

Herzog said he planned to insert DeLeon into the starting rotation alongside John Tudor, Joe Magrane, Danny Cox, and Greg Mathews.[9] Bob Forsch, an 11-game winner in 1987, was slated to go to the bullpen.[10]

“I think this has got a chance to be the best pitching staff I’ve ever had,” Herzog said. “I’ve said that before, but we always had injuries. Now I think that every day, we’ve got a chance to win.”[11]

The 28-year-old Horton had been a 1980 fourth-round pick out of the University of Virginia. Pitching primarily out of the bullpen throughout his Cardinals career, Horton had gone 24-12 in four seasons in St. Louis and was coming off an 8-3 campaign in 1987 in which he threw 125 innings for the National League champions.

Horton was scheduled to go to arbitration Feb. 15 to determine his salary for the 1988 season, but he and the White Sox expected to finalize a salary of $525,000 in advance of the hearing.[12]

“I think we had to do this,” Herzog said. “I’m really sorry to trade Horton because Rick’s been a very good pitcher for us any way we used him. I was sorry it was strung out for so long. I’m sure it was tough on Rick and his wife, Ann.”[13]

In Chicago, the White Sox planned to use Horton as part of their starting rotation.

“He was a key pitcher for the Cardinals with the way they used him,” Himes said. “Now he gets the opportunity to take the ball every five days for us. We wouldn’t have made this trade if we hadn’t gotten a pitcher in return.”[14]

In Johnson, the White Sox believed they had found their new center fielder and leadoff hitter. In St. Louis, Johnson was blocked by Willie McGee and Vince Coleman and wasn’t expected to make the Cardinals’ major league roster in 1988.[15]

“Lance has got the kind of defense we’re looking for in a big ballpark like ours,” said White Sox manager Jim Fregosi, who managed Johnson and Horton in the Cardinals’ farm system.[16]

Johnson was named the American Association MVP in 1987 after hitting .333 with 42 stolen bases at Triple-A Louisville. In a cup of coffee with the major league club, he hit .220 with seven RBIs and six stolen bases in 59 at-bats.

“He gives us something we’ve lacked for a long time – a true leadoff hitter,” Himes said. “He’s a good contact hitter (only 45 strikeouts in 477 at-bats at Louisville), and he can run. We haven’t had the whole machine together. Now with Johnson at the top, I think we’ll have a good lineup.”[17]

“I’m really excited,” Johnson said. “I just want to play, whether it’s in St. Louis or Chicago.”[18]

Johnson certainly got that opportunity in Chicago. In eight seasons with the White Sox, he hit .286/.325/.373 with 483 runs scored and 226 stolen bases. In 1995, his final season with the White Sox, he led the American League with 186 hits and hit .306 with 40 stolen bases.

With the Mets in 1996, he enjoyed the best season of his career, batting .333/.362/.425 with nine homers, 69 RBIs, and 50 stolen bases. His 227 hits and 21 triples each led the National League, and he was named to the lone All-Star Game of his career. His final big-league appearance came in 2000 with the Yankees, and he retired with 1,447 games played across 14 seasons. For his career, he hit .291 with 767 runs scored and 327 stolen bases.

Horton pitched less than one season with the White Sox, going 6-10 with a 4.86 ERA in 109 1/3 innings in 1988 before he was dealt to the Dodgers for Shawn Hillegas that August. He pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings for L.A. in that fall’s NLCS and received a World Series ring when the Dodgers topped the Athletics in the World Series.

Horton appeared in 23 games with the Dodgers in 1989 before they released him and he signed back with the Cardinals. He started eight of his 11 appearances for the Cardinals that year, going 0-3 with a 4.73 ERA, then pitched entirely out of the bullpen in 1990.

Horton pitched in the Indians’ minor-league system in 1991 before retiring. Over seven major league seasons, he went 32-27 with a 3.76 ERA.

DeLeon pitched well in his first two seasons in St. Louis. In 1988, he led the club with 13 wins, 225 1/3 innings pitched, and 208 strikeouts. In 1989, he again led the team in strikeouts and innings pitched, whiffing a league-high 201 batters in 244 2/3 innings. He finished the season with a 16-12 record and a 3.05 ERA.

After the 1989 season, DeLeon signed a three-year contract worth a little more than $6.6 million.[19] In the first year of his new deal, the 29-year-old led the league in losses for the second time in his career, as he went 7-19 with a 4.43 ERA. In 1991, he posted a 2.71 ERA in 162 2/3 innings, but was the only member of the Cardinals’ starting rotation to fail to reach double digits in wins, finishing the year 5-9.

DeLeon was 2-7 with a 4.57 ERA at the end of August 1992 when the Cardinals released him. Over four-plus seasons in St. Louis, he went 43-57 with a 3.59 ERA.

“Little things would crop up,” Cardinals pitching coach Joe Coleman said. “A walk here or there would be followed by a hit by somebody who maybe shouldn’t get a hit. If we didn’t score any runs, he got right back to being defeated mentally. I don’t think it was anything physical.”[20]

DeLeon spent the rest of his career primarily as a bullpen arm. He pitched briefly for the Phillies before they traded him back to the White Sox for Bobby Thigpen in 1993. In August 1995, the Sox traded him to the Expos for Jeff Shaw.

In 1997 and 1998, DeLeon pitched in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. Over 13 major-league seasons, he went 86-119 with a 3.76 ERA.

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[2] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[3] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[4] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[5] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[6] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[7] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[8] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[9] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[10] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[11] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[12] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[13] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[14] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[15] Rick Hummel, “DeLeon Trade ‘Good Gamble,’ Herzog Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[16] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[17] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[18] Ed Sherman, “Finally, Sox get Cards’ Johnson, Horton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1988.

[19] Rick Hummel, “Waivers End Frustrating Saga For Jose DeLeon,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 1, 1992.

[20] Rick Hummel, “Waivers End Frustrating Saga For Jose DeLeon,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 1, 1992.

The post How Jose DeLeon was traded to the Cardinals first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

On February 28, 1989, Hall of Fame president Ed Stack called Schoendienst to share the good news that the 10-time All-Star had been elected to the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee.

“All I ever wanted was to be on that lineup card every day and become a champion,” Schoendienst said at the induction ceremony that July. “My best memories are being a St. Louis Cardinal … the luckiest break for me was when I became Stan Musial’s roommate. I’m glad once again we can be roommates here in the Hall of Fame.”[1]

Schoendienst, who starred for the Cardinals for 15 years before managing the team for another 12 and remaining with the franchise as a coach, was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Johnny Bench, Carl Yastrzemski, former Cardinals and Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, and writers Bob Hunter and Ray Kelly.

After retiring following the 1963 season, Schoendienst made his debut on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1969. He reached as high as 42.6% in 1980, but was not elected in his 15 years on the ballot.

“A lot of times you go quail hunting, and you can’t find those quail,” Schoendienst said. “You go duck hunting, and they’re not flying. If it doesn’t happen, what can you do? You don’t think it’s going to happen, but I wasn’t going to give up.”[2]

Enos Slaughter, who was elected to the Hall four years earlier in 1985, said, “I think it’s long overdue. Red was out there, every day, to win for the Cardinals. Red would have to rank with any second baseman, bar none, that I played with. He was a switch-hitter, a clutch hitter. He had it all. I don’t know how they could keep him out all those years.”[3]

Schoendienst’s road to the Hall of Fame was as unlikely as it was long. Born and raised in Germantown, Illinois, as a 16-year-old, he was struck in the left eye by a staple while a friend tried to drive it into a dry hedge post at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.[4]

Schoendienst convinced doctors to save it, but the accident left him with 20/200 vision in that eye.[5]

“I didn’t even know he had a bad eye until right this very moment,” Marty Marion, Schoendienst’s onetime double-play partner, said in July 1989. “You sure couldn’t tell, could you?”[6]

Schoendienst didn’t show any ill effects when he and two friends hitchhiked on a milk truck to a Cardinals tryout (Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra attended the same tryout).[7] Schoendienst thrived in the minors, batting .373 in Double-A Rochester before the Cardinals called him up in 1945. Though he was primarily a shortstop in the minors, Schoendienst played left field during his rookie season, filling the spot vacated by Musial, who was serving in the Navy.

As Schoendienst was making his first appearance with the Cardinals, Caray was making his debut as a Cardinals broadcaster.

“(Schoendienst) was playing left field, and he came running in for a wicked line drive that he caught right at his knees,” Caray recalled. “Then he nonchalantly returned the ball to the infield. That’s the way he was – a great player and a winner. No hollering. No fake stuff. Going into the Hall of Fame had to happen.”[8]

In 1946, with players like Musial back from the war, Schoendienst filled a variety of roles before finding his home at second base. He opened the year at third base as Whitey Kurowski held out, then moved to shortstop to fill in for the injured Marion. When Lou Klein jumped to the Mexican League, Schoendienst became the second baseman on a World Series champion Cardinals team.

“I was pretty fortunate coming up when I did,” he said. “You had Musial, you had Slaughter, you had Terry Moore, you had Marion, Kurowski, all your good pitchers. They had been through it, the pennant and the World Series in ’42 and those other years. It was kind of a break for me to come up with guys who had been through all that, and to play with Marty Marion, who was a great shortstop.”[9]

Schoendienst earned the first of 10 All-Star appearances in 1946, then ran off eight consecutive All-Star seasons from 1948 through 1955, including the 1950 contest in which he called his shot and hit the game-winning home run in the 14^th inning. In Schoendienst’s best season, 1953, he hit .342 with 15 homers and 79 RBIs, finishing two points behind Brooklyn’s Carl Furillo for the batting title.

In 1956, Cardinals general manager Frank “Trader” Lane dealt Schoendienst to the New York Giants.

“The rest of us got the word that Red had been traded just as we were boarding a train out of St. Louis for an eastern trip,” Musial wrote in the forward to Schoendienst’s autobiography. “It was the saddest day of my career. I slammed the door to my train berth shut and didn’t open it for a long time.”[10]

One year later, the Giants traded Schoendienst to the Milwaukee Braves, where he won the second World Series of his career in 1957.

“When he joined my ball team, I introduced myself right away,” Braves shortstop Johnny Logan said. “I told him, ‘You take care of second base, and I’ll take care of shortstop, and we’ll win it all.’ I had played with 15 or 20 second basemen and always worried about who was playing there. I didn’t worry with Red.”[11]

In 93 games with the Braves that season, Schoendienst hit .310 with 23 doubles, six homers, and 32 RBIs. In the five-game World Series against the Yankees, he hit .278 with a double and two RBIs.

“He was the sparkplug,” Logan said. “We had a good ball team, but the only thing we needed was a second baseman. Once we got Red, he gave us the confidence we didn’t have before.”[12]

Schoendienst’s batting average fell to .262 in 1958, but in the World Series rematch against the Yankees, he hit .300 with three doubles, a triple, and five runs scored. When the season was over, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The life-threatening ailment required surgery followed by four months of bed rest.

“When they decided to operate on him, they had to get him up to build up his strength,” his wife, Mary Schoendienst, said. “The first day they got him up after he was on the flat of his back for four months, I went down there, and the bat company had sent him some bats, and they were over in the corner. When the nurses got him out of bed once again, I thought he would come over and shake my hand or do something, but he went over to the corner and picked up a bat. From that moment on, I figured this guy was going to play ball again. He was going to play that ball, and to heck with me and the rest of the world.”[13]

After missing all but five games in 1959, Schoendienst went on to play three more seasons – one with the Braves and two back in St. Louis as a player-coach. He retired with 2,449 hits and a .289 career batting average across 19 major league seasons.

“Despite the bug in his chest that wore him down every season, Red hit over .300 seven times,” longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg wrote. “If he hadn’t been fighting a tubercular infection, take Dr. Broeg’s word for it, that lifetime .289 average would have been .310 to .315.”[14]

Defensively, Schoendienst led National League second basemen in fielding percentage seven times, including a .993 fielding percentage in 1956 that set a record. He retired with a .983 fielding percentage.

“Besides Jackie Robinson, for 10 or 15 years there, Red was the best second baseman in the league,” Musial said.[15]

“Red wasn’t a guy that made a lot of news,” Marion said. “He wasn’t flashy, not like a guy like Ozzie Smith, diving all over the place. Red was just always in the right place at the right time. He didn’t make many mistakes.”[16]

With his playing career over, Schoendienst immediately moved into the coaching ranks. He was on Johnny Keane’s coaching staff for the 1964 world champion Cardinals, then was named the new manager when Keane left to become the Yankees’ manager.

Schoendienst managed the club from 1965 through 1976, winning the World Series in 1967 and the National League pennant in 1968. Including his stints as interim manager in 1980 and 1990, Schoendienst went 1,044-955 as the Cardinals’ manager, good for a .522 winning percentage. Two years after his 12-year run as manager ended, he returned to St. Louis as a coach.

By the time the Veterans Committee named him to the Hall of Fame, the 66-year-old Schoendienst was in his 48^th season in professional baseball.

“I think he has lasted so long because of his love affair with baseball,” Warren Spahn said. “There’s not a heck of a lot Red hasn’t done in the game.”[17]

At his induction ceremony that July, Schoendienst compared his life to a baseball diamond. He referred to his childhood in Germantown, Illinois, as first base.

“I never thought that milk truck ride would eventually lead to Cooperstown and baseball’s highest honor,” he said.[18]

Second base, he said, was making the major leagues. Third base was meeting his wife, Mary.

“She asked for my autograph,” he said, “and two years later I signed her up.”[19]

For Schoendienst, the Hall of Fame represented the final stage of his baseball journey.

“Baseball has been my only job,” he said. “I still get a thrill putting on that uniform and to hear those wonderful words, ‘Play ball.’ Baseball has given me recognition throughout the world, and now it is rewarding me with this, its greatest honor, of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. I guess I’ve crossed home.”[20]

Enjoy this post? Then you’ll love The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now on Amazon!

[1] Mike Eisenbath, “Red Schoendienst Makes It To Home,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 1989.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Fame Calls On Cardinals’ Schoendienst,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1, 1989.

[3] Veterans Panel Picks Schoendienst For Hall,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1, 1989.

[4] Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains (1998), “Red: A Baseball Life,” Sports Publishing, Champaign, Ill., 16.

[5] Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains (1998), “Red: A Baseball Life,” Sports Publishing, Champaign, Ill., 16.

[6] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[7] Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains (1998), “Red: A Baseball Life,” Sports Publishing, Champaign, Ill., 20.

[8] Rick Hummel, “More Disturbances By Strawberry Are Likely,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 5, 1989.

[9] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[10] Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains, “Red: A Baseball Life,” Sports Publishing, Champaign, Ill., 1998, Page VII.

[11] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[12] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[13] Rick Hummel, “Fame Calls On Cardinals’ Schoendienst,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1, 1989.

[14] Bob Broeg, “‘Natural’ Made Trek From Cowfield to Cooperstown,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, 1989.

[15] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[16] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[17] Mike Eisenbath, “Hall of Famer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1989.

[18] Mike Eisenbath, “Red Schoendienst Makes It To Home,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 1989.

[19] Mike Eisenbath, “Red Schoendienst Makes It To Home,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 1989.

[20] Mike Eisenbath, “Red Schoendienst Makes It To Home,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 1989.

The post How Red Schoendienst was elected to the Hall of Fame first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.