#462 Red Schoendienst MG - St. Louis Cardinals

Albert Fred Schoendienst
St. Louis Cardinals
Manager

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  170
Born:  February 2, 1923, Germantown, IL
Signed:  Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1942 season
Major League Teams:  St. Louis Cardinals 1945-56; New York Giants 1956-57; Milwaukee Braves 1957-60; St. Louis Cardinals 1961-63

World Series Appearances:  St. Louis Cardinals 1946; Milwaukee Braves 1957-58
As a Manager:  St. Louis Cardinals 1965-76, 1980, 1990
Died:  June 6, 2018, Town and Country, MO (age 95)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1989

Amazingly, 67 of Red Schoendienst's 76 years in baseball were spent as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals organization.  Schoendienst was a 10-time All-Star, a steady hitter and an above-average defender who led all National League second basemen in fielding percentage in six different seasons.  He enjoyed his finest seasons in the early 1950s, batting over .300 three seasons in a row and hitting a career-high .342 in 1953.  He won his first World Series ring with the Cardinals in 1946 and he won the All-Star Game for his league in 1950 with a 14th inning home run.  Schoendienst departed St. Louis in a highly unpopular trade with the Giants in June 1956.  A year later, he was dealt to the Braves and he won his second World Series ring when Milwaukee defeated the Yankees in seven games in the 1957 series.  Schoendienst led the league that season with 200 hits.

After three seasons as a back-up infielder and pinch-hitter in a return trip to the Cardinals in the early 1960s, he retired as a player and began his lengthy coaching and managing career.  In 2,216 career games, Schoendienst collected 2,449 hits while batting .289.  He'd manage the Cardinals in parts of 14 different seasons, over four different decades, winning National League pennants in 1967 and 1968.  His lifetime managerial record was 1,041-955 with a World Series title in 1967.  He served as a coach for the Cardinals (1961-1964, 1979-1995) and Athletics (1977-1978) and won two more World Series rings as a member of the Cardinals coaching staff in 1964 and 1982.  Schoendienst was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Cardinals retired his #2 in 1996.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #571
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)

On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show.  The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year.  I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova.  I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.

I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set.  The first place I stopped was a table with well-organized and well-marked binders of commons and semi-stars with 20% Off notes across the front of each binder.  

I took my time and found 32 commons and semi-stars needed before asking to see the dealer's star cards from the set.  It turned out this first purchase was also my biggest, as I spent over half my allotted budget here, America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before moving on to my second stop.  This was the 12th of 36 total cards bought from America's Pastime, and the 12th of 91 cards for set added overall on the day, and it cost less than $5 after the dealer discount.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

Topps really had to schmoosh Schoendienst's last name to fit it in the yellow circle on the front of the card.  It looks as if Topps used photos from the same session for Schoendienst's 1967 and 1969 cards, and then photos from another session for his 1968 and 1970 Topps cards.  I'll give them some credit for mixing it up a little.  The back of the card celebrates his All-Star Game winning home run from 1962.

Accuracy Index:  Schoendienst's card scores a +5.

1969 Season
A year after leading the Cardinals to a National League pennant and to within a game of winning back-to-back World Series, Schoendienst guided the club to an 87-75 record and a fourth place finish.  Bob Gibson (#200) and Steve Carlton (255) led the pitching-strong club, going 20-13 and 17-11, respectively and finishing second and third for the best ERA in the leagues with marks of 2.18 and 2.17.  Gibson led the league with 28 complete games, and both he and Curt Flood (#540) were Gold Glove winners.  Center fielder Flood was the Cardinals' top offensive performer, hitting .285 with 31 doubles.  Left fielder Lou Brock (#85) led the league with 53 stolen bases and first baseman Joe Torre (#460) led the Cardinals with 18 home runs and 101 RBIs.  Joe Hoerner (#522) and Chuck Taylor were Schoendienst's top relievers.

1948 Bowman #38

1952 Topps #91

1957 Topps #154

1967 Topps #512

1990 Topps Traded #113T

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1948 Bowman #38
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (24):  1951-53, 1956-62, 1965-76, 1988, 1990
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Panini Chronicles Pinnacle #28
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  702 in the Beckett online database as of 10/8/25.

Update Cards

For my 1965 Topps blog, I used the team card posts to come up with five or six candidates per team for an imaginary update series.  With no team cards in the 1969 Topps set, I'll use each manager card for this exercise, and come up with a list of deserving cards to be included in an 8th/update series.  Surprisingly, there are quite a few great candidates for update cards from the defending National League champions, and I couldn't narrow it down to less than seven cards.

• Chuck Taylor (rhp) - Taylor got left out of the set altogether, and his rookie card appeared in the 1970 Topps set.
• Mudcat Grant (rhp) - Mudcat Grant was the second most frequently used reliever before Hoerner, and he's in the set with the Expos (#306).
• Steve Huntz (ss) - Steve Huntz and Mike Torrez share a Rookie Stars card (#136) and they'd each have solo cards in my update set.
• Mike Torrez (rhp)
• Dave Giusti (rhp) - Dave Giusti is in the set with the Padres (#98), a team he never pitched for.  He appeared in 22 games for the Cardinals.
• Ted Simmons (c) - Future Hall of Famer Ted Simmons was a September call-up in 1968 and 1969, and his rookie card wouldn't appear until the 1971 Topps set.
• Dick Sisler (coach) - And finally, my Dad's favorite player and former Whiz Kid Dick Sisler coached with the Cardinals between 1966 and 1970.  He'd get a card in my update set.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference - Schoendienst / Baseball Reference - 1969 Cardinals / SABR / Wikipedia

National Baseball Hall of Fame
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1956 Topps Blog / 1965 Topps Blog

#461 Mike Epstein - Washington Senators / #463 Dennis Ribant - Kansas City Royals