#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

#182 Bill Rigney MG - California Angels

William Joseph Rigney
California Angels
Manager

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  178
Born:  January 29, 1918, Alameda, CA
Acquired:  Traded by Oakland (PCL) to the New York Giants for Dolph Camilli
Major League Teams:  New York Giants 1946-1953

World Series Appearances:  New York Giants 1951
As a Manager:  New York Giants 1956-1957; San Francisco Giants 1958-1960; Los Angeles Angels 1961-1964; California Angels 1965-1969; Minnesota Twins 1970-1972; San Francisco Giants 1976
Died:  February 20, 2001, Walnut Creek, CA (age 83)

Bill Rigney was the first manager in Angels' history, leading the team throughout the 1960s to a 625-707 record during a time when the team finished mostly in the second division in the American League.  Prior to taking the job with the Angels, Rigney was the last manager of the New York Giants and the first manager of the San Francisco Giants following their move west in 1958.  His sole postseason experience as a manager came in 1970 when he guided the Twins to a first place finish in the A.L. West, only to be swept in the ALCS by the A.L. East winner Orioles.  With the Giants, Angels and Twins he managed for 18 seasons and had a lifetime record of 1,239-1,321.  After leaving the Giants organization, Rigney latched on with the Oakland A's where he served as a front office consultant and occasional broadcaster throughout the 1980s and up until his death in 2001.

As a player, Rigney was an infielder with the Giants for eight seasons between 1946 and 1953.  The start of his big league career was delayed until 1946 as Rigney missed the 1943 through 1945 seasons while serving in the Navy.  He had his best seasons in the late 1940s, reaching career highs in home runs (17) and RBIs (59) in 1947 and being named to the N.L. All-Star team in 1948.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #196
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 119th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me less than a dollar.

The Card / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

The photo is likely from 1967 as Rigney is wearing the same sweater under his jersey on his 1968 and 1969 Topps cards.  The back of the card highlights his 1962 Manager of the Year award, as named by The Sporting News.

Accuracy Index:  Rigney wasn't around for much of the 1969 season (see below), but he earns a +5 nevertheless.

1969 Season
Rigney had guided the Angels since their inception in 1961, and 39 games into the 1969 season, his tenure as Angels' manager came to an end.  The Angels had an 11-28 record and had lost 10 in a row when Rigney was dismissed on May 27th and replaced with Lefty Phillips, the Angels' pitching coach.  Rigney joined the Giants' broadcast booth later in the 1969 season.

Under Phillips, the Angels went 60-63 for the duration of the season, finishing in third place in the A.L. West, 26 games behind the division winning Twins.  Shortstop Jim Fregosi (#365) was the team's top offensive player, batting .260 with 12 home runs, 47 RBIs and an .742 OPS.  Left fielder Rick Reichardt (#205) led the club with 13 home runs and 68 RBIs.  Andy Messersmith (#296) was a 16-game winner, pitching to a 2.52 ERA while throwing 10 complete games and a pair of shutouts.  As the Angels' closer, Ken Tatum saved 22 games.  Future Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm (#565) appeared in 44 games for the Angels before a trade in early September sent him to the Braves. 

1948 Bowman #32

1952 Topps #125

1960 Topps #225

1962 Topps #549

1972 Topps #389

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1948 Bowman #32
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14):  1952, 1960-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #328
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  76 in the Beckett online database as of 11/23/23.

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.

• Lefty Phillips (manager) - Phillips managed the team for most of the year, and I'd give him a card in my update set.
• Jim Spencer (1b) - Rookie Jim Spencer was the club's regular first baseman, and his rookie card would appear in the 1970 Topps set.
• Sandy Alomar (2b) - Sandy Alomar was acquired from the White Sox on May 14th, and has a card in the set with his former team (#283).
• Rudy May (lhp) - Starting pitcher Rudy May appeared in 43 games and made 25 starts for the Angels.  His rookie card is found in the 1965 Topps set, and he'd not appear again in a Topps set until 1970.
• Ken Tatum (rhp) - Closer Ken Tatum has his rookie card in the 1970 Topps set.
• Pedro Borbon (rhp) - As does Pedro Borbon, but Borbon had moved on to the Reds by then.  I'd give him a card in my update set with the Angels, his first team.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference - Rigney / Baseball Reference - 1969 Angels / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#181 Mel Nelson - St. Louis Cardinals / #183 Don Shaw - Montreal Expos