Schoendienst, << SHAYN deenst >> Red (1923-2018), was one of the best second basemen in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. From 1945 through 1963, the slick-fielding Schoendienst compiled 2,449 hits and was elected to 10 All-Star teams. He hit .300 or higher seven times and finished his career with an outstanding .983 fielding percentage at second base. Schoendienst, a switch-hitter, spent most of his 19 MLB seasons with the Saint Louis Cardinals. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Cardinals retired his uniform number 2 in 1996.
Albert Fred Schoendienst was born on Feb. 2, 1923, in Germantown, Illinois, just east of Saint Louis, Missouri. His nickname “Red” matched the color of his hair. Schoendienst excelled at baseball as a youth and was signed to a minor league contract after participating in an open tryout with the Cardinals in 1942. His promising career was interrupted by a brief stint in the United States Army during World War II (1939-1945), but he returned to baseball in 1945. Schoendienst made the Cardinals in spring training that year, and he played his first big league season in left field. In 1946, he moved to second base, made the National League (NL) All-Star team, led NL second basemen in fielding percentage, and helped the Cardinals win a World Series title.
Schoendienst hit .300 for the first time in 1952, and he enjoyed his best offensive season in 1953 when he hit .342 with 15 home runs, 107 runs scored, and 79 runs batted in. He was traded to the New York Giants in 1956, and the following season, he was dealt to the Milwaukee (now Atlanta) Braves. He helped the Braves win a World Series championship in 1957, and he helped them to a second-straight NL pennant in 1958. Injuries and a bout with tuberculosis hampered his later career. He returned to St. Louis in 1961, where he hit .300 in 1961 and .301 in 1962 in part-time duty before his retirement as a player in 1963.
Schoendienst then coached for the Cardinals, serving as the team’s manager from 1965 through 1976, and again briefly in 1980 and in 1990. He led St. Louis to a World Series title in 1967 and guided the team to another NL pennant in 1968. In his later years, Schoendienst served as a special assistant for the Cardinals. He died on June 6, 2018.
