Mr. Cardinal, Red Schoendienst, dies

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HALL OF FAMER RED SCHOENDIENST DIES AT 95

‘MR. CARDINAL’

Red Schoendienst stays cool in the dugout during the 2012 Cardinals home opener.

ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

INSIDE Reaction Tributes pour in from across baseball Hochman Red lives on at Busch, in our hearts SPORTS • B1

BY RICK HUMMEL St. Louis Post-Dispatch

If the late Hall of Famer Stan Musial was “the greatest Cardinal of them all,” then fellow Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst easily could be called “Mr. Cardinal.”

Mr. Schoendienst, who died Wednesday evening (June 6, 2018) at home in Town and Country at

age 95, wore the Cardinals’ uniform longer than anybody else in the franchise’s long and storied history and was the oldest living Hall of Famer.

He played for the Cardinals from 1945-56 and again from 1961-63.

He coached for the 1964 world champion Cardinals and managed the Cardinals from 1965-76, winning National League pennants

Gallery • Red’s 70 years in baseball Video • Players on what No. 2 means to them Share • What’s your favorite Red memory?

See SCHOENDIENST • Page A10

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STOCKLEY FILES LAWSUIT DEFAMATION AND MALICIOUS PROSECUTION?

‘IF ANI INJUSTICEI LIKE THIS ISI ALLOWED, ITI THREATENSI JUSTICEI EVERYWHERE I AND IT CANI HAPPEN TOI ANYONE.’I

Ex-officer acquitted of murder claims he shouldn’t have been charged

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She says ‘frivolous’ suit is meant to deter charges against criminal cops

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ST. LOUIS • Former St. Louis police Officer Jason Stockley is suing the former prosecutor who charged him with murder for an on-duty shooting

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and the internal affairs detective who helped build the case against him.

The suit filed Wednesday claims defamation and malicious prosecution, and says they misrepresented and intentionally disregarded evidence in

bringing him to trial.

A judge in September found Stockley not guilty of murder in the 2011 shooting of drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, a verdict that ignited months of protests in the St. Louis area.

Stockley says he never should

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in 1967-68 and a World Series in 1967.

After two years as an Oakland Athletics coach, Mr. Schoendienst would return as a Cardinals coach from 1977-1995, including stints as interim manager in 1980 and 1990, and after that, for more than 20 years, was a staple in uniform

have been charged. His lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges former Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce lied to a judge to secure Stockley’s arrest and when she claimed “new evidence” See STOCKLEY • Page A4

REYES HAS SURGERY, IS OUT FOR SEASON

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Parson says he’s weighing strategies on crime here Krewson, Stenger meet with governor, talk safety issues

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JEFFERSON CITY • Gov. Mike

Parson said he wants to help the St. Louis region combat crime, but he’s not yet sold on whether to restart one crime-fighting initiative launched by his predecessor.

On his third full working day as Missouri’s new governor Wednesday, the Republican from Bolivar said he is unsure whether he’ll back a plan that saw the Missouri Highway Patrol boost its presence on interstates run-

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A10 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

RED SCHOENDIENST: 1923-2018

M 1 • Thursday • 06.07.2018

POST-DISPATCH FILE PHOTO

July 23, 1989: After two years as an Oakland Athletics coach, Schoendienst would return as a Cardinals coach from 1977 to 1995. His No. 2 was officially retired in 1996.

In a Cards jersey for more than 60 years SCHOENDIENST • FROM A1

before every home game and in spring training as a special assistant to the general manager.

In total, Mr. Schoendienst wore the “birds on the bat” for more than 60 years, with the highlight coming in 1989 when he was elected by the Veterans Committee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., joining his longtime friend, roommate and teammate Musial.

Mr. Schoendienst is survived by his four children — Colleen, Cathleen, Eileen and Kevin; eight living grandchildren (he had 10 total grandchildren); and seven great-grandchildren.

“Red was one of the greatest Cardinals of all time, and a beloved member of the Cardinals organization for over six decades,” said Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. in a statement.

“His influence on this organization cannot be overstated. Red was a great player, a great manager and a wonderful mentor to countless players, coaches and members of the front office. He was also a fan favorite who connected with millions of Cardinals fans across multiple generations.

He will be sorely missed.”

Dal Maxvill, the shortstop on the World Series teams of 1967-68 and later a coach with Mr. Schoendienst and then the Cardinals general manager, put it simply, but perhaps the best: “He was one of those guys,” said Maxvill, “where you never heard anybody say anything bad about him. There’s not too many people like that.”

Tony La Russa, one of several Hall of Fame managers who wore the Cardinals uniform, said, “He was one of the most beautiful individuals you’d ever want to meet. In every way, he was beautiful.”

The Schoendienst family provided the following statement: “Red Schoendienst has passed away today surrounded by his family. He had a life full of happiness for 95 years. He inspired all that knew him to always do their best. Red was a great ball player, but his legacy is that of a great gentleman who had respect for all. He loved his family, friends, teammates, the community and his country. He will be greatly missed.”

Mr. Schoendienst, born on Feb. 2, 1923, in Germantown, Ill., was signed by the Cardinals from a tryout camp in St. Louis in 1942. Ironically, he made his big-league debut in 1945 when Musial was in the Navy and even more ironically, he made that debut as a left fielder.

As his career evolved, Mr. Schoendienst became known, besides his clutch hitting as a switch-hitter, for his slick defensive play at second base. “He had the greatest pair of hands I’ve ever seen,” Musial once said.

Indeed, Mr. Schoendienst led the National League in fielding percentage at second base seven times, in addition to hitting better than .300 for a full season on five occasions and being named to 10 All-Star squads. Mr. Schoendienst’s defensive percentage of .9934 in 1956 lasted as a National League mark for 30 years.

Mr. Schoendienst was surprised and crushed when he was dealt at the trading deadline in

LAURIE SKRIVAN • lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Oct. 30, 2011: Red Schoendienst and his daughter, Cathleen Reifsteck, wave to fans during the World Series parade and celebration at Busch Stadium.

UPI

July 29, 1973: Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst shouts encouragement during the first game of a double-header at Chicago.

Schoendienst managed the Redbirds during four decades.

UPI

Sept. 25, 1963: Stan Musial (left) mugs for his former teammate and roommate, Red Schoendienst, during Stan Musial Day ceremonies.

Schoendienst played ball with fellow Hall of Famers Musial, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays.

1956 to the New York Giants in a nine-player deal that brought shortstop Alvin Dark to St. Louis.

But, a year and a day later, Mr. Schoendienst was sent by the Giants to the Milwaukee Braves, whom he helped lead to pennants in 1957 and 1958 before being limited to just five games in 1959 after he had been beset by tuberculosis.

The Milwaukee franchise won its first and only World Series in 1957, with Henry Aaron named the Most Valuable Player that year. But, in Aaron’s mind, there was only one MVP and it wasn’t himself.

“We don’t win it without Red. He was our Most Valuable Player,” Aaron said many times in succeeding years. Mr. Schoendienst hit .310 for the Braves as their midseason spark and finished third in the league MVP vote, an almost astonishing accomplishment as he played just more than half a season with Milwaukee that year.

Counting his seasons with Aaron as a teammate, Mr. Schoendienst had the distinction of being teammates with Hall of Famers Aaron, Musial and Willie Mays of the Giants, just as those three had the distinction of being his teammate.

Mr. Schoendienst’s career had taken form when he was named

the International League Most Valuable Player in 1943 as he hit .337 for the Cardinals’ Rochester Class AAA farm team and then he batted .373 in 25 games for Rochester the next year before going into the Army.

But Mr. Schoendienst was discharged in 1945 due to a severe eye injury and an injured left shoulder and soon joined the Cardinals, making the team out of spring training.

After his year in the outfield, Mr. Schoendienst moved to second base in 1946, helping the Cardinals to their third World Series title in five years.

He would be a staple at second base for the Cardinals for the next 10 years. His best offensive year came in 1953 when he finished second in the NL batting race, hitting .342, two points behind Carl Furillo of Brooklyn.

Mr. Schoendienst hit 15 home runs that year and 84 for his career. But the home run he was most noted for was his 14th inning homer off Detroit left-hander Ted Gray to win the 1950 All-Star Game for the National League in Chicago’s Comiskey Park.

Mr. Schoendienst also would manage the National League to All-Star victories in 1968 and 1969. He is the only person to have managed the Cardinals in four different decades. After his 12-season stint from 1965-76, Mr. Schoendienst finished out the 1980 season as manager and then managed in 1990 between the resignation of Whitey Herzog and the hiring of Joe Torre.

The “Redhead” achieved 1,041 victories as a Cardinals manager, second only to La Russa. As a player, he hit .289 for his career and his fielding average was a snappy .983.

When his playing, coaching and managing days were over, Mr. Schoendienst still was a font of information for La Russa, who often asked Mr. Schoendienst for his opinions when La Russa had his successful run as manager of the Cardinals that ended in 2011.

Mr. Schoendienst’s No. 2 was retired officially in 1996, yet he wore it for many years afterward.

For a long time, La Russa had a picture of Mr. Schoendienst in the manager’s office with the caption, “His uniform’s retired.

But he’s not.”

Rick Hummel @cmshhummel on Twitter rhummel@post-dispatch.com

UPI

Sept. 22, 1968: Daughter Eileen gives a kiss to her dad, Red Schoendienst, as the manager and his Cardinals arrive at the airport after clinching the National League pennant. His wife, Mary Eileen, and children Kevin and Cathleen were also there to welcome him home.

THURSDAY • 06.07.2018 • B

RED SCHOENDIENST, 1923-2018

LEGACY OF EXAMPLE

Baseball family recalls man who touched many

Red will live on at Busch and in all of our hearts

BY RICK HUMMEL St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In terms of personality, knowledge and just being an engaging companion, Cardinals Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa compared fellow Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst to legendary Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck.

Upon hearing that the “Redhead” had died at age 95 Wednesday after he had been in declining health, La Russa remembered Buck’s lingering illness in 2002. “Even when you knew that he wasn’t feeling good and the quality of his life wasn’t nearly what it used to be, you got very selfish about saying that you still wanted him around,” he said.

“He was one of the most beautiful individuals you would ever want to meet. In every way, he was beautiful.”

La Russa said some of his best times spent before games was standing next to Schoendienst in the outfield shagging fly balls during batting practice. “We’d do that 50 to 60 times a year and in all those years, those moments with him —

BENJAMIN HOCHMAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch

CHRIS LEE • clee@post-dispatch.com

Cardinals Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst poses for a portrait at spring training in 2011.

See RED • Page B7

NEWS > Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst wore the Cardinals’ uniform longer than anyone. Page A1 VIDEO > Red Schoendienst at spring training in 2008; Red and Rick Hummel discuss Stan Musial. stltoday.com/sports

He’s gone, but he’s here.

Red Schoendienst is here at Busch Stadium, on Wednesday night, as the summer sky fades to black.

He’s on the wall in left field, ball in his right hand, about to fling that thing over to first. A red cap is covering his red head, nestled on the wall between fellow red coats Ozzie Smith and Jack Buck.

He’s in the KMOX booth, where Mike Shannon, his old third baseman on the 1967 champs, announced to Cardinal Country that the beloved Red had passed.

He’s in the high socks, the one’s he’d wear with his uniform at spring training, into his 90s, the perfect touch.

He’s in the American flag that will be half-staff at Thursday’s game.

He’s a veteran. Back in World War II, the story goes, Red suffered an eye injury — while shooting bazookas.

See HOCHMAN • Page B7

Cards lose meekly to last-place Marlins

Reyes out for season after having surgery

Miami piles on with runs against bullpen, Gyorko

Muscle strain near shoulder derails his comeback

CHRIS LEE • clee@post-dispatch.com

Yadier Molina reacts after striking out to end the fifth inning Wednesday night.

BY DERRICK GOOLD St. Louis Post-Dispatch

After a winter that strip-mined their roster for talent and into a June where that cost them in the standings, the Miami Marlins flopped into Busch Stadium this week on a six-game losing streak, and it wouldn’t have shocked anyone to see a team struggling with mistakes during this series.

And one has.

It just isn’t the Marlins.

On a somber Wednesday night at the ballpark after the death of a club icon, the Cardinals lost a second consecu-

MARLINS

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Alex Reyes making his first and only start of the season on May 30 in Milwaukee.

11 CARDINALS

3

> 12:15 p.m. Thursday, vs. Marlins, FSM > Mikolas (6-1, 2.49) vs. Hernandez (0-3, 4.29)

tive dud to the team with the worst record in the National League. Derek Dietrich had a home run and four hits as Miami thumped the Cardinals 11-3. The game took a telling turn in the ninth inning when infielder Jedd Gyorko scaled the mound. Manager Mike Matheny detests using a position player to pitch — and yet that’s where two losses to the See CARDINALS • Page B5

BY JOE LYONS St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The promising career of Cardinals rookie righthander Alex Reyes is on hold once again.

Reyes, who threw just four innings last week in his first major league start after recovering from Tommy John surgery, was diagnosed the next day with a significant strain to his right lat. He had surgery Wednesday and is done for the season.

Cardinals general manager Michael Girsch said Reyes will be off the mound for six months before he can resume

throwing, but the team expected him to be ready for spring training in 2019.

The injury is not seen as career threatening.

“We’ve been told by doctors that they expect him to fully recover,” Girsch said.

Girsch said the second opinion that Reyes got from Dr. Anthony Romeo in Philadelphia eventually led to surgery.

“Dr. Romeo’s exam confirmed what we had seen with our doctors, which was a significant strain in the lat,” Girsch said. “There was some fraying between the lat, the tendon, and the bone. Based See REYES • Page B7

Durant puts Warriors a win away

Porter confident about decision

His 43-point night leads to 3-0 lead in NBA Finals

NBA move would have been rushing things, he says

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CLEVELAND • Kevin Durant pushed the Golden State Warriors to dynasty’s doorstep.

LeBron James may be at the door.

Durant scored 43 points, draining a long 3-pointer in the final minute to cap his magnificent performance, and the Warriors beat James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 110-102 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night to move within a victory of a sweep, their second straight title and third championship in four years.

No team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs.

It might be time to order some champagne from Napa Valley.

With the Cavs down 103-100, Durant stood defiantly and almost motionless after dropping his 33-footer — almost from the same spot from See NBA • Page B3

GSW

110 CLE

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BY DAVE MATTER • St. Louis Post-Dispatch

COLUMBIA, MO. • There was a time when Mis-

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Cavaliers forward LeBron James drives against the Warriors’ Kevin Durant in the first half.

souri forward Jontay Porter was widely expected to attend the NBA draft as one of the most intriguing and youngest players available.

That time was April.

Then came May and the NBA draft combine, and now that it’s June, Porter still plans to attend the draft two weeks from Thursday. On one condition.

“If Coach Martin lets me,” Porter said Wednesday.

Porter will indeed be at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to support older brother and projected top-10 pick Michael Porter Jr. Then he’ll return to Columbia and resume working under Cuonzo Martin at the level he believes he’s meant to play next season. Before Porter participated in last

See MIZZOU • Page B9

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Missouri’s Jontay Porter caught the attention of NBA teams as a freshman.

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06.07.2018 • Thursday • M 2 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • B7 BASEBALL

Schoendienst recalled with affection Red remains in hearts of everyone he met

RED • FROM B1

whether the conversations were serious or fun — were the very best memories I had in all my years in St. Louis,” said La Russa.

“It would be impossible to explain what he means to all of us.”

Schoendienst, in November, became the oldest living Hall of Fame player when Boston’s Bobby Doerr died at age 99. Schoendienst said quietly, “I wish that had been me.”

At that point, Schoendienst’s legs and the rest of his body were starting to give out and he knew he didn’t have much more to give to his family, or to his second family, baseball.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has become the oldest living Hall of Famer at age 90.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said he was “blessed” to have known Schoendienst as long as he did. He talked to one of Schoendienst’s daughters before the game Wednesday, and he got to more or less say his goodbyes a couple of weeks ago when he visited Schoendienst at his home.

“He hated that kind of stuff,” said Matheny, “but I told him how much I enjoyed being around him and how much he’s meant to us. He saw this coming and I got to be real with him.

“I made sure I gave him a hug and told him how much I cared about him.”

Schoendienst didn’t say much but when he did start story-telling, “it was priceless,” said Matheny, who kept up with Schoendienst by telephone this spring even though Schoendienst wasn’t at camp.

“I’d call him up and say, ‘Tell me what you see with this guy or that guy,’’’ said Matheny. “I’d always have to remind some of these players, ‘Get on your phone, pull up his name, look at the stats. Then look at the kind of career he had with the eye injury he had and the tuberculosis.’ Most people were dead with tuberculosis then.”

Schoendienst came back to play five games for the Milwaukee Braves in 1959 after missing most of the year with TB. Dal Maxvill, the shortstop on the great Cardinals teams managed by Schoendienst in the late 1960s, said, “Guys liked playing for him because he let you play. He was the kind of man you liked as a friend. He was a fun guy to be around and not just as your manager.

“He was one of those guys that you never heard anybody say anything bad about. There aren’t too many people like that.

“Red was a great tribute to the game. He was just constantly talking to everybody about what a great game it was and how happy he was to be a part of it.”

Cardinals voice Mike Shannon, who played for Schoendienst virtually his entire career, said, “Forget what he did on the field. Forget all the records and there are many.

The legacy he’s leaving here for his children and his grandchildren — the legacy he set by example — he was one of the great citizens of our country. He was the great founda-

HOCHMAN • FROM B1

CHRIS LEE • clee@post-dispatch.com

Red Schoendienst (left) and manager Mike Matheny during spring training in 2012 in Jupiter, Fla.

tion of what’s right in this world.

“The Golden Rule. That’s Red Schoendienst.”

Schoendienst was a Hall of Famer but didn’t act like it. “A couple of years ago, I saw I’d missed a call from Red,” said Matheny. “I freaked out. I said, ‘I wonder if Red’s OK’ “I called him back as soon as I could and he said, ‘I just wanted you to know that they changed my doctor’s appointment and I’m going to be a little late getting to the field today.’

“Imagine Red Schoendienst telling me that. His humility and his résumé put him in a very rare class.”

Schoendienst and fellow Hall of Famer Stan Musial were inseparable both on and off the field. And Schoendienst, even when Musial had died five years ago at age 92, always played the same quinella when he would make an infrequent visit to a race track. Every race it would be 2-6, the numbers of Schoendienst and Musial, respectively. Schoendienst had even more reason to use “2” as his lucky number. He was born on Feb. 2, 1923.

But Schoendienst was mostly a participant, rather than a spectator, whenever he could be.

“I mean, two years ago,” said fellow Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog, “he was duck hunting — at 93 years and 67 days, as he liked to say.

“He was one of the greatest wild-bird shooters I’ve ever seen. I thought I was one of the best but he embarrassed me. I used to call him the bionic man, as healthy as he was all those years. And how far he could hit a golf ball was the darnedest thing I’ve ever seen. He’d grab that golf club like a baseball bat and he’d

play in those “Super Seniors” events and hit the ball farther than the pros and he made a lot of them mad.”

Herzog paused for a moment.

“There’s a lot of good things to remember,” he said. “We all lost a very good friend. It’s a sad day for Cardinal Nation.”

Catcher Yadier Molina said, “He’s always helped me out with my hitting and told me about my hands, to be confident. We have plenty of stories. I’m going to remember him.”

Well-wishers responded from everywhere, including a tweet from former Cardinals star and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, who is playing with the Los Angeles Angels.

Pujols said, “It was a privilege to know and learn from one of baseball’s best, Red Schoendienst. He truly was one of the greatest mentors in the game. He always made time for me and I will cherish the great times we spent together.”

Among the current Cardinals players, pitcher Adam Wainwright probably knew Schoendienst best.

“He’d seen more and experienced more and had more to teach and give than just about anybody I’d been around,” said Wainwright.

“Just a great baseball man, a great Cardinal man, just a great guy for St. Louis — a guy we all looked up to.”

Schoendienst, the Hall of Fame second baseman, began his Cardinals career in 1945 as a left fielder.

He ended it in 2018 as a legend.

Joe Lyons and Benjamin Hochman contributed to this report.

Rick Hummel @cmshhummel on Twitter rhummel@post-dispatch.com

He’s in the crack of the bat and the birds on the bat.

He’s in hallway in Aggie’s Lobby, where a solemn longtime Cards employee walked by. “Sorry for you loss,” someone said to him. “It’s the whole city’s loss,” he replied.

He’s in the omnipresent red. It was just all so perfect.

Red on the Redbirds, No. 2 born on Feb. 2, playing second base. To paraphrase the writer Rick Bragg’s famous line about Paul “Bear” Bryant — Red was so beloved, they named a color after him.

He’s in the smiles in the stands of those kissed by baseball bliss.

He’s over there by second base, where “he had probably the smoothest hands I’ve ever seen in baseball,” Wally Moon said in 2017 by phone. “A natural second baseman — a little unusual, but he could pick that ball. He did a lot of backhand picks that you don’t see in today’s market, but he was just fluid. … His play was beautiful to watch.”

Moon is gone now — he was the Rookie of the Year on the in 1954 team.

And now, so is his All-Star teammate.

He’s in the quiet voice of the stadium elevator operator, who Red would always greet, and the cracking voice of the usher, who once took a flight with the Cardinals and heard Red sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” over the P.A. He’s in the pennants he won for the town he loved.

He’s in the manager, Mike Matheny, whose voice always gets softer and whose grin grows when talking about the former manager. Red illuminated everyone around this place.

He’s in the statue of himself out front, but really, in most of the statues, because he touched all the Cardinals who called him a teammate or coach or manager or friend.

He’s in the fingers of Rick Hummel, the great scribe from this very paper, who’s up here in the press box, writing the obituary of a man he knew for nearly a half-century. And before Hummel was Bob Broeg, the Hall of Fame sportswriter who once penned of Schoendienst: “From the first time I met Red, I knew he had to be Huck Finn.

Heck, he even looked the way I knew Huck had to look.

He was tall, loosey-goosey, freckled and carrot-topped and had a deep, Ferdy Froghammer voice, if you knew the caricature used in the movies then.

“Red didn’t say much then because he was a bit shy, a bit uncertain because, back in Southern Illinois, he’d played hooky too often whenever the catfish were biting on the Kaskaskia River. Or, as a hunter, he’d sit with a stoicism for the thrill of blasting a mallard or a meaty Canada honker on a blustery day. And he knew more about the billiard angles of the township pool hall than he did any geometric figure this side of a pirouette at second base.”

He’s in the fungo bats he used to hit grounders to the next Schoendiensts. Rex Hudler once said Red’s grounders would leave bruises on Rex’s shins. “He was sooooo strong,” said Rex, one of those scrappy Cardinals, his uniform forever dirty.

Rex recalled: “He once said, ‘Hey kiiiiid, you woulda been great in my day.’ That’s the greatest compliment anyone’s ever given me in my entire career.”

He’s in the old stories he shared, that are now shared around the park. “So this was in my first full year in professional ball,” Red said of 1943. “Sunday morning to Rochester — I traveled there all night. I went to the clubhouse, knocked on the door and the trainer comes. He says, ‘Yeah, can I help you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m supposed to report as a player for you.’ He says, ‘All right, good.’ I walked in, and I could hear (manager) Pepper Martin say to the trainer: ‘I’ve got enough bat boys, I don’t need him!’

“I was pretty frail, I weighed about 160 pounds.”

He’s in our memories, because most of us remember the first time we met Red. “When you took me to see the press box at Busch for the first time,” my sister Emily texted me, “I had several ohmygosh-I-can’t-believe-we-are-here moments, but you were professional and kept your cool. This is your world and your job, after all. But when Red Schoendienst walked by us, I think even you lost your breath a little.”

He’s in all our hearts, red and heavy.

Benjamin Hochman @hochman on Twitter bhochman@post-dispatch.com

No more pitching for Reyes this season REYES • FROM B1

on that he had surgery to reattach the tendon to the bone. The good news is that when they went in the tendon still was partially frayed, it wasn’t completely torn off, which means there’s good blood flow, which means it’s very optimistic for recovery.”

Girsch said Reyes would spend some time with his family in New Jersey before returning to St. Louis next week to start the rehab process.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said he talked to Reyes before but not after the surgery.

“He’s pretty down right

now, (we’re) looking forward to getting him back here,” Matheny said. “He’s still young and has a lot of baseball ahead of him.

Right now, just hurt with him. Praying for him. It took so much for him to get where he is right now, to get him back to the mound. This isn’t something that is typical. It’s going to be a great challenge for him (and) I think it’ll be good for him to be around people who care about him and want to see him get this right and get back.”

While the loss of Reyes has a definite impact on the Cardinals in 2018, Matheny is more concerned at

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this point with his young pitcher off the field.

“It’s most difficult on him,” the manager said.

“Obviously, we were excited to have him back and trying to figure out how it plays with our club. This is a scary time for him. I have all the faith in the world that he’ll bounce back, but it’s not one of those (injuries) where you just show up after a certain amount of time. ... He’s going to have to work, and it’s a lot of work. We talked about how transformational (Tommy John surgery) was for him in his life — physically, emotionally.

“This is another tough, tough run for him. We hurt

for him. We’ll try not to get too wrapped up in the what-ifs as how it looks for our club because we realize for him as a person, this is a big deal.”

Reyes, 23, pitched four scoreless innings in a 3-2 Cardinals loss at Milwaukee on May 30, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out a pair.

He lost velocity in the fourth inning, prompting a mound visit from Matheny and trainer Adam Olsen.

Reyes finished the inning and threw three pitches at 95 mph or better.

But an exam the next day detected the lat strain.

It has since been confirmed that Reyes felt fa-

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tigue and soreness in the shoulder after his final rehab start, at Class AAA Memphis, six days before his big-league return.

“He felt he could pitch through it,” Cardinals general manager Michael Girsch said. “Turned out … he couldn’t.”

The 6-foot-3, 175-pounder was nothing short of brilliant during his four rehab starts leading to his return last week. He struck out 13 to set a Class AA Springfield singlegame record May 19, and in a Triple-A tuneup he did what no pitcher ever had in 116 years of the Pacific Coast League: He struck out the opponent’s lineup in order. On 36 pitches, he fanned eight swinging and one looking.

In 23 scoreless rehab innings, Reyes allowed only 14 baserunners and struck out 44 of the 82 batters he faced.

Reyes, who was signed as an amateur free agent in December 2012, made his major league debut in August 2016, going 4-1 with a save and a 1.57 ERA in 12 appearances (five starts). The next spring, he sustained a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow during a bullpen session.

Reyes missed the entire 2017 season during his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Joe Lyons @joelyonspd on twitter jlyons@post-dispatch.com

MLB NOTEBOOK Cespedes is close to return with Mets A slumping New York Mets offense could possibly receive some help from Yoenis Cespedes this weekend, just in time for the Subway Series against the New York Yankees.

Cespedes has been out since May 16 with a strained right hip.

Cespedes went through a simulated game Tuesday, taking six at-bats against injured starter Noah Syndergaard. Manager Mickey Callaway said Syndergaard could return Sunday depending on how he feels.

Dodgers send Baez to Triple-A • The Los Angeles Dodgers optioned reliever Pedro Baez to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday to find a spot on the roster for rookie starting pitcher Caleb Ferguson.

Baez is 2-3 with a 3.25 ERA for Los Angeles this season.

Police at Kauffman make arrest over fires • Kansas City police say they arrested a woman who allegedly set several small fires while wandering around Kauffman Stadium. Royals spokesman Toby Cook says none of the fires caused any significant damage.

Police arrested 36-yearold Bridget DePriest early Wednesday and issued a summons for trespassing and openly burning.

Associated Press

J O I N U S O N L I N E S T L T O D A Y. C O M / S P O R T S

FRIDAY • 06.08.2018 • C

MIKOLAS RIGHTS THE SHIP Sweet redemption in series finale

Righthander exorcises two ugly losses with sparkling turn CARDINALS 4 MARLINS 1 > 6:10 p.m. Friday at Reds, FSM > Weaver (3-5, 4.12) vs. Harvey (1-4, 5.79) > Despite errors, Munoz will be fine, Matheny says. C5 > Voit becoming a formidable pinch hitter. C6

BY DERRICK GOOLD St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The frustration Cardinals manager Mike Matheny shared after another loss to the Marlins, he also heard in the dugout during it. There were shouts of “this isn’t it” and a “sense,” he said, of knowing what the players were seeing on the field was not familiar and not acceptable, and so he expected Thursday a “better brand of baseball.”

They got back to basics.

They leaned on their pitchers.

The bedrock of the Cardinals’ start to the season has been the rotation, specifically a pitcher like Miles Mikolas, a fresh face who ventilated the stench of the previous two games from Busch Stadium with seven sterling innings Thursday. The See CARDINALS • Page C5

JOSE de JESUS ORTIZ St. Louis Post-Dispatch

CHRIS LEE • clee@post-dispatch.com

Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas allowed one run — unearned — through seven innings Thursday against Miami.

Manager in chief Schoendienst remembered as tough, no-nonsense boss

The Cardinals arrived at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon knowing they needed to play much better than they had in the previous two games against the lowly Marlins. They were on the verge of suffering an embarrassing three-game sweep against a franchise that has hardly bothered to camouflage a willingness to lose this season.

Until Thursday, the guys in the wrong uniforms played in a manner more associated with a tanking club. The Cardinals See ORTIZ • Page C6

Caps finally raise their Stanley Cup First title in team’s history

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Capitals left wing and playoff MVP Alex Ovechkin hoists the Stanley Cup on Thursday night.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS • After 43 seasons, the Washington Capitals are finally sitting on top of hockey.

Lars Eller scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:37 to play, and the Capitals raised the Stanley Cup for the first time CAPITALS 4 in franchise history after a 4-3 victory over the Vegas KNIGHTS 3 Golden Knights in Game 5 on Thursday night. > Capitals win series Captain Alex Ovechkin 4-1 capped his playoff MVP campaign with a power-play goal, and Devante Smith-Pelly tied it with a goal midway through the final period of the Capitals’ fourth consecutive victory over the Golden Knights, whose incredible expansion season finally ended in the desert.

See NHL • Page C7

New football leagues explore options here One begins play in February

BY JIM THOMAS St. Louis Post-Dispatch POST-DISPATCH FILE

Red Schoendienst working on Jerry Mumphrey’s hitting in March 1979.

R

BY RICK HUMMEL • St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ed Schoendienst was as nice a man as you’d want to encounter, and the stories about him generally ended on a high note. But, that didn’t mean he didn’t have his tough side or that his players largely ran the team.

“Tough?” said former player Mike Shannon. “I’ll tell you about tough.

There was a guy about 200 pounds who tried to get on the team bus in Chicago. Red was sitting in that first seat and he grabbed him by the lapels, picked him up and set him down outside the bus and said, ‘You don’t get to come onto this bus.’”

Schoendienst, who died on Wednesday at age 95, didn’t cotton to much nonsense although he liked a good time as much as the next man. He also didn’t waste time when he managed a game.

“What I liked best about him,” said meal ticket pitcher Bob Gibson, “was that he only did things when they needed to be done. He wasn’t a control freak. Let’s put it that way.

He knows the game really, really well and if there was nothing to do, he didn’t do it. He didn’t try to create things.”

The Cardinals largely had a set

lineup in Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Roger Maris, Orlando Cepeda, Tim McCarver, Shannon, Julian Javier, Dal Maxvill and the pitcher. “When you’ve got a team that knows the game pretty well,” said Gibson,” you don’t need to create.”

There were few clubhouse meetings. “He had a meeting when it was time to have it,” said Gibson. “He didn’t have a bunch of meetings like a lot of people would have when the team would start going bad.”

McCarver, tying in Schoendienst’s See RED • Page C6

> COMING SUNDAY • A deep dive into the life of Red Schoendienst.

The Rams and the NFL have been gone since the end of the 2015 season, but it’s possible pro football could return to St. Louis as early as February.

Kitty Ratcliffe, president of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, says the group — which goes by the trade name Explore St. Louis — has talked to representatives of three groups trying to form football leagues.

And those groups have inquired about playing their games in the Dome at America’s Center, formerly the Edward Jones Dome.

“It’s interesting to see what’s happening across the country,” Ratcliffe said. “There’s clearly going to be some competition for the NFL. They’re all in tentative, formative stages, but three different groups have contacted us to explore availability and interest.”

The groups include the Alliance of American Football, which plans to begin play in February See FOOTBALL • Page C3

SPORTS

2 M

C6 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

CARDINALS

M 1 • Friday • 06.08.2018

Voit thriving in role off bench

Cards are better than this series

With homer Thursday, career average as a pinch hitter is .342

ORTIZ • FROM C1

to add to a conversation.

“He wasn’t someone who was verbose or talked just to talk, but when he had something to say, it was always valuable.

“A lot of times when people look at the analytical world, it’s just a validation of their own opinion. He didn’t need that.

Red was one of those guys who had so much to offer. If you were willing to learn, he was a great guy to be around.”

On the list of Cardinals Hall of Famer players, Stan Musial was gone at 92 in 2013. Schoendienst had been wearing down recently, and stayed in his bed for the first time on Wednesday, said daughter Colleen. He died later that night.

It has always been Stan and Red, not necessarily Red and Stan. Red knew that Stan was the better player and would defer to him. But Mozeliak said, “Red was one of those guys who was always internally competitive. But, in the end, he always knew his place was still good. And he didn’t have to worry about it.”

Reviewing the past day or so and, even the last several years, Gibson said, “You start thinking about all kinds of stuff.

You think about Stan. And then Red. And then you think, ‘I’m the next oldest. Holy moly.’”

At 82, Gibson is now the Cardinals’ oldest Hall of Famer, with former manager Whitey Herzog next at 86.

A funeral mass is scheduled for next Friday at the Cathedral Basilica, where services were held for Musial, with more details to be announced later.

needed their stopper to step up, and that’s exactly Miles Mikolas did with seven strong innings to beat the Marlins 4-1.

The calendar proves that there are no must-win games this time of year, but the series finale against the Marlins qualified as a game in which the Cardinals needed to stop embarrassing themselves.

“You know when you get done with those two games, it feels good to win (the finale),” said first baseman Jose Martinez, who gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run in the first. “We’re going on the road now and you feel a bit more relaxed. We play Cincinnati well, and we’ll try to do the same thing we did today.”

The Cardinals are a much better team than they showed in the series against the Marlins, who entered the series finale with the second worst winning percentage in the National League. Only the Reds had a lower winning percentage in the NL heading into Thursday.

Heading into the series, there was reason for the Cardinals to believe that they could fatten up during a ninegame stretch that including consecutive three-game series against the Marlins, Reds and the NL-West doormat San Diego Padres. Yet, the Cardinals tripped all over themselves while committing a combined five errors over the first two games of the series as the Marlins outscored them 18-7.

There’s no shame in losing to any major league team. Nonetheless, there should definitely be a stigma when you help to beat yourself in embarrassing fashion against a team that carried a six-game losing streak into Busch Stadium on Tuesday.

The Marlins scored four runs combined while suffering a three-game sweep against the Diamondbacks before beginning the series against the Cardinals.

“We looked at this stretch that we have when we took three out of four from Pittsburgh and we had Miami here for three and we go to Cincinnati for three, come back home for San Diego (and) we felt good about where you could be potentially at the end of that,” Matt Carpenter said. “Losing two of three to Miami doesn’t ruin that, but it makes it a little harder.

“If we go out in Cincinnati and we pull a sweep out there we could kind of make up for something like what happened here at home. But it was good to come out here and win a game today.”

Fortunately for the Cardinals, Mikolas welcomes the opportunity to be the club’s stopper when things aren’t going well. More importantly, he’s been good enough to give his teammates plenty of confidence as they head to the stadium on the days he starts.

Mikolas, who appears on his way to an All-Star berth, embraces the responsibility he has shouldered in his first year back in the majors after a three-year sojourn in Japan. When asked if he took extra pride in being the stopper when things may not be going well, Mikolas didn’t hesitate.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Same thing even during a game you get a big inning to get that shutdown inning or just try to get the team back on the right foot, give us a happy flight and going into a road trip with everybody feeling good about themselves.”

The Cardinals also needed to clean up their defense. They improved on that front for the most part with the exception of right fielder Dexter Fowler’s error, which led to the unearned run the Marlins scored.

Considering how well Michael Wacha and Mikolas have pitched and the fact that Carlos Martinez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball when healthy, the Cardinals should avoid losing streaks as long as they play clean defense and get timely hitting.

Rookie shortstop Yairo Munoz bounced back with a clean defensive performance a day after committing a career-high three errors. Manager Mike Matheny put Munoz back in the lineup, and he delivered solid defense with four assists. He also was one for four at the plate.

“I never dropped my head,” Munoz said. “I maintained a positive mindset.

Three errors, but I said, ‘tomorrow is another day. I will do it right tomorrow.’

Thank God it turned out well today.

“My teammates and I always have confidence. My teammates and coaches help me a lot.”

The Cardinals finished 4-3 on the homestand. They had a reason to expect better. They cannot afford to play sloppy defense, as they did in the second game of the series, or make multiple blunders running the bases, as they did in the series opener.

If they hope to catch the Brewers, they need to play more like they did Thursday.

“Clean and guys making plays for the most part defensively,” Matheny said.

“It was great seeing Yairo get a couple opportunities, just looked smooth. He can tell you, he’s a pretty tough kid. I knew he’d respond well there. Comes in and takes a good at-bat late in the game off a guy throwing really hard, just a nice bounce-back day for him.

Just a much better rhythm all the way around. It looked much more like our club.”

Rick Hummel @cmshhummel on Twitter rhummel@post-dispatch.com

Jose de Jesus Ortiz @OrtizKicks on Twitter jortiz@post-dispatch.com

BY TOM TIMMERMANN St. Louis Post-Dispatch

As Miles Mikolas was rolling through the Marlins lineup on Thursday afternoon, a lot of people had their eyes on the starter’s pitch count: manager Mike Matheny, pitching coach Mike Maddux, the bullpen and potential pinch hitter Luke Voit.

About the fifth inning, Voit assessed where everything stood and went into the batting cage behind the Cardinals dugout to start getting in some swings, part of what has become his preparatory practice and one that is paying big dividends. Voit came up to pinch hit for Mikolas in the seventh and homered into the left-field bullpen. It was his first home run of the season and the Cardinals’ first pinch-hit home run of the season, which served to give them a little extra breathing room on their way to a 4-1 win over the Marlins at Busch Stadium.

Voit is 2 for 3 as a pinch hitter this season with a home run and a walk. In addition to his .667 batting average, he has a 1.667 slugging percentage and a .750 onbase percentage. Those numbers may reek of small sample size, but in his career, he’s hitting .342 as a pinch hitter, with 12 hits in 35 at-bats.

Sure, he’d love to be playing every day, but if this is what it takes to play in the majors, that’s fine by him.

“As long as it keeps me here,” he said. “I don’t want to go back to Memphis so I’ll do whatever I can to help the team.”

“He’s dangerous,” said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. “He’s a dangerous hitter that really does well in that pinchhit role. We talk about how hard it is for guys coming through the system that are used to playing everyday, how hard it is to stay sharp, and Luke Voit has been able to do that.

“Luke hasn’t been getting a lot of opportunities. It’s amazing how sharp he stays with limited opportunities.”

Voit has had four plate appearances spread over seven games since he was called up from Memphis on May 31 and he stays sharp by using something he learned when he was in Class AA: Take lots of swings in the batting cage.

“I’ll go down there and hit off the machine until I feel my swing is right and make sure I’m staying back and through the baseball,” he said. “I just kind of constantly hit off that and hit fastballs and sliders and that always feels like it gets me on track.

“That’s why I like the machine a lot.

It’s a constant velocity, making sure your timing is right, your swing path’s right,

CHRIS LEE • clee@post-dispatch.com

The Cardinals’ Luke Voit is greeted by teammates, including Marcell Ozuna (23) and Yairo Munoz, after leading off the seventh inning Thursday with a pinch-hit solo home run.

whatever you have to do to keep yourself in control of what it would be like to hit. We can hit different pitches off it. That’s how it works for me.”

After learning how to stay sharp, he’s also learned the approach he needs to take at the plate. While he may be coming up in a big situation, he can do only so much.

“Not trying to do too much, staying within myself,’ he said. “Kind of knowing what the pitcher’s going to do to me, attack my weaknesses in certain situations. Last year, when I first started doing it, I feel I was trying to hit a home run every time and rolling over, striking out, swinging and missing. I was trying to really learn a lot toward the end of the season, if I have to get the guy over or hit a sac fly or whatever the situation presents itself. Don’t swing out of your shoes kind of thing. Take positives out of every at-bat.

It’s been good for me.”

Thursday’s at-bat came about quickly.

Matheny sent Greg Garcia out to hit for Mikolas to start the seventh, but then the Marlins pulled righthanded reliever Brad Ziegler in favor of lefthander Adam Conley. Conley is the Marlins’ only lefty out of the bullpen, and Voit figured if he got an at-bat, that’s who it would probably be

against. Voit came in for Garcia and homered.

“I credit our video guys coming in and telling us Conley is warming up too,” the 27-year-old Lafayette High and Missouri State product said. “It was the kind of situation where we knew it could happen and it did happen. It’s just always being prepared for any situation.”

Sometimes he’s prepared and isn’t needed. On Sunday, he went into the cage to get his swings, but Michael Wacha flirted with a no-hitter and was never hit for. That’s how it goes. But pinch hitting is a skill that can keep Voit in the majors, at least for now. The Cardinals are carrying five hitters at the moment, one more than they’ve had at many times this season. And while a player like Tyler O’Neill was sent down because the Cardinals want him to play every day, Voit can stay up because he’s shown he doesn’t have to play every day. It’s the difference between being in St. Louis and being in Memphis, and this is where he wants to be.

“You said it right, a hundred million percent,” he said. “I love it up here.”

Tom Timmermann • 314-340-8190 @tomtimm on Twitter ttimmermann@post-dispatch.com

‘Respect was what his life was all about’ RED • FROM C1

managing career with his estimable playing career as an infielder, said, “He had his ‘say’ when his ‘say’ was warranted. Howard Pollet, who used to play with Red, was asked what made him such a good player and he said, ‘He had very good, soft hands — and a tough heart.’

“I thought that sounded like a nice way to describe him as a manager, too.”

McCarver said he couldn’t think of any manager who worked the position the way Schoendienst did. “The job of managing has changed so much,” said McCarver, “and Red was as much one of a kind in his day and today. He was unto himself.”

Schoendienst didn’t just write down the nine names in the lineup and tell them to come back in 2 ½ hours and let him know how the game came out. “But he was the opposite of Tony La Russa,” said Gibson.

“That’s not to say Tony wasn’t a good manager but they were two different types. Tony likes to be in control. Red was the opposite, he could be in control without being in control.”

Gibson and La Russa have become good friends over the years, but Gibson said he would have said what he said anyway. “If he minds, so what?” said Gibson, chuckling.

Gibson, who will be 83 this year, was able to laugh a bit Thursday when telling Schoendienst stories. He admitted he was not emotionally ready to discuss Red’s passing the previous day.

“It’s just that sometimes there are some really personal things that I don’t feel like sharing with the public,” Gibson said.

“I just really liked him a lot. It had nothing to do with him as manager. It had to do with us as individuals.”

As competitive as both were in their own way, Gibson even found something to laugh about when the San Francisco Giants were having their way with Gibson in the mid-1960s. Gibson said, “I was getting my brains beat out and Red came out to the mound, finally, after one out in the first inning and five or six runs and I said, ‘Have you been watching this game?’ He said, ‘I was watching it but I didn’t have time to warm anybody up.’”

Schoendienst finally took Gibson out and the Cardinals rallied to win the game.

McCarver, however, recalls a similar start to a game in Chicago, but a different conversation. “It was opening day in 1965 and the Cubs had scored a bunch of runs by the fourth inning and Red came to the mound. Bob said, ‘This isn’t the damned World Series,’” related McCarver.

“Red said, ‘Well, look at the damned scoreboard. They’ve already scored six runs.’” Schoendienst took Gibson out this time, too.

The Cardinals of the 1960s enjoyed winning championships and celebrating

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this April 1968 file photo, Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood (left) and manager Red Schoendienst chat at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

along the way. But Gibson said Schoendienst wasn’t one to have bed checks at night although when Bob Howsam was general manager in 1965-66, he instituted the policy. Schoendienst had coach Dick Sisler do the dirty work.

“Dick came one night — I was pitching the next day — and he knocked on my door about 11 o’clock at night,” said Gibson, alone in his room. “I didn’t let him in.

The next morning, I confronted him and he said, ‘I came and knocked on your door and you didn’t answer.’”

Gibson responded, “If you ever come and knock on my door at night, I’m going to pull you in and you’re going to have just as good a time as I’m having.”

After that, Gibson said, Schoendienst “didn’t do a lot of bed checking and once Howsam was gone, we had none of it.”

The overriding word to describe Schoendienst’s relationship with his players was “respect,” said McCarver. “Respect was what his life was all about.

“That’s the same reason the (AnheuserBusch) brewery chose Red to manage in 1964 when they had public relations problems after Johnny Keane left to go to the Yankees. Who better to solve that problem than Red?” Schoendienst’s knowledge and popularity transcended several generations, and he was sitting in on Cardinals staff meetings into his 90s.

“Red always knew what was going on,” said John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations. “This new school/old school debate on how you think about decisionmaking. .. . Red was always just full of wisdom. He always had something insightful

SUNDAY • 06.10.2018 • B

RED SCHOENDIENST: 1923-2018

POST-DISPATCH FILE PHOTO

Many Reds, one legend

As a player, Schoendienst had few peers

BY DERRICK GOOLD St. Louis Post-Dispatch

As they readied for a commercial shoot at the Cardinals’ spring training campus in Florida, the advertising agency hired to produce the spot wondered openly if it should prep a body double for the star. The original script called for Red Schoendienst, Cardinals Hall of Famer, to chop “fungo grounders” to infielders and, once everybody else had left the field, peek around before he “then tosses up a ball and hammers it.”

The desired effect was to give the impression Schoendienst had launched the ball “400 feet into the parking lot.” It had to be a clout. A casual swing wouldn’t sell it. A stand-in wearing Schoendienst’s No. 2, ad officials figured, could belt it. They were assured Schoendienst would be fine.

He did it for nearly 20 takes, never missing a ball he tossed and scurrying to a golf cart after See RED • Page B6

J

eff Idelson is president of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Red Schoendienst’s death at age 95 on Wednesday was a loss to many, but it meant that the Hall had lost its oldest living member.

To Idelson, Schoendienst represented the “American Dream.”

“He was a tremendous ballplayer,” said Idelson, “but beyond that, he was emblematic of the American story where you can grow up with nothing and make the most of an opportunity and parlay that small opportunity into a seven-decade career.

BENJAMIN HOCHMAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“That’s very much the American Dream. And you couldn’t have a better person be emblematic of that than Red Schoendienst.”

Former Commissioner Bud Selig’s Red Schoendienst is wearing a Milwaukee Braves uniform in the late 1950s.

Selig’s family had an auto dealership then in Milwaukee and he was a rabid Braves fan.

Selig, before his group bought the Milwaukee Brewers and then became commissioner, delighted in the Braves winning the 1957 World Series and going to the World Series again in 1958, sparked by the likes of Henry Aaron,

GERMANTOWN • The grass is getting a little high here at Schoendienst Park.

I’m alone. Birds chirp and bugs buzz. Home plate is caked with dirt. Behind the left-field fence is a scoreboard, donated by the Kernel Nut Club. Behind the right-field fence is a brown house and a small stable, where two horses wander.

And behind the center-field fence, as I walk closer through the unkempt grass, is a lone pole.

Someone had put the flag at half-staff.

It’s a little past 2 on the afternoon after he died.

Red Schoendienst lived in St. Louis and epitomized St. Louis’ Cardinals, but Germantown was home. He was born here in 1923, famously hitchhiked from here in 1942 and was and forever is this

See LEGEND • Page B7

See HOCHMAN • Page B9

He meant something different to everyone

BY RICK HUMMEL St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Schoendienst never forgot Germantown

INSIDE: FOUR FULL PAGES ON THE LIFE OF RED SCHOENDIENST. B6-9 • FUNERAL MASS SET FOR FRIDAY. A2 > Ortiz: Young arms galore for Cardinals. B3 > Cardinals continue domination of Reds. B4 > Cards Insider: How many all-time wins can Cards count? It depends. B5 > Minor leagues: Change works for Hudson. B10

JUSTIFIABLE! Racing gets 13th Triple Crown with undefeated Justify ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK • Justify defied all

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jockey Mike Smith rises after guiding Justify across the finish line.

the odds on his way to achieving Triple Crown immortality.

The late bloomer won the Belmont Stakes by 1¾ lengths on Saturday, giving the sport its 13th Triple Crown champion.

American Pharoah ended a 37year drought in 2015 and now just four years later, racing is celebrating another sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.

Justify began his racing career on Feb. 18, a scant 77 days before the Derby. He won his first three races by a combined 19 lengths, making trainer Bob Baffert a believer.

The big chestnut colt with the appetite to match burst onto the national scene with a 2½-length

victory on a sloppy track in the Derby. Two weeks later, he survived a challenge in the fogshrouded Preakness, winning by a half-length, again in the slop to set up a Triple Crown try.

“The raw talent is there,” Baffert said. “He just came on there and broke every curse there was.

It was meant to be.”

On a cloudy 80-degree day at Belmont Park, Justify proved a cool customer.

See BELMONT • Page B12

SPORTS

2 M

RED SCHOENDIENST

B6 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

M 2 • Sunday • 06.10.2018

Schoendienst statistics FIVE TIDBITS

1

Only two people have won at least 1,000 games as a manager and made at least 10 All-Star games as a player: Frank Robinson and Red Schoendienst.

2

In Schoendienst’s 19-year playing career, he got hits off Johnny Vander Meer, whose career ended in the 1930s; and Bob Gibson, whose career ended in the 1970s.

3

Schoendienst spent stints as Cardinals manager in four decades. He was the skipper from 1965-1976, then had interim stints in 1980 and 1990.

4

He spent 67 years in the Cardinals’ organization, meaning he was with the team for nearly half its existence.

5

Schoendienst and Albert Pujols each played in three World Series.

Schoendienst had more hits and a higher batting average.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Pirates’ Bob Elliott (right) tries to block Cardinals’ second baseman Red Schoendienst as he attempts to throw to first base for a double play in 1946 in Pittsburgh.

He was first Cardinal to hit HRs from both left and right RED’S NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

10 All-Star Game appearances 2 World Series rings as a player.

1 World Series ring as a manager 200 Hits in 1957 to lead all of baseball 43

Doubles to lead the National League in 1950

.342

His highest single-season batting average (1953)

42.3 Career WAR 2,449 Career hits .983 Career fielding percentage at 2B 1,041 Career wins as a manager .522 Career winning percentage as a manager —Compiled by Peter Baugh

RED • FROM B1

each mash.

He was 87 years old.

“Anything he did,” manager Mike Matheny said, “he was freakish athletic.”

This past Wednesday, Schoendienst, a Cardinals icon for parts of eight decades, died at 95. A manager, coach, Stan Musial’s wingman and perpetual guest and mentor to generations of Cardinals, Schoendienst was also a Hall of Fame second baseman. He led the National League with 26 stolen bases as a 22-year-old rookie and paced the league with 43 doubles at 27. In 1957, when Hank Aaron led the NL with 44 homers and Ted Williams socked 38 to lead the American League, Schoendienst topped the majors with 200 hits. He was 34.

Schoendienst retired as a player in July 1963, meaning more of his life came after his playing career than before and during. That has softened the focus on who he was and how he was in cleats. But later in life, through moments as mundane as hitting fungoes or as staged as a commercial shoot, his athleticism couldn’t help but flicker, shine and show anew how gifted he must have been in his prime.

“We didn’t see many films of Red, but he’s an infielder, second baseman, Hall of Famer, man, and I’m sure he can do everything,” Willie McGee said. “He’s the best I’ve ever seen (with a fungo bat). Say he put a can at third base and he said, ‘Watch this.’ Throws the ball up, one-hops this can from about 100 feet. Pow-pow. It’s just right there. He had that touch.”

He was in his 70s at the time.

During the 2016 World Series, Aaron explained how all the youth flooding into the game “tickles me.” That series was alive with young stars like Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor and a second baseman who seemed familiar to Aaron: the Cubs’ nimble, quick-handed Javier Baez.

In Game 2 of that fall’s National League Championship series, the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson flipped a soft line drive to second base that Baez could have caught on the run. Instead, he purposefully let it shorthop so that he could turn it into a double play. Baez applied the tag in a rundown for the second out.

Aaron had seen a second baseman that savvy, that slick before.

“The only person I think that could have made that play was Red Schoendienst with the Cardinals,” Aaron said of his former teammate in Milwaukee.

After establishing a sure-handed reputation in the minors, Schoendienst reached the majors in 1945, playing left field. The next season he took over at second. Although he played only half of the decade, he was still considered the finest switch-hitter of the 1940s, according to Bill James Abstract. He hit .289 in his career with a .337 on-base percentage during the contact era. He had 606 walks alongside 2,449 hits. Schoendienst was the first Cardinal to hit home runs from the right and left side of the plate in the same game on July 8, 1951. He was 28. In 1953, he hit .342, falling just shy of a batting title. That same season he had a .907 OPS. That was the third-highest OPS by a second baseman in the 1950s, bested only by Jackie Robinson in 1950 and ‘51. Schoendienst was 30 when he did it.

In 1958, at 35, through pain that made it difficult to breathe at times and what was likely the onset of tuberculosis, Scho-

INTERNATIONAL PHOTOS

(From left) Stan Musial and manager Eddie Stanky talk with Cardinals owner August Busch and Red Schoendienst during spring training in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1954.

endienst hit .300 with an .810 OPS, three doubles, 19 assists and 18 putouts in seven games of a World Series that Milwaukee lost.

Hitters, like McGee, who received instruction from Schoendienst, recall him urging over and over again to “whistle the bat, whistle the bat.” To McGee that meant being quick, quick, quick with a swing. Like him, Red had to do that from both sides. Schoendienst’s switch-hitting was so fine-tuned that he was described as a “mirror” hitter — meaning his swing looked the same from either side.

It’s with a glove that his reflection was sharpest.

Bill James called him “flawless” as a second baseman. Hall of Fame writer Jim Murray referred to Schoendienst as “fielding like a genius” in a Sports Illustrated profile. Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans’ committee in 1989, Schoendienst’s plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y., describes him as a “sleek, farranging second baseman” and quotes Musial’s praise as “the greatest pair of hands I’ve ever seen.”

Schoendienst broke the National League record for consecutive chances without an error in 1949 and then reset his own record at 320 the next season. He has one of the best double-play rates in baseball history, and he still ranks in the top 20 in assists at second base (5,243) and in the top 15 when it comes to putouts at second (4,616). His 5,466 assists from any position in the field ranks 66th all time.

Of all the position players to have at least 500 games in the field in baseball history, Schoendienst doesn’t crack the top 400 when it comes to errors. He probably doesn’t crack the top 500.

In more than 10,000 chances, he has 170 errors.

Upon Schoendienst’s return from being bedridden by tuberculosis, Murray visited with him in Los Angeles for a profile that put Schoendienst on the cover of SI on June 6, 1960. In the story, Murray uses verbs like “pirouette” and nouns like “entrechat” to describe the ballet of Schoendienst’s fielding during batting practice.

“In the game that followed, his performance was just as sleek,” Murray wrote, chronicling two double plays started and

two double plays turned to go along with Schoendienst’s two hits in the game.

“He played the hitters to perfection. He snatched another ground ball so far to his left that he had to whirl in a complete circle to make the throw.”

Schoendienst was 37.

“Red wasn’t a guy that made a lot of news,” former Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion told the Post-Dispatch in 1989.

“He wasn’t flashy, not like a guy like Ozzie Smith and diving all over the place. Red was just always in the right place at the right time. He didn’t make many mistakes.”

He just made plays.

Decades later, his colleagues marveled at how he just made drives and just made shots and just made so many things look so … easy. He was a pool shark with a fungo bat — putting shallow fly balls where a second baseman like him could only get them, and skipping grounders with as many hops as requested.

Several members of the Cardinals coaching staff have joined Schoendienst hunting, and he’s described as a “crack shot” or “ace.” Matheny said Schoendienst would take a high position and ask others to let him know when the fowl arrive. Matheny wagers he’s missed many, “but I can’t recall Red miss any all that often.” Schoendienst was in his late 80s at the time.

Others have gone golfing with him.

Coach Jose Oquendo, broadcaster Dan McLaughlin and club president Bill DeWitt III all had a similar description of Schoendienst at the tee: 250 yards and “straight as an arrow.” They played with him in his 70s and 80s. Once, nearing or entering his 90s — in age, not in score — Schoendienst took the back nine off until the 18th. He got out of the cart to hit one last drive.

It went 260, down the middle.

“You see someone just naturally pick up that hand-eye coordination,” Matheny said.

“That’s the athleticism. He was extraordinary for his age.”

He was extraordinary at any age.

Derrick Goold @dgoold on Twitter dgoold@post-dispatch.com

06.10.2018 • Sunday • M 2

RED SCHOENDIENST

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • B9

Red lived in St. Louis but remained a hometown hero

What fans are saying Cardinals fans and others around baseball shared their feelings about Schoendienst on Twitter. A look at some of them: There are only a handful of players in sports that are so attached to the hip of a franchise and fanbase like Red was. Even less with how great he was as a person.

There’s nothing else to really say except that I’ll miss you too, Red. Say hi to Stan for us. #RIP #LoveRed2 RandomMinutia • @RandomMinutia Red Schoendienst was the Cardinals.

Decades of service to the game and the team that he loved. A legend. A champion.

Family for all Cardinals fans. Losing him at any age, at any time, is losing a part of ourselves. I am profoundly sad. #Stlcards CardsCards • @StlCardsCards We may be the Blues, but we’re also forever Red. Our condolences to @ Cardinals Nation on the loss of one of the city’s most beloved individuals. #LoveRed2 St. Louis Blues • @StLouisBlues My absolute favorite, the classiest bird there ever was, and the name on the back of my jersey. Rest in peace, Red. #LoveRed2 @Cardinals Ellen Drazen • @EVDrazen A sad day indeed for #CardinalsNation Red Schoendienst is a true @Cardinals legend who will never be forgotten. #LoveRed2 Jeff Deimeke • @deimeke03

POST-DISPATCH FILE

Manager Red Schoendienst holds court during a clubhouse meeting with the 1974 Cardinals.

HOCHMAN • FROM B1

town’s greatest son, though Germantown isn’t even a town — it’s classified as a village, home today to about 1,300 mourners.

“You either grew up with him or looked up to him,” said Joan Young, the local librarian.

Schoendienst Park is 41 miles from the intersection of Grand and Dodier, once home to St. Louis’ Sportsman’s Park.

That’s where Red wore red and hit and hit.

From Germantown to Cooperstown.

At 95, he was the oldest living Hall of Famer until last Wednesday. By Thursday morning, “everybody you talked to said, ‘Oh, did you hear about Red?’ They just call him Red,” said Young, standing behind the front desk at the library, where Mike Shannon’s voice wafted from her RCA radio with a dual cassette deck. “I volunteer with a group that does bingo at the nursing home. And when we got there this morning, all the elderly people who were playing bingo said, ‘Oh, I heard about Red, what a shame. So sad.’”

The houses in Germantown are idyllic, adorable, frozen in time. The post office is so tiny, with its pitched roof, it looks like an oversized dollhouse. And the oldest building, I was told by the owner of the bar, was the bar.

“It exchanged hands in like the 1830s, acquired from the church property,” said Marvin Gebke, the proprietor of Millside Inn on Main Street. “They were building the church over there — so they had to have a place to come get a beer.”

About 100 years later, “when Red and them guys were younger, they played cork ball right back out here,” Gebke said.

“They used a broomstick.”

It’s dimly lit in the Inn, with the Cardinals day game illuminating from the screen. A few fellows drink from cans of Natural Light, which sell for $2.50. Gebke points out that the Marlins starter that day, Trevor Richards, is from around these parts in Clinton County.

“So if he grew up here, he was probably a Cardinals fan,” Gebke said. “And now he’s pitchin’ against them.”

Undrafted out of Drury University,

POST-DISPATCH FILE

Red Schoendienst as a 2-year-old in Germantown, Ill.

Richards played independent ball for the Gateway Grizzlies. From the parking lot at the Sauget ballpark, you can see the St. Louis skyline, a river away — for the ballplayers, seemingly an ocean away. But as the story goes, a scout spotted Richards, signed him into the Marlins organization — and Thursday at Busch, Richards was pitchin’. Incredible. A story almost as crazy as hitchhiking on a milk truck to St. Louis, trying out for the club, sleeping overnight on a bench, getting a contract offer and becoming an iconic ballplayer.

Over the decades, Red occasionally stopped by for a beer. Gebke was tend-

ing bar back in 1995, when it was fittingly called The Dugout.

“Around 9 o’clock at night one night ... signed a couple pictures for me,” Gebke said, pointing to the stool where Red sat.

Outside of Millside Inn, the folks wave to you from their pickup trucks. Everyone just sure seems to be friendly and nice, a community of Red Schoendiensts.

“Most of us are related to one another in one way or another, so you never say anything bad about a person,” said Judy Poettker of the Germantown Historical Society. “You know your neighbors, and they are always quick to help you, like when we had a bad storm that took down a lot of trees. We were without power for three days. People with chainsaws and trailers went from house to house to clean up the trees and debris.”

Germantown is indeed a German town (well, village). It’s considered the first Catholic German settlement in the state and for the past 50 years, Germantown hosted “Spassfest” at, of course, Schoendienst Park. And at 2013’s “Deutschenstadt Tag,” honoring Germantown’s 180th birthday, “Mr. Schoendienst gave a wonderful speech and spoke fondly of his youth in Germantown,” said Dawn Lakenburges, the village clerk.

At the library, Young reveals that she and her husband actually lived in St. Louis for awhile but “wanted to get away from the rat race.” So each weekend, they drove to different rural areas to scout potential homes. Here, she liked the lake. And the park. And Germantown “is where Red Schoendienst is from, everybody knows that.”

One time in the 1990s, Red came by the library with some balls and books, signing both.

The day after he died, Young carefully opens the copy of “Red — A Baseball Life.”

And there is Red’s signature and his message: “To the people of Germantown.

Thanks for a lot of good memories and friendship.”

Benjamin Hochman @hochman on Twitter bhochman@post-dispatch.com

Sad to hear of the passing of a @Cardinals and St. Louis legend. You and Stan are finally together again, talking baseball and cracking jokes. #LoveRed2 Ryan Kruep • @RytheRealtorSTL Red Schoendienst is a name that is synonymous @Cardinals and a true treasure in @MLB. #LoveRed2 #STLCards #RIP. Kerry Knott • @TheKerryKnott Looks like Red and Stan are roommates once again. RIP #RedSchoendienst #LoveRed2 Jay Moss • @jaymo22 St. Louis lost a legend yesterday. RIP Red Schoendienst #LoveRed2 Mayor Lyda Krewson • @LydaKrewson Red Schoendienst was an absolute treasure.. it was a privilege to know him..

One of my all time favorite people and a true cardinal legend.

Matt Carpenter • @MattCarp13 #LoveRed2 Spring Training 2011 watching minor leaguers on the back fields. Red pulled up in a golf cart, everyone in the stands and almost every player on the field stopped what they were doing to take notice of a Legend.

Bob Heisserer • @BHeisserer It was a privilege to know and learn from one of baseball’s best, Red Schoendienst.

Truly one of the greatest mentors in the game. He always made time for me and I will cherish the great times we spent together. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

Albert Pujols • @PujolsFive What an incredible life #RedSchoendienst lived through the age of 95, not to mention the lasting impression and legacy he has left on #StLouis and the @Cardinals!! May he rest well in the heavens above!!!! #LoveRed2 RJ Davis • @RDDavisJr Respect in how Red played, coached, and taught. Life long Cardinal and genuine good guy will be missed in the birds on the bat uniform. #stlcards #LoveRed2 sad day in Cardinal land Klint Sinclair • @KlintSinclair May perpetual light shine upon his face.

Prayers for Red’s soul to be this day in Heaven and comfort for all of the Schoendienst family #LoveRed2 Mark Recca • @mrecca51 Cardinal Nation is a little less vibrant today. Thanks for the memories, Red. You’ll be deeply missed. #LoveRed2 Cassie Schulenburg • @cbsteach I truly believe that Red passing away on 6/6 had something to do with his best bud Stan. You will be missed, Red! #LoveRed2 Nick Jacquin • @njacquin5 One of the greatest Cardinals of all time.

Class act as well. #LoveRed2 Kip Wells • @kippur_623 One of my biggest thrills was having opportunity to see both Stan and Red in person at 2011 World Series. I felt like a giddy child seeing my heroes so close. I remember talking to some Texas Rangers fans who were as awestruck as I was. They felt immortal to me. #LoveRed2 Jean Gilliland • @JeanAnnCardsFan In my lifetime, I have never known the Cardinals without Red Schoendienst.

Godspeed RedHead #LoveRed2 Rick Mester • @sombrant Had the honor and privilege to go on a couple duck hunts with Red a couple years ago. At 93 he could still out shoot all of us in the blind. He will be missed in #Cardinalnation #LoveRed2 #RIPRed #MrCardinal watty212 • @watsonmatt

POST-DISPATCH FILE

Red Schoendienst poses in 1976 with a photo of a Sports Illustrated cover featuring him during his days as a player.

S E RV I N G T H E P U B L I C S I N C E 1 878 • W I N N E R O F 1 8 P U L I TZ E R P R I Z E S

SATURDAY • 06.16.2018 • $2.00

RED SCHOENDIENST FEB. 2, 1923 — JUNE 6, 2018

‘Rest in peace, old Redbird. Cooperstown and the entire baseball world mourn the loss of a gentleman, a teacher, a friend and an icon.’

Hundreds of traffic tickets dismissed over trooper conduct

BY JOEL CURRIER St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • City prosecutors are blaming “questionable” and “unacceptable” conduct of one Missouri state trooper for the dismissal of hundreds of traffic tickets and about 30 felony and misdemeanor cases in the city, officials say.

Chris Hinckley, chief warrant officer for the circuit attorney’s office, recently emailed a letter to the Missouri Highway Patrol saying the office had dismissed some cases and refused to file charges in others after Trooper Michael L. Crutcher’s conduct during traffic stops caught See TICKETS • Page A5

About 2,000 kids separated from parents under border crackdown

BY COLLEEN LONG Associated Press

WASHINGTON • Nearly 2,000 children have

been separated from their families at the U.S. border over a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The figures show that 1,995 minors were separated from 1,940 adults from April 19 through May 31. The separations were not broken down by age and included separations for illegal entry, immigration violations or possible criminal

See BORDER • Page A12

Health officials track tweets to seek out food poisoning cases

BY BLYTHE BERNHARD St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

A pall is placed on the casket of Albert “Red” Schoendienst during funeral services Friday at the Cathedral Basilica.

ST. LOUIS • Some people use social media to talk about what they’re eating. Others use it to describe what happens next.

The St. Louis Health Department uses Twitter to track cases of food poisoning in local residents. The project, Food Safety STL, started nearly three years ago to reach a younger audience that is comfortable sharing personal details on social media.

The free software mines Twitter for users See FOOD • Page A5

BY RICK HUMMEL St. Louis Post-Dispatch

C

a rd i n a l s C h a i r m a n B i l l DeWitt Jr. offered most of the pertinent statistics about the career of the late Cardinals great, Red Schoendienst, as he spoke Friday at Schoendienst’s funeral Mass at the Cathedral Basilica.

The one that seemed to intrigue DeWitt the most, though, was that Hall of Famer Schoendienst, as player, coach, manager and adviser, had spent 67 years in a Cardinals uniform, counting spring trainings, before dying at age 95 last week.

See SCHOENDIENST • Page A4

Accused of tampering, Manafort is sent to jail WASHINGTON POST

CHRISTIAN GOODEN • cgooden@post-dispatch.com

Cathleen Reifsteck, a daughter of Red Schoendienst, touches her father’s statue Friday outside Busch Stadium prior to attending funeral services for him at the Cathedral Basilica.

FREDERICKSON: LIVE LIKE RED LIVED • SPORTS TODAY

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WASHINGTON • A federal judge ordered Paul Manafort to jail Friday over charges he tampered with witnesses while out on bail — a major blow for President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman as he awaits trial on federal conspiracy and money-laundering charges next month.

“You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago,” U.S. District Court judge Amy Berman Jackson told Manafort. “The government motion will be granted and the defendant will be detained.”

See MANAFORT • Page A5

Cubs clobber Cards

Man drives away after OD treatment

SPORTS

Hat trick for Ronaldo in World Cup play

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Bail reform a priority for Presbyterians U.S. trade war with China escalates

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A4 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SCHOENDIENST • FROM A1

“I assure you that will never be equaled,” DeWitt told some 1,200 who attended the Mass.

But DeWitt and the other speakers offered testament to the Schoendienst who didn’t have a glove or bat in his hand.

Talking both of Schoendienst and late Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial, whose funeral Mass was held in the same church 5½ years ago, DeWitt said the two were “giants in the St. Louis community and gave of themselves in numerous civic endeavors and were universally admired throughout the baseball world.”

Virtually the entire Cardinals current team and front office were in attendance, as well as the franchise’s seven living Hall of Famers — Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Whitey Herzog, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre.

Also, many fan favorites of past years were in the pews, including Cardinals Hall of Famers Jim Edmonds, Ted Simmons and Willie McGee, as well as John Tudor, Tom Lawless, Dave LaPoint, Glenn Brummer, Brad Thompson, Jason Isringhausen, Ken Dayley, Rick Horton, John Costello, Ken Reitz, Mike Tyson, Ted Sizemore, Al Hrabosky, Ted Savage, former trainer Gene Gieselmann and Carole Buck, widow of Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck.

Former general manager Walt Jocketty, now with Cincinnati, and former big-league trainer Barry Weinberg, who still works on the minor league side, were on hand, as well as former coach Joe Pettini.

Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, before delivering his remarks, had talked to all the Cardinals’ Hall of Famers about Schoendienst.

“The Baseball Hall of Fame embraces the qualities of character, integrity and sportsmanship and there’s nobody who embodied those more so than Red Schoendienst,” said Idelson.

Citing what he had gleaned from the Magnificent Seven, Idelson said the consensus was that Albert Fred Schoendienst was “one of the kindest people ever to walk the face of the earth.”

Idelson said Schoendienst, indeed, had circled the bases, when he gave his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in 1989 at Cooperstown, N.Y. “First base was growing up in Germantown (Illinois),” said Idelson. “Second base was when he became a major league player. Third base came in 1947 (actually, 1945) when he met a dark-haired Irish girl on a Grand Avenue streetcar and she asked him for his autograph.

As Red said, ‘Two years later, I signed her up.’”

Red and Mary Eileen O’Reilly Schoendienst were married for more than 50 years until her death in 1999.

“Red completed his trip around the bases and crossed home plate when he was elected to the Hall of Fame,” said Idelson.

To Schoendienst, whose recorded telephone message was, “This is the old Redbird,” Idelson said, “Rest in peace, old Redbird. Cooperstown and the entire baseball world mourn the loss of a gentleman, a teacher, a friend and an icon.”

Torre noted that after he was traded to the Cardinals by Atlanta in 1970, manager Schoendienst thought Torre could use a subtle change in his hitting approach, offering it with just a few words.

Torre, demonstrating at a luncheon reception after the Mass how he used to hold his hands high, said Schoendienst asked him at the batting cage, “How long can you hold that stance?”

“I don’t know,” said Torre.

Schoendienst motioned for Torre to drop his hands closer to his waist. “How about here?

How long can you hold that?” he said. “It’s more comfortable, isn’t it?”

“And I hit .325 and .363 the next two years,” Torre said.

Later, Schoendienst would be a coach on Torre’s staff and then an adviser, and, in fact, preceded Torre as manager when Red served as interim manager following Herzog’s resignation in 1990.

“He was always there, but he was never intrusive,” said Torre.

Schoendienst, in fact, was so unobtrusive that when he took over as interim manager twice for Herzog — in 1980 and 1990 — he refused to use the manager’s office, which had been his for 12 years, and instead conducted his interviews in the coaches’ office.

“But, Red, you’re the manager,” a reporter told him.

“I’m a coach,” said Schoendienst, “who happens to be managing.”

Torre recalled that when he

RED SCHOENDIENST • 1923 — 2018

‘One of the kindest people ever to walk the face of the earth’

CHRISTIAN GOODEN • cgooden@post-dispatch.com

A young family member of longtime Cardinal great Red Schoendienst checks out the flowers and mementos placed at Schoendienst’s statue at Busch Stadium on Friday. The funeral service for the former Cardinal player and manager, who died last week, was held Friday.

ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Willie McGee (center) sheds tears for Albert “Red” Schoendienst as he stands one row between manager Mike Matheny (left) and pitcher Adam Wainwright at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis during funeral services Friday for the former St. Louis Cardinals player and manager.

DAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com

St. Louis Cardinals fan Jim Fetsch, of Overland, stands outside the Cathedral Basilica after the funeral service for Albert “Red” Schoendienst ended on Friday. “He was a great ballplayer. But you heard the way they talked about him in there, he was also a great man,” said Fetsch.

DAVID CARSON • dcarson@post-dispatch.com

Pallbearers carry the casket of Albert “Red” Schoendienst out of the Cathedral Basilica after his funeral service in St. Louis on Friday.

M 1 • Saturday • 06.16.2018 played for Schoendienst, “He never checked rooms. You had curfews but he just wanted you to show up and play. If he didn’t like what he saw, he let you know about it.”

Hrabosky said, “He just treated you like a man. And maybe that helps to explain some of the frustration I had with Vern Rapp (who succeeded Schoendienst and was involved in a suspension of Hrabosky).

“The playing days speak for themselves, the managerial days are something else. But to just know him as a person, then you really find out how much Hall of Fame material he really is,” said Hrabosky. “He’s in that baseball Hall of Fame but he’s in the Hall of Fame of men, too.”

Schoendienst took the 1967 and 1968 Cardinals to the World Series but then the club didn’t win another title in his next eight years as manager as the team got younger and younger and, in many areas, less proficient.

One of the young players who panned out, though, was a 20-year-old catcher, who ultimately became the Cardinals’ regular catcher for the 1970s.

“He gave me my first opportunity to play,” said Simmons, “and I was so young at the time and, frankly, unskilled, at the time, it took a great deal of patience and indulgence for him to keep putting me out there.

“To come up (from the minors) and expect to catch at 20, it’s like being thrown to the wolves,” Simmons said, “and Red knew that. He knew what the problems would be. And he endured it.

“He could have put up a big fight like many managers at the major league level who had his level of prestige and said, ‘I’m not going to live with this.’

“He knew what his role was.

He knew what his responsibility was and that was to make a major league catcher out of me – which he eventually did.”

Mike Shannon, the voice of the Cardinals who also played for Schoendienst in the 1960s, spoke at the Mass of Schoendienst following the Golden Rule, treating everyone with respect.

“Fair, forgiving, generous, gracious, joyful, kind, loving, loyal, optimistic, passionate, reliable, respectful, sincere, caring, compassionate, confident, courageous, determined, ethical, authentic, beautiful, assertive, trusting and wise,” said Shannon, ticking off the virtues.

Then, extending Schoendienst’s impact to the ultimate, Shannon told a joke about the Pope knocking at St. Peter’s gate in heaven and hoping for admittance. The Pope was told that God was not there and no one could enter without his consent.

“The next thing you know, here comes Red Schoendienst, and he walks right in,” said Shannon. “The Pope went up to St. Peter and said, ‘I just saw Red Schoendienst walk in.’ St. Peter said, ‘Nah, that’s not Red Schoendienst. That’s God. He just thinks he’s Red.’” The Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson, archbishop of St. Louis, who celebrated the Mass, cited the title of a book written by Jim Grassi, and said, “(Red) finished strong. He finished well.”

Colleen Schoendienst talked about her father’s simple early years when Schoendienst’s mother made baseballs made of sawdust sewn with rags and Schoendienst and his brothers would make balls by winding twine around hickory nuts.

“Fame never changed him,” said Colleen Schoendienst.

“And he never sugar-coated anything. When Dad talked, people listened.

“His success in life was that ... he treated everyone as he wanted to be treated.

“Dad,” said Colleen Schoendienst, “you are the best.”

On the day before he died, Red wanted to get out of the house and go to his favorite duck hunting club, Blind Luck, near O’Fallon, Mo. “He just loved taking drives in the country,” said grandson James Schwetye, who along with his brother, Henry, put Schoendienst in the car and drove him to Blind Luck, where some of Schoendienst’s hunting cronies were waiting.

Schoendienst had a couple of Budweisers, his drink of choice ever since he was old enough to drink, and perhaps before.

Then, he turned to his grandsons and said, “Let’s go home.” “ He wa s rea dy,” sa i d Schwetye. Perhaps Red was checking off the last box, because some 24 hours later and having lived a long and full life, he didn’t really feel the need to get out of bed.

Rick Hummel @cmshhummel on Twitter rhummel@post-dispatch.com