St. Louis Cardinals: Remembering Red and passing the baton.

We lost Stan Musial in 2013, now we have lost Red Schoendienst, the last of a generation of the St. Louis Cardinals. The baton has been passed to a new generation of  ‘Old Timers.’

I am a third generation St. Louis Cardinals fan.  My Grandfather was a fan from the 1920s until his passing in 1965. He was a fan in the days of Rogers Hornsby, Jim Bottomley, and Dizzy Dean.

My father was also a life-long fan of the Cardinals from the time he was a child until he passed in 2012. His favorite teams were in the 1940s, when he was a teenager and a young man.  His favorite player was Stan Musial, but he was also a fan of Red Schoendienst.

Both of these men educated me on the rich history  of St. Louis Cardinals baseball.  Red Schoendienst has been a big part of this history.

My father and I often debated about who were the best players in Cardinals history.  He said Stan Musial, I said Albert Pujols.  He said the best shortstop was Marty Marion, I said Ozzie Smith.  We never really came to a resolution on these discussions.

But that is the way it is being a St. Louis Cardinals fan.  We all have our favorite players of the past and can agree to disagree with a chuckle.

Red Schoendienst has been a part of my St. Louis Cardinals experience since day one.

My first memory of Red, doesn’t come from his playing days, but when he was the manager of the Cardinals from 1965 to 1976.  I attended my first St. Louis Cardinal baseball game in 1967 at old Busch Stadium.  The game was against the San Francisco Giants that featured Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal.

For a 10-year old kid, seeing your heroes’ in person for the first time and Busch Stadium was a life altering event.  This 1967 St. Louis Cardinal team included Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Roger Maris, and Steve Carlton.

I don’t remember much about the game, but I do remember Cardinals Manager Red Schoendienst walking out of the dugout to give this the umpire the lineup card for the game.  This may seem mundane to many of you, but for a ten-year old, it was special.

Red has been a part of the Cardinals as long as I have been fan.   He has been an Manager, coach, interim manager, and even a player-coach(1962-1963) for the St. Louis Cardinals.

During Red’s 12 year career as the Cardinals Manager, they won NL Pennants in 1967 and 1968, and the 1967 World Series over the Boston Red Sox.  However, after 1968, Red’s teams never made the post season again.

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During those years from 1969 to 1976, Cardinal fans didn’t hold Red responsible for the drought.  In fact the criticism was directed at the owner, front office, and even some players.  What this tells you is how much Red was respected by the fan base.

Red Schoendienst was relieved of his managerial duties after the 1976 season.  I don’t recall any celebration by fans, Red was too much-loved and respected.

The point I want to make about Red and the other Cardinals legends of his day is they are the ones that have held this fan base together.  The ‘Old Timers’ so to speak are something we all can agree on.

As a fan base we may disagree on the current manager, coaches, front office and players.  However, men like Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial were the glue that held us together as a fan base.  We didn’t argue about them, we just loved them unconditionally.

Now the baton passes to the next group of  ‘Old Timers.’  This group would include Bob Gibson, Lou Brock Mike Shannon, Tim McCarver, and Ozzie Smith.  One day, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright will join them.

I will miss Red just like the rest of you.  Nevertheless, it is comforting to know, we have still have legends to love, admire, and remember. The baton has been passed.

Next: The loss of Reyes is bad but not that bad

Thanks for letting me share my feelings with you.