Moments after he was honored on the field to mark the 70th anniversary of his first Opening Day, Red Schoendienst sat down to share a few stories of how he went from hitchhiking from Germantown, IL to tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals to what would become a Hall of Fame career that continues today…
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Over the last couple of days, Manager Mike Matheny has shared how much he values both the friendship and resource that Red provides.
“Not every organization has the Hall of Famers just around and you wonder, what’s his gig here? It didn’t take too long–and actually in the offseason he and I started kind of forging that,” said Matheny of their relationship. “We’d sit in the duck blind and I’d hear some of the stories, blown away at how good of a shot he was–still is, by the way. But either fishing or out in the hunting blind, just spending time just getting to know who he was and then opened up for the conversations about the baseball stuff.”
“Absolutely, in a lot of different ways, ” echoed General Manager John Mozeliak of asset Red provides. “When things are going well, you talk a lot about players and how they’re having an impact on the game. When things are not going well, sometimes I use him as a shoulder to cry on. Someone to talk to with how to deal with situations–sometimes there’s not always an answer, but he’s just someone to talk to and that’s always been just a great gift of his.”
The full conversation with Red Schoendienst–including his wish for one more World Series ring–is here:
photo credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
