Red a Baseball Life PDF
Preview Red a Baseball Life
title: Red : A Baseball Life author: Schoendienst, Red.; Rains, Rob. publisher: Sports Publishing, Inc. isbn10 | asin: 1571672001 print isbn13: 9781571672001 ebook isbn13: 9780585046853 language: English Schoendienst, Red,--1923---Biography. , subject Baseball players--United States--Biography. publication date: 1998 lcc: GV865.S35A3 1998eb ddc: 796.357 Schoendienst, Red,--1923---Biography. , subject: Baseball players--United States--Biography. Page i Red A Baseball Life by Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains SPORTS PUBLISHING Champaign, IL 61820 Page ii © 1998 Red Schoendienst All rights reserved. Direction of Production: Susan M. McKinney Dustjacket and photo insert design: Michelle R. Dressen Photos: Dave Stradal ISBN: 1-57167-200-1 SPORTS PUBLISHING 804 N. Neil Champaign, IL 61820 Printed in the United States. Page iii This book is dedicated to my family all of whom have played such a special role in my lifeMom and Pop, my brothers and sister, my wife Mary, Mary's Mother and Dad, my kids and my grandkids. My life has been spent in baseball, but it was a great family that made everything possible. Page v Contents Acknowledgments vi Foreword by Stan Musial vii 1 Dreams Do Come True 1 2 Growing Up 5 3 In the Minors 23 4 A Major Leaguer 37 5 Baseball, and A Family Too 63 6 A Giant, A Brave, and Another World Series 85 7 Fighting a Disease 103 8 Ending One Career, Starting Another 119 9 The Manager 133 10 Hello Mr. Finley 161 11 Whiteyball 175 12 The Hall of Fame 191 13 Coaching Beats Working 201 14 A Great Ride 209 Page vi Acknowledgments I've got a lot to be grateful about in my life, and my thanks go out to my family and everybody who has helped me along the way. There were people when I was growing up in Germantown who were there for me. Once I got into baseball, there were my teammates and all the managers and coaches I played for. There were also the fans, and they will never know how important they are for every player, no matter the sport. It's always good when people see you in a restaurant or someplace and come up and tell you they enjoyed your playing, and tell you it's good to see you and wish you luck in the future. Several people were helpful in writing this book, and I appreciate their assistance and kind words. My thanks to Peter Bannon and Mike Pearson at Sports Publishing for making this book a reality. Page vii Foreword by Stan Musial The first time I heard the name Red Schoendienst was in 1945, when I was in the service. I first heard that this kid, Schoendienst, was playing left field for the Cardinals and doing a good job. I guess it caught my attention because that had been my position the previous year. The next time I heard anything about him, he was playing third base and doing a great job. Then I got word he was playing well at shortstop. I thought, "This kid must be a heck of a player." Red and I became teammates the following year, and I found out first- hand just out great a player he was. We soon became more than teammatesbeing assigned to room together on the road, an arrangement we continued for 10 years, until June 15, 1956, the day Red was traded to the New York Giants. The rest of us got the word that Red had been traded just as we were boarding a train out of St. Louis for an eastern trip. It was the saddest day of my career. I slammed the door to my train berth shut and didn't open it for a long time. Red became my opponent for four years, but it didn't spoil our friendship. He went from the Giants to Milwaukee in 1957, and his acquisition made that club great. Most people who were there, including Hank Aaron, don't think the Braves would have won if they had not traded for Red. They needed a second baseman, and they needed a leader. He wasn't ever a rah-rah kind of guy, but he was a leader. He led by example, and he had that innate ability to make those good players around him even better. Red and I are as close as brothers, and we were reunited when Red rejoined the Cardinals in 1961. We haven't been very far away from each other ever since. One of Red's traits that I have admired the most over all these years is that he always is on an even keel. He never gets too high or too low. He didn't do it as a player, nor as a manager. He never complained about anything. He never said anything about his bad eye, or lamented the fact it gave him so much trouble. Even when he was sick, he never told anybody. During all the time he spent in the hospital, recovering from tuberculosis, he never expressed Page viii anger or bitterness. I went to see him, and he was suffering. His family wasn't allowed inside the hospital, and he had to wave at his kids through the window to the sidewalk below. He never got upset about it, but concentrated instead on what he needed to do to get well. He then made a great comeback, when most people thought his career was over. Red would have been a great player no matter what position he played, but second base was his spot. He covered a lot of ground, and he could go back on fly balls to center and right field better than most people I've ever seen. He was a very steady player. He had the greatest hands I've ever seen and he was as good a fundamental player as you ever wanted to see. He almost never made a mistake. He was a very good manager as well. He was a player's manager, and he again demonstrated the ability to get the most out of his team. When I was the general manager of the Cardinals in 1967 and he was the manager, we didn't make many roster moves the entire season and we won the World Series. The players enjoyed Red and they respected him. Red loves baseball, and he has dedicated his live to the game. He has earned the respect of everybody he has come into contact with over the 53 years he has worn a major-league uniform. He has earned his proper place in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Baseball is different today than it was when Red and I played, but it's amazing in the game how the years run together. Red and I played with players who played in the 1930s, and we played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. We played against guys who played in the 1970s, so it's hard to say one era is better than another. I have always believed, however, that the great players from any era would have been great no matter when they played, and I put Red in that category. Red and I had more time to enjoy ourselves when we played than do today's players. Society is so much faster paced today. We traveled by train, and we had time to socialize. We had time to go out to dinner and the theater, and had more leisure time. We got to go a lot of places and meet a lot of famous people, both in the game of baseball and in the entertainment world, politics and business. We always enjoyed going to New York, and we spent many evenings with Horace Stoneham, the owner of the Giants. We hung out at Toots Shor's restaurant, and all the famous people came there to see what other celebrities were there. We were in New York one time when I got a call from Ty Cobb, wanting Red and I to go to breakfast with him. Ty noticed me putting
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