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MLB deaths: The 2018 All-Eternal Team

By Bill Felber

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 26: A general view of the Willie McCovey statue ahead of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 26: A general view of the Willie McCovey statue ahead of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /
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MLB deaths
ST. LOUIS, MO – APRIL 13: St. Louis Cardinals former manager Red Schoenndienst looks on during the opening day ceremony before a game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium on April 13, 2015 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jeff Currry/Getty Images) /

2b. Red Schoendienst, 1945-1963, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Milwaukee Braves

After being released from the Army due to medical reasons, Red Schoendienst broke in with the Cardinals in 1945, led the league with 26 steals, and was the starting second baseman on their 1946 World Series champions.

He topped .300 for the first time in 1952, and batted a career-high .342 in 1953. Traded to the Giants in mid-season 1956 and then to the Braves, he missed almost all of the 1959 season while recovering from tuberculosis, but returned to full-time duty in 1960. Released following the 1962 season, he signed as a free agent with the Cardinals but played sparingly prior to his retirement.

That retirement was an active one, Schoendienst serving as a coach and manager for the Cardinals most of the rest of his life. He had three separate stints as manager: 1965 through 1976, then on an interim basis in 1980 and again in 1990. His career managerial record was 1,041-955, winning pennants in 1967 and 1968.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989. Schoendienst was 95 when he died on June 6 in Germantown, Ill. In one capacity or another, he had been affiliated with the Cardinals for six decades. “One of the greatest Cardinals of all time,” Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt said of him.

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