Red Schoendienst oral history interview, circa 1968

Red Schoendienst oral history interview

Datecirca 1968

DescriptionAn interview conducted by the St. Louis Cardinals sometime around 1968 in St. Louis, Missouri with Red Schoendienst. Content of the interview include: Track 1 - On dugout strategy; once the game starts, concentrating on the ball game, watching the lineup, who the next hitter is, who their pitcher is; have to think a little ahead, if you want to hit and run or if you want to sacrifice, give the signs to the third base coach, Joe Schultz; have to stay in the game and on the game; pitching coach is with him at all times; baseball the same as it always was, manager has to know his players and when you have a good ball club, you know they can execute the plays, try to play routine baseball, no tricks, no fancy stuff, just good basic baseball (00:00:00 to 00:02:12) Track 2 - On changing pitchers and hitters, right- vs. left-handed, not that much jockeying; you try to learn from the scouting department who's playing on the opposing ball club, who's injured; you have a list of their players and when they use them, you scratch them off; they know (Lou) Brock is going to run, how well the guy hitting can handle the bat, from spring training, you have a pretty good idea of the other ball clubs and what they can do; leave the ballplayers on their own if they have the opportunity to take an extra base; there are a few times he will hold Brock, they have a sign not to steal, against some catchers; when it comes out right, it's great; never takes away any of the aggressiveness from any of his ballplayers, can't take anything away from the players (00:02:12 to 00:05:24) Track 3 - Signs aren't that complicated, as far as trying to pick up the other clubs' signs, it's pretty difficult, because you change them frequently, and you have a key that you use before you flash the bunt or hit and run sign; have to get the signs to Joe Schultz at third base, so he can relay them to the man at first base or the man hitting; add and subtract elements to the signs, the pitcher has the ball in his hand and he has to concentrate on getting the man out; we try to use signs that everyone can use them and fool the other ball club (00:05:24 to 00:07:16) Track 4 - On the chief job of the manager to get the boys in good shape, mentally, physically in Florida, when you leave Florida, keep the rest of the guys who aren't playing in good shape, guys like (Phil) Gagliano, Eddie Bressoud, (Ed) Spiezio, our extra men that are going to play, have to have them ready in case one of the other ball players gets hurt; knowing the ballplayers, as far as patting them on the back, he's never called anyone down in front of anyone else, if he wants to talk to anyone, he calls them in and talks to them; never calls them in the same night, the ballplayers have tempers and you have to let them cool down (00:07:16 to 00:09:28) Track 5 - On building morale when a player is in a slump, work with the batting coach and extra men, and try to have them work out before the regular squad, come out and take a little extra batting practice; most of the time when they're in a slump, they're a little tired and a little stale, so if you can take them out of the game for a couple of days, it helps them tremendously, happened to Curt Flood last year, held him out and he came back and did great; then he was hurt and on the disabled list for 21 days, and then he came back and he hit real well; helps the players to be taken out of the lineup, but you have to have your extra men in good shape so they can step in (00:09:28 to 00:10:43) Track 6 - On playing for 18 years, and then a player-coach for Johnny Keane, and a coach, and then became manager when Keane walked out, which was a big surprise (00:10:43 to 00:11:22) Track 7 - When you're a player, have just yourself to take care of, when you're a manager, you have to be the father of a ball club, it gets a little tough once in a while, but you fine help with you, coaches help tremendously and front office does a fine job, so as far as managing a ball club, it's tough but when you have first-class people helping you, it's not that tough; first year, they were in the World Series, first year won the pennant, and once you get one, you want more, and we've had five; appreciate the ballplayers and the things they have done to keep in shape; our ball club didn't goof off, sure they wouldn't do it (00:11:22 to 00:13:10)

Object numberBL-2001-00092-016

Artist, Creator, or Manufacturer Schoendienst, Red, 1923-2018

Subject Schoendienst, Red, 1923-2018

Artist, Creator, or Manufacturer St. Louis Cardinals (Baseball team)

Attributes

Classificationsaudio/visual materials

Library Call NumberRR 388

Collection NumberBA RMA 003 St. Louis Cardinals oral history collection

Dimensions00:13:10|1 of 1

Copyrighthttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

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