Cardinals second baseman Red Schoendienst showed a slugger’s swagger when brought together with baseball’s best.
Seventy years ago, on July 11, 1950, Schoendienst hit a towering home run in the 14th inning to lift the National League to victory in the All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The feat captured the attention of a nation watching the first televised All-Star Game.
A switch-hitter, Schoendienst’s style was to spray doubles to the gaps rather than bash balls over walls, but he had a feeling he could muscle up that day. According to multiple published reports, Schoendienst, in an uncharacteristic burst of Babe Ruthian bravado, called his game-winning home run before he went to the plate.
Powerful premonition
Schoendienst, 27, was a reserve on the 1950 National League all-star roster. Fans voted Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers to be the starting second baseman. Also selected as starters were three of Schoendienst’s Cardinals teammates: shortstop Marty Marion, first baseman Stan Musial and outfielder Enos Slaughter.
In his autobiography, “Red: A Baseball Life,” Schoendienst said he was shagging fly balls in the outfield before the game when he turned to his teammates and said if he got to play, “I’m going to hit one right up there, in the upper deck.”
The comment drew laughter from the other players, Schoendienst said. He’d hit a mere three home runs in the first half of the regular season and his long balls usually were line drives rather than majestic clouts.
From his seat on the bench, Schoendienst watched as the National League’s reigning home run king, Ralph Kiner of the Pirates, hit a ball deep to left field in the first inning. Ted Williams of the Red Sox crashed into the wall as he made the catch. Williams felt intense pain in his left arm, but stayed in the game, played eight innings and produced a hit and a RBI. The next day, X-rays revealed Williams fractured his left elbow in colliding with the wall and needed surgery to remove several bone fragments.
During the game, Schoendienst reiterated his home run prediction. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he pointed to the upper deck and told teammates in the dugout, “I wish they’d give me a chance. I’d put one up there.”
The Sporting News reported Schoendienst said, “I’m going to surprise all you by hitting a homer if I ever get into this fight.”
Late entry
With the American League ahead, 3-2, Kiner led off the top of the ninth and hit a fastball from Art Houtteman of the Tigers into the upper deck in left for a home run, tying the score.
After the American League batters went down in order in the bottom half of the ninth, extra innings were played in an All-Star Game for the first time.
In the 11th, National League manager Burt Shotton of the Dodgers made a controversial decision. With one out, and runners on first and second, Shotton sent Johnny Wyrostek of the Reds to bat for Jackie Robinson against Yankees right-hander Allie Reynolds. Shotton made the move because Wyrostek batted from the left side, but he removed the reigning National League batting champion.
Wyrostek flied out to center and the National League failed to score. With Robinson out of the game, Schoendienst went in to play second base in the bottom half of the 11th.
Getting his pitch
Schoendienst got his first chance to bat leading off the top of the 14th against left-hander Ted Gray of the Tigers. Schoendienst hit most of his home runs from the left side, but against Gray he batted right-handed.
He fouled off the first pitch from Gray and took the second for a ball, evening the count. Plate umpire Babe Pinelli called the next one a strike, but Schoendienst thought it was outside the zone and beefed a little. “A little beefing is a lot from mild-mannered Schoendienst,” the Post-Dispatch reported. The next pitch was wide, making the count 2-and-2.
Schoendienst said he looked for Gray to throw a fastball over the plate rather than risk running the count full. Gray grooved one and Schoendienst hit a mighty blow. The ball was 50 feet high at the 360-foot marker when it went into the upper deck seats in left for a home run, the Detroit Free Press reported. Video
Gray told the Associated Press the pitch was a “low, fast one.” The Free Press described it as a sidearm curve.
When Schoendienst was asked about the pitch, he jokingly called it a “double knuckleball.” According to the Chicago Tribune, when it was suggested the pitch may have been a fastball, Schoendienst replied, “A fastball? It couldn’t have been very fast. I pulled it.”
The home run put the National League ahead, 4-3. In the bottom half of the 14th, the American League had one out and Ferris Fain of the Athletics on first when the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio came to the plate against Ewell Blackwell of the Reds.
Making his final appearance as an all-star, DiMaggio got a curve to his liking. “I was swinging for distance,” he told the Tribune. Instead, he bounced the ball to third baseman Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones, who threw to Schoendienst for the force on Fain. Schoendienst whipped a throw to Musial at first to nip DiMaggio and complete the game-ending double play. Boxscore
Schoendienst played in the All-Star Game nine times and hit .190. The home run in the 1950 game was his only career RBI as an all-star.
A good baseball trivia question. What three NL all stars hit homeruns at Comisky Park? Frankie Frisch, Red Schoendist and Ralph Kiner.
Good one. Thanks for sharing.
I was 10 years old, and already a big Cardinal fan, watching the first TV game I ever saw. Seeing ‘the old Redhead’, as Mike Shannon called him, hit that game-winner was a super-big thrill for me. Almost 50 years later, Red would come in my little store, and I told him what that moment meant to me as a young Cardinal fan back in Tennessee…neat guy! Enjoyed seeing all the familiar names from long ago in this story! Well done!
It is awesome that you got to see that game on TV. What a thrill for the first time to be able to see all those big-league stars. I am so glad you got to tell Red about that all those years later. Thanks for sharing your personal anecdote.
Johnny Wyrostek (who batted for Jackie Robinson in that game) became a carpenter in his post-baseball career, and was a longtime mayor of Fairmount City, Illinois.
Good info. Thanks.