RetroSimba

(Updated Sept. 10, 2025)

On Feb. 28, 1989, the day the veterans committee was to announce its selections to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, coach Red Schoendienst was at Cardinals spring training camp in St. Petersburg, Fla., with his wife, Mary.

“When is the announcement?” Mary asked.

“3 o’clock,” replied Red.

“I’m not going shopping,” Mary said.

In relaying the conversation to the Associated Press, Schoendienst said, “Anytime you can stop a gal from going shopping, that’s pretty big news.”

Schoendienst, the longtime Cardinals second baseman, got the call from Ed Stack, Hall of Fame president, informing him he’d been elected to the Cooperstown shrine, ending a wait of 20 years.

Two days after the veterans committee announcement, Bob Broeg, the St. Louis journalist who covered Schoendienst since his debut with the Cardinals in 1945, wrote, “I don’t think the Cardinals are going to get Schoendienst out of uniform anytime soon, even though he’s 66. He still likes a hot ballgame and a cold beer.”

Schoendienst and umpire Al Barlick each got the necessary 14 votes from a committee of 18 which included Red’s friend and former teammate, Stan Musial.

Joining them in the 1989 Hall of Fame induction class were Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski, each of whom was elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Harry Caray, the former Cardinals broadcaster, also was headed to Cooperstown as 1989 winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence.

“A great player and a winner,” Caray said of Schoendienst to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Schoendienst had been on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot for 15 years (1969-83) but failed to receive the necessary 75 percent of the votes for election. His best showing was 42.6 percent in 1980.

When he got the call he’d been elected by the veterans committee (ahead of candidates such as Richie Ashburn and Phil Rizzuto), Schoendienst told Hummel, “I was standing up. Then I had to sit down.”

In 19 seasons (1945-63) with the Cardinals, Giants and Braves, Schoendienst was named an all-star 10 times and collected 2,449 hits. He six times led National League second basemen in fielding percentage, prompting Musial to declare Schoendienst had “the greatest pair of hands I’ve ever seen in baseball.”

In the book “Few and Chosen,” catcher Tim McCarver said, “There’s a saying in baseball that you can tell the guys who were good fielders by the way they shake hands. When you shake Red’s hand, it’s as soft as a pillow, and that’s the way he was as a fielder. Soft, pliable, flexible hands. An infielder is taught to field a ground ball below the hop, to absorb the hop, and Red was a master at that … Another thing about Red, he had a quick bat. Howard Pollet, the fine left-hander, said you couldn’t throw a fastball past Red.”

Schoendienst played 15 seasons for the Cardinals. He managed them for 14 years, achieving 1,041 wins, two league pennants and a World Series title.

Informed by Hummel of his former teammate’s election by the veterans committee, Enos Slaughter, a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Cardinals, said, “It’s long overdue … Red would have to rank with any second baseman, bar none, that I played with.”

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(Updated Nov. 10, 2019)

Imagine a gathering of 1960s icons that included Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Those athletes and entertainers were together at a 1964 Friars Club roast.

A black-and-white photo from the event, reproduced here, shows (from left to right) Dodgers publicist Danny Goodman, Musial, Mays, Sinatra, Koufax and Martin (the latter in a classic pose, with cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other).

They were at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills on Nov. 10, 1964, for a testimonial dinner in honor of Musial, the Cardinals standout who had retired as a player a year earlier. Less than a month before the gala, the Cardinals, with Musial in the front office as an executive, clinched the 1964 World Series championship against the Yankees.

The Friars Club, founded in 1904 in New York City, primarily attracted comedians and entertainers as its members and became best known for its bawdy celebrity roasts. A Beverly Hills branch of the club opened in 1947.

The dinner for Musial attracted a stellar group from the baseball and entertainment worlds.

Among the baseball celebrities joining Koufax and Mays in honoring Musial were Don Drysdale, Leo Durocher, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, Vin Scully and Duke Snider.

Sinatra and Martin were joined by personalities such as Gene Autry, Milton Berle, Gene Barry, Arthur Godfrey and master of ceremonies George Jessel.

Following the standard Friars Club format, several of the entertainers took turns on the dais poking fun at the honored guest.

An example of the cutting humor was this line from Godfrey about Musial’s restaurant in St. Louis: “After eating there, I can understand why Stan came all the way to Los Angeles for a meal.”

Comedian Corbett Monica quipped, “He’s such a nice guy. I might even say he’s holy. He reminds me in fact of Saint Joseph, a dull little town in nothern Missouri.”

In rare serious moments, Autry spoke of how his friendship with Musial began when Stan was a Cardinals rookie, and Mays told the audience Musial and Joe DiMaggio were his idols when he began his baseball career, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“Stan is the kind of man you want your kids to remember for a long time,” Mays said.

The highlight of the evening came when Sinatra and Martin “ran through a half-dozen song parodies filled with jabs at Musial,” The Sporting News reported. The Rat Pack duo’s special lyrics to popular tunes were so risqué that none “is in danger of ever being published,” wrote Sporting News correspondent Bob Hunter.

Sinatra and Martin ended on a high note with a duet to the tune of the song “The Lady is a Tramp.” Changing the lyrics to salute Stan the Man, Sinatra and Martin made the signature line, “Mr. Musial, you’re a champ.”

The Sporting News observed, “Musial received several standing ovations, the final one lasting for a lengthy period after he had responded to the barbs and roasts with a witty, humble speech of thanks.”

In opening his remarks, Musial said to the celebrity club members, “It’s been a great evening and it’s great to be with such famous and good friends _ even if they don’t know a darn thing about baseball.”

Previously: How Bing Devine helped Stan Musial plan retirement

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After sitting out the 2003 baseball season, Ray Lankford worked on his hitting with the help of outfielders Carlos Beltran of the Royals and Moises Alou of the Cubs. At 36, Lankford was plotting a comeback to the big leagues.

Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty, who traded Lankford to the Padres in August 2001, was looking for a left-handed batter to bolster the bench in 2004. He called Lankford and liked what he heard.

“A couple weeks ago, I was asking anybody if they’d seen or heard from Ray,” Jocketty said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He’d just dropped out of sight. I got a call from his agent and was told (Lankford) missed playing. I talked to (Lankford) a while and got the sense he had a desire to come back home to St. Louis. I think he’s highly motivated.

“He’s had a year away from the game. Sometimes that will change a guy’s outlook toward things to the positive.”

On Jan. 9, 2004, the Cardinals signed Lankford to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training as a non-roster player with no guarantee of earning a job.

Lankford, a prominent part of the Cardinals’ lineup from 1990-2001, was grateful for the opportunity. He hit .224 in 81 games for the 2002 Padres. “Weight issues and complications from knee surgery conspired to sap his productivity,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Be a man

When Lankford was dealt to the Padres for pitcher Woody Williams on Aug. 2, 2001, his attitude toward the Cardinals, particularly manager Tony La Russa, was negative. “Lankford had voiced displeasure over what he termed La Russa’s lack of communication about his limited playing time,” wrote Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch. “La Russa wondered if Lankford’s dedication had waned in the midst of a multiyear deal that paid him $35.5 million over five years.”

Said La Russa: “Ray got comfortable more than anything else.”

In the Jan. 21, 2004, Post-Dispatch, in a story headlined “Lankford is eager to show he still has something left,” Hummel asked, “Will we see a different Lankford from the one who left the Cardinals bitter at manager Tony La Russa?”

Lankford responded, “I’ve moved on. What’s in the past is in the past. Kids hold grudges. Grown men move forward. I’m moving forward. I’m sure Tony’s doing the same thing. I want to win. He wants to win.

“I’m going to camp with eyes wide open and try to make the team. I’ve never been in a situation where I had to try to make a team.”

Back in business

The improbable turned into the remarkable. Lankford made the team and was named the 2004 Cardinals’ Opening Day left fielder.

He hit .280 in April and remained the Cardinals’ starter for the first three months of the season in an outfield with Jim Edmonds in center and Reggie Sanders in right. Lankford’s batting average through June was .266.

In July, though, he developed a sore right wrist and it hurt his swing. Lankford batted .154 in July and the Cardinals placed him on the disabled list on July 25. Three weeks later, they acquired slugger Larry Walker from the Rockies.

Walker took over the right field job, with Sanders moving to left. Lankford sat out all of August. When he returned in September, he was ineffective, hitting .083 in a reserve role.

Still, his surprise contributions in the first half of the season helped the Cardinals start strong on their way to a 105-57 record and first-place finish in the National League Central Division.

Lankford played more games in left field (66) and made more starts at that position (43) than anyone else on the 2004 Cardinals. In 92 games, he batted .255 with six home runs.

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