The St. Louis Cardinals failed to make the playoffs this season, but maybe the franchise's biggest loss was when Red Schoendienst passed away in June after 67 years with the organization.
In this edition of Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson tell us about the unlikely way in which Schoendienst became the team's manager in the mid-1960's.
Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard "Pete" Peterson, co-author with his son Stephen, of The Slide: Leyland, Bonds and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates and editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.