Millions of Cardinals fans, generation after generation, have known their legends by a single name: Ozzie. Willie. Stan. Red.
For a slightly smaller audience, though, they had other single-word names: Dad. Brother. Husband. Grandpa.
Today, Bird on the Black is proud to be granted access to that side of one such baseball hero - Red Schoendienst - by way of his granddaughter, Mary Gage.
“He was my only living grandfather, so I really have nothing to compare it to. So everything was normal to me. He was just a grandpa. He came over for holidays. He spent time with you. We went out to dinner. Just did normal stuff. There was nothing ever special. I don’t think I realized until I was older what a big deal he was to the Cardinals community.”
“We were at the game and I remember crawling across the dugout to take a picture with him. It was really cold… I remember just drinking hot chocolate. I couldn’t tell you anything about the game, but I remember being there!”
“That was the last time I saw him in really good health and really happy. Not that he wasn’t happy after that, but definitely back to his normal self at that point.”
Many thanks to Mary for sharing her grandpa with us yet again. And if you still want more, revisit this piece from CardsCards on the legend of Red.