St. Louis Cardinal great Red Schoendienst passed away Wednesday at the age of 95.

The news was broken to Cardinal Nation by former Cardinals and KMOX Cardinals announcer Mike Shannon.

Schoendienst was born in Germantown, Illinois, just 40 miles from downtown St. Louis. He was one of seven children.

Early on he showed promise as a baseball player. But in 1939 he suffered an injury to his left eye and was forced to become a switch-hitter batting left-handed.

He was signed by the Cardinals in 1942 after a tryout for $75 a month.

Schoendienst played minor league baseball during World War II and was drafted. However, he was given a medical discharged due to the injury to his left eye. In 1945 he moved to the big league playing for the Cardinals as left fielder and second baseman. He played with the Cardinals until he was traded in 1956 to the New York Giant and Milwaukee Braves.

He returned to the Cardinals in 1961 playing till 1963.

After Cardinals World Series win against the New York Yankees in 1964, Schoendienst was elevated to manager. He managed the Cardinals for over 12 seasons. He was part of 5 World Series wins for the Cardinals.

In 1989 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum in 2014.

Schoendienst was the oldest living Baseball Hall of Famer at the time of his death.

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