During Spring Training of 1993, Red Schoendienst told a group of us he would sign autographs if one of us could properly pronounce his name... Nobody could... I spent an entire year practicing how to say it so that my next meeting, I could hopefully add this Hall of Famer to my collection. In 1994, The St. Louis Cardinals came to play the Toronto Blue Jays at Dunedin Stadium. Once again, a group of people were asking Red for an autograph and once again he stated he would sign if somebody said his last name correctly. I immediately shouted out, "Mr. Schoendienst!" He turned around with shock as a 12 year old was the one to break the ice! Red came over and signed autographs for a small group of us. Red was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Red passed away at the age of 95 on June 6, 2018.
