ST. LOUIS • The cover is so iconic that Sports Illustrated did it twice with the same team.
In 1968, the Cardinals fresh off a World Series championship, the leading magazine for sports writing put nine players and manager Red Schoendienst on the cover of an October issue. The headline read, “The Highest-Paid Team in Baseball History.” And alongside the picture, listed as if for tax purposes, were the salaries of all 10 Cardinals, from Roger Maris’ $75,000 to Bob Gibson’s $85,000 to Julian Javier’s $45,000. Within the pages was a story centered around Schoendienst ($42,000 that year) under the title, “Manager of the Money Men.