Jeff Idelson is president of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Red Schoendienst’s death at age 95 on Wednesday was a loss to many, but it meant that the Hall had lost its oldest living member.
To Idelson, Schoendienst represented the “American Dream.”
“He was a tremendous ballplayer,” said Idelson, “but beyond that, he was emblematic of the American story where you can grow up with nothing and make the most of an opportunity and parlay that small opportunity into a seven-decade career.
“That’s very much the American Dream. And you couldn’t have a better person be emblematic of that than Red Schoendienst.