His name is Marty Prather, but people from around Springfield, the Midwest and across the country know him simply as “The Sign Man.” Born in Evansville and raised in Bellbrook, Ohio, Prather moved to the Ozarks in 1981. An avid St. Louis Cardinals and Southwest Missouri State University fan, he began creating signs during the… Read more »
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Team: St. Louis Cardinals
Jamie Quirk
During his 18 year playing career, Quirk appeared in 984 Major League games, 525 of those as a catcher. He compiled a .240 career average with 43 home runs and 247 RBI and played for a total of eight different teams, including the 1980 AL Champion Royals, the 1985 World Champion Royals and the 1990… Read more »
Dan Quisenberry
His major league career began when in July of 1979, he was brought up from Triple A to play for the Royals and earned his first save later that month. In 1980, he earned his first Rolaids and Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award, which would prove to be a record setting total of… Read more »
Rob Rains
He spent his youth in the 1960s here in the Ozarks, listening to the St. Louis Cardinals through the static of a transistor radio and, figuring his baseball talent wouldn’t take him far, he thought of another way of reaching the big leagues. For Rob Rains, if you couldn’t play for them, why not write… Read more »
Jay Randolph, Sr.
In 1966, Randolph joined KMOX-CBS Radio in St. Louis, where he covered St. Louis Cardinals football and hosted daily sports shows. Two years later, he became the Sports Director of KSD-TV/KSDK in St. Louis, a post he held until 1988. Since then, Jay has made significant contributions to PGA, LPGA and Senior PGA telecasts along… Read more »
“Red” Reagan
Born in Bismark, Missouri, John Lee Reagan coached baseball 36 years (1958–1993) at Murray State University, amassing a record of 776–508–11, including 11 Ohio Valley Conference championships. He is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, Murray State, American Baseball Coaches Association, Missouri Athletic and Bismarck (Missouri) High School halls of fame. The baseball field at… Read more »
Ken Reitz
A right-handed hitting thirdbaseman, Reitz played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1972–75, 1977–80), San Francisco Giants (1976), Chicago Cubs (1981) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1982). He was nicknamed the “Zamboni” for his skill at scooping up ground balls on the artificial turf of Busch Memorial Stadium. In his rookie season of 1973, replaced Joe Torre as… Read more »
Jerry Reuss
Quick, remember the moment you knew what wanted to be in life? Jerry Reuss does. He was 8, and had just attended his first St. Louis Cardinals game at old Sportsman’s Park. This was, of course, long before he led St. Louis County’s Ritenour High School to the 1966 and 1967 Missouri state baseball championships… Read more »
Branch Rickey
In a career that spanned multiple generations and multiple revolutionary changes in baseball, Branch Rickey was always looking to innovate. A conservative and religious man who notably refused to participate in Sunday ball games as a player and a manager, Rickey was anything but traditional in the way he approached baseball as an executive. He… Read more »
Kerry Robinson
He had grown up in the shadow of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, playing on baseball sandlots in the summers years before willing his way into professional baseball. So in 2001, when in Triple-A, Kerry Robinson got the call of a lifetime. Sure, he had made his big-league debut three years earlier for Tampa… Read more »
Elwin Charles “Preacher” Roe
A native West Plains, Elwin “Preacher” Roe signed with the Cardinals farm team in 1938 where he played until signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1944, where he pitched until 1947. In 1948, he began a highly successful seven year stint with the Brooklyn Dodgers, where the left-hander was especially effective in 1951 at 22-3,… Read more »
Albert Fred “Red” Schoendienst
Red Schoendienst has been in baseball for over 51 years. He coached St. Louis from 1961 to 1964 under manager Johnny Keane. He then began a 12-year stint as Cardinal manager, the longest anyone has occupied the position. As manager, he led the Cardinals to National League pennants in 1967 and 1968 and the World… Read more »
Mike Shannon
He’s the old big-leaguer with the most enjoyable stories, the kind that you could listen to all day. And Mike Shannon doesn’t mind at all. Baseball stories? They’re the best. Ask him about the 1967 season when he graciously moved from right field to third base to make room for Roger Maris, and he jokes,… Read more »
Ted Simmons
Born in 1949, Ted Simmons grew up in Highland Park, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. One of the greatest hitting catchers of all time, Simmons signed with the St. Louis Cardinals right after he graduated from Southfield High School. He played a few games in Sarasota, but spent most of… Read more »
Enos Slaughter
Enos Slaughter is probably most remembered for his first-to-home dash that won the seventh game of the 1946 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals. A 10 time All-Star while playing for the Cardinals, Slaughter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 and ranks in the top 10 Cardinals in 10 different… Read more »
Osborne “Ozzie” Smith
Ozzie Smith retired after the 1996 season, the same year the St. Louis Cardinals retired his number, and in 19 seasons he compiled a .262 batting average, 2,460 hits, 580 stolen bases, 13 Gold Glove awards and was named to 15 All-Star teams. Smith set the following major league records for this position: most assists… Read more »