St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds - Game 9 - April 17, 2015

Today marks the 70th anniversary of Red Schoendienst's debut for the St. Louis Cardinals on April 17, 1945. The Cards will wear special commemorative patches for this evening's game which, fittingly enough, is agains the Cincinnati Reds. (Red, Reds, get it?) Here's a look at the patch:

This is the special uniform patch that the #STLCards will wear tonight in honor of Red's 70 years in MLB. #LoveRed2 pic.twitter.com/9m9qALSUNO

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 17, 2015

It is indeed 70 years in uniform for Schoendienst. Most but not all of those years have been spent wearing the birds on the bat. The Cardinals traded Schoendienst to the New York Giants in 1956. He played the majority of that season and the following year the Giants shipped him to the Milwaukee Braves. Schoendienst was a Brave through 1960. At age 38 he returned to St. Louis, where he played his final three seasons (including just six games in 1963) as a Cardinal.

Schoendienst managed his first game for the Cardinals in 1965. He held the job through 1976, then again for stints in 1980 and 1990.

The Cardinals lineup:

1. Matt Carpenter, 3B
2. Jason Heyward, RF
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Matt Adams, 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta, SS
6. Jon Jay, CF
7. Yadier Molina, C
8. Kolten Wong, 2B
9. Michael Wacha, P

There are only three hitters in the game with more career home runs against Reds starter Johnny Cueto, and all three are home run hitters. Alfonso Soriano and former MVP Andrew McCutchen have four, and Aramis Ramirez has five home runs against Cueto. Next on the list is Jay with three. The Cardinals' lefthanded-hitting outfielder is 12-for-25 with a 1.416 OPS against Cueto. He has as many strikeouts as homers from the righty, and his slash line is .480/.536/.880 vs. Cueto.