Two Birds, One Bat, and a Ferguson Story

How a church dinner in 1921 gave the St. Louis Cardinals their birds, and how the woman behind it became part of Oak Knoll's history

By Oak Knoll Team

Two red birds perched on a branch, the illustration for Allie May Schmidt's Ferguson story

How a church dinner in 1921 gave the St. Louis Cardinals their birds, and how the woman behind it became part of Oak Knoll's history

Most people in St. Louis know the birds-on-the-bat design by heart. Two red cardinals perched on a bat, there on the jersey every season. Fewer people know that the story of those birds begins right here in Ferguson, with a church supper, a young woman, a pile of cardboard, and her father's drawing pencil.

At Oak Knoll Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, we have a special reason to love this story. Allie May Schmidt, the young woman at the center of it, lived at Oak Knoll later in her life. We want to share her story the way it was recorded, and share our own part of it the way our families remember it.

A supper at the church

On February 16, 1921, the Men's Fellowship Club at the Presbyterian church in Ferguson held a meeting. The speaker that night was Branch Rickey, who was then running the St. Louis Cardinals as vice president and general manager.

Allie May Schmidt was a member of the church. For the tables, she made decorations out of cardboard: red birds. They were simple, handmade things, the kind of care a church member puts into an evening so guests feel welcome.

Cardboard red birds along a church supper table, with a drawing pencil beside them, the decorations Allie May Schmidt made for the Presbyterian church in Ferguson on February 16, 1921
The Presbyterian church in Ferguson, where Allie May Schmidt's cardboard red birds decorated the tables on February 16, 1921.

A father's drawing

Allie May's father, Edward H. Schmidt, was the head of the art department at Woodward & Tiernan Printing Co. in St. Louis. He drew the uniform artwork for Rickey, working from the idea of the birds. In the drawing, the twig the birds sat on became a bat.

It is worth pausing on that detail. A daughter's table decoration and a father's skill as a commercial artist came together to make something that has lasted more than a century.

The birds take the field

The new uniforms debuted in the 1922 season. On March 28, 1922, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat described the new design as "a black bat, on which are perched two Cardinal members of the feathered tribe."

The birds have been part of the uniform nearly ever since. There were a couple of exceptions. In 1927 the jersey showed a single bird with the words "World Champions," and in 1956 the birds were left off. The design has also been redrawn many times over the years. But the idea that started at a Ferguson church supper has stayed.

Cairo, 1943

Allie May later married Clarence L. Keaton of Cairo, Illinois, and became Mrs. Keaton.

Starting in 1943, the Cardinals held their wartime spring training in Cairo. That meant the team came to the town where the woman behind their emblem now lived. The Cardinals recognized her there. The St. Louis Star and Times ran the story on February 12, 1943, under the headline "When the Cardinals Train In Cairo They'll Meet Creator Of Their Red Bird Emblem."

Mrs. Keaton told the paper something that tells you a lot about her:

"We've witnessed many a Cardinal contest in St. Louis, and we have never missed a World Series game."
Mrs. Allie May Keaton (Schmidt), St. Louis Star and Times, Feb 12, 1943

She was not just the person who made the first red birds. She was a fan, the same as so many families in St. Louis are today.

Back home in Ferguson

Ferguson has never stopped being proud of this story. In 2017, the Cardinals came back to First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson for an event celebrating where the design began. Bill DeWitt III and the team's museum curator, Paula Homan, were part of it.

Part of Oak Knoll's history

Here is where the story becomes ours too.

Oak Knoll is family-owned and has been serving Ferguson since 1948. Over all those years, many people with deep Ferguson roots have made their home with us. Allie May Schmidt was one of them. According to Oak Knoll's history and the memory of the family who has run Oak Knoll, she lived here later in her life.

Oak Knoll's history also holds one more memory. Stan Musial came to Oak Knoll to congratulate her. We do not have a date or a photograph of that visit on hand, and we will not guess at the details. What we have is the memory, passed down and kept with care, of a Cardinals great coming to Ferguson to honor the woman whose red birds had been on the team's uniform for so long.

We share it because it is a good memory, and because it says something true about this place. The people who live at Oak Knoll carry whole lives with them. Some of those lives touched history in ways their neighbors never knew.

Illustrated Oak Knoll window at dusk, with a warm lamp and a framed picture inside and a tree beyond the glass
Oak Knoll is family-owned and has been serving Ferguson since 1948.

Why we tell stories like this

A nursing home is a place for care, and it is also a place for stories. Every resident arrives with a past full of people, work, faith, family, and small moments that mattered. Allie May's story began with cardboard birds made to brighten a church supper. That kind of quiet care is something we recognize, because it is the same care we try to give every day.

If your family has a Ferguson story, or a memory of Oak Knoll you would like to share, we would love to hear it. And if you have a photograph or record from Allie May's time with us, or of Stan Musial's visit, please reach out. We would be grateful to add it to our history.

You can call us at 314-521-7419 or visit https://oakknoll.care.

A Caring Family with Personality.

The birds-on-the-bat logo belongs to the St. Louis Cardinals. Oak Knoll shares this history as part of Ferguson's story and makes no claim to the logo.

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