Former Baseball Manager of St. Louis Cardinals

Mike Shildt | Biography

Served as an Associate Scout for the Major League Scouting Bureau

• By Reena Chikanbanjar
• Original : December 21, 2021

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Mike Shildt is a former baseball manager. He was St. Louis Cardinals Manager for four years until he was fired in 2021.

Who is Mike Shildt?

Michael Timothy Shildt, known as Mike Shildt, launched his coaching career as an assistant coach at the Asheville's University of North Carolina. Later, he became a head coach of West Charlotte High School in Charlotte. He then served as an assistant coach for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for five years.

In 1999, he founded the On Deck Baseball Academy, a year-round indoor and outdoor training facility, where he taught and coached youths for four years. He also served as an associate scout for the Major League Scouting Bureau for three seasons.

In January 2004, he was hired by the St. Louis Cardinals as an area scout for North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Shildt began his minor league baseball coaching career as a part-time coach in 2004 and 2005 with the New Jersey Cardinals, initially continuing his scouting duties. In 2007, he became a full-time coach with the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League. The following year, he became a hitting coach with the Johnson City Cardinals of the Appalachian League and then took over as the team's manager the next season.

In 2017, Shildt became a quality control coach with the major league Cardinals. He was later promoted to base coach that same year and then to bench coach in 2018. On 14 July 2018, Shildt was hired as an interim manager for St. Louis Cardinals to replace Mike Matheny. His managerial skills quickly earned him the manager's post on 28 August. 

He led the Cardinals to a 41-28 record in his first season. Then, in the 2019 season, he led the team to a 91-71 record and their first National League Central title since 2015. Shildt also won the ‘2019 NL Manager of the Year Award.' In November 2019, he got a new three-year contract through the 2022 season. He led the Cardinals to a 30-28 record in the 2020 season and then a 90-72 record in the 2021 season. He compiled a 252-199 record in around four seasons at the helm.

In October 2021, Shildt was fired by the Cardinals. A couple of months later, USA Today's columnist Bob Nightengale wrote that Shildt is heading for a job in the Commissioner's office. Shildt was expected to work under senior VP Michael Hill in the On-Field Operations Department.

Age and Early Bio

Mike Shildt was born on 9 August 1968 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is 53 years old as of 2021. 

Shildt played high school baseball at Olympic High School in his hometown of Charlotte. He then played collegiate baseball at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He says he ended his playing career following his 'inability to hit the curveball.' 

Salary

The salary and earnings of Shildt have remained undisclosed as of 2021.

Why was Cardinals manager Mike Shildt fired?

On 14 October 2021, Shildt was fired by the St. Louis Cardinals. According to the Cardinals president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, Shildt was fired due to 'philosophical differences.' A few days later, on 18 October, Shildt gave an emotional statement on KMOX and said that the differences that caused his firing would be undisclosed. 

"I invested my heart, soul and most of my professional career into helping maintain and be a part of an organization that I cared more about than I cared about my own career. I was taught not to talk out of school and while clearly there were differences that led to this parting of ways, out of respect for this organization and the people that run it, I can only express my gratitude in all those philosophies that were shared over the many years together that allowed us to part ways as professional friends. What differences there were will be left to remain unsaid," Shildt said in the statement. 

Wife

On 6 March 2020, Shildt married Michelle Segrave in Florida in a wedding ceremony with close friends and family. Segrave is a private aviation insurance/charter broker. She is Shildt's first wife. Shildt shares his two stepdaughters with her.