Schroeder

Schroeder is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. He is distinguished by his prodigious skill at playing the toy piano, as well as by his love of classical music and the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in particular. Schroeder is also the catcher on Charlie Brown's baseball team, though he is usually seen walking back to the pitcher's mound with the baseball, never throwing it—admitting in one strip he did not want the other team to discover his lack of ability. He is also the object of the unrequited infatuation of Lucy van Pelt, who constantly leans on Schroeder's piano, much to Schroeder's annoyance. Charlie Brown, Frieda, Linus and Snoopy are occasionally depicted leaning on Schroeder's piano. After Linus, Schroeder is Charlie Brown's closest friend; he once angrily berated Violet for giving Charlie Brown a used valentine well after Valentine's Day had come and gone, only to be undercut when Charlie Brown eagerly accepted it. Schroeder also joined Linus in chastising the girls (Lucy, Patty, Violet and Frieda) and Snoopy in Charlie Brown's All-Stars, when it was discovered Charlie Brown refused to remove the girls and Snoopy from his baseball team just to get new uniforms. He also is one of the few players who has any respect for Charlie Brown as a manager; though he is as capable of ire at Charlie Brown's poor performance as anyone else, such instances are rare. In one game, when Frieda asked Schroeder "Wouldn't you like just once to see Charlie Brown hit that ball?", Schroeder's calm reply was "No, I am not prepared to have the world come to an end". Schroeder was voted an honorary member of the Florida State University-based Epsilon Iota chapter of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity, the oldest and largest music fraternity in the world. In honor of Schroeder's passion for Beethoven, the Charles M. Schulz Museum (Santa Rosa) and the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies announced the launching in December 2009 of a permanent online exhibit of 60 of the 300 Schulz cartoons that involve Schroeder and Beethoven.