Schroeder (Peanuts) (a process the cartoonist described as "extremely tedious"). The first piece Schroeder played was Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor. Schroeder often plays music by Beethoven, his favorite composer. As revealed after Lucy took his bust of Beethoven and smashed it, he has an entire closetful of Beethoven busts. It was also found that he has an entire closetful of pianos. Every year, Schroeder marks December 16, his hero's birthday. Schulz said he had originally planned to depict Johannes Brahms (whom Schulz identified as his own favorite composer) as Schroeder's idol, but decided that Beethoven simply sounded "funnier." He was
Peanuts debuted as very young children—with Schroeder and Linus both in diapers and pre-verbal. Snoopy also started to verbalize his thoughts via thought bubbles. One recurring theme in the strip is Charlie Brown's neighborhood baseball team. Charlie Brown is the team's player–manager and, usually, its pitcher, and Schroeder is the catcher. The other characters make up the rest of the team, including Linus as second baseman and Lucy as right fielder. Charlie Brown is a terrible pitcher, often giving up tremendous hits that either knock him off the mound or disrobe him, leaving only his shorts. The team itself is also