One of Cardinals’ finest: Stan Musial dies aged 92
Stan Musial died yesterday (19th January) at the age of 92.
“Stan the Man” was born, and played baseball, in another age but is a paragon of everything a professional sportsman should strive to achieve. He was described by former baseball commissioner Ford Frick, inscribed on Musial’s statue at Busch Stadium: “Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.”
Musial only played for the St Louis Cardinals. He played for them from 1941 to 1963 which included a break for serving on the US Navy during the Second World War. During his career he achieved: 3 World Series wins, 24 All Star appearances, 3 National League (NL) MVP titles, 7 times NL batting champion. Musial was voted in the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Always known as a fierce competitor on the plate, Musial was never ejected from a game despite making 3,026 major league appearances. Musial’s career batting average was .331 but it was said that “he could have hit .300 with a fountain pen.” He finished up with 475 home runs and 1,951 RBI’s (5th in the all time list).
Not only did Stan Musial excel in the ballpark but, in my opinion, out of it too. Musial met his wife when he was 15 and they were married for over 70 years until Lillian died in May last year. ‘Lil’ was happy to stay out of the limelight whilst Stan was in his prime. They had 4 children and Lil was happy to focus on home, “Life is family. That’s what it’s all about” she once said. The current trend is for WAG’s (wives and girlfriends for the uninitiated) to crave fame from the shadows of their significant other but the Musial’s traditional values feel more appropriate irrespective of the timespan.
For me, Stan Musial epitomized everything that is good about sport. Born of Polish immigrants, Musial worked hard (along with being a natural athlete) and excelled in baseball. However he never forgot who he was, irrespective of the fame and money he earned. Musial said “I love to play this game of baseball – I love putting on this uniform” and that approach underpinned how he conducted himself.
I’m going to finish with the much used, but resonating, words of Bob Costas on Stan Musial. He sums up everything that should be admired about Stan the Man: “He didn’t hit a homer in his last at-bat; he hit a single. He didn’t hit in 56 straight games. He married his high school sweetheart and stayed married to her, never married a Marilyn Monroe. He didn’t play with the sheer joy and style that goes alongside Willie Mays’ name. None of those easy things are there to associate with Stan Musial. All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being.”
