Stan Musial died today, as did the great manager of the Baltimore Orioles, Earl Weaver. Stan was the keystone player of the golden age. He was a contemporary of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, but equally a contemporary of Mantle, Mays, and Aaron. He is less known than all of these icons, but in many peoples minds he is equal, if not better, than them. A true ICON has passed, and by all accounts, one of, if not the, greatest individual human being in the Hall Of Fame. :beer:
Quote from: rincon2 on Jan 20, 2013, 02:01 AM
Stan Musial, by all accounts, one of, if not the, greatest individual human being in the Hall Of Fame. :beer:
Well said,rincon2.
I grew up a huge STL fan, starting in late '60s by following back to back WS teams featuring great future HOFs Bob Gibson & Lou Brock. I would hear of this 'Stan the Man' constantly on Cardinal broadcasts and saw him on a tv interview. Little 'old' guy, balding, restuarant owner who would play the harmonica ( I think he owned a Budweiser distributorship also) - he didn't impress me as much of an athlete compared to my 2 heroes mentioned above.
As I got older and started going to games at Busch Stadium I learned of the true greatness of the Man, on and off the field. He played the game w such grace and class. Great defensively, hit for average and power, RBI guy, AllStar at multiple positions.
Consistantly great - 1815 carreer hits @ home, 1815 on the road , totalling 4th
highest hit total in MLB history!
First ballot HOFamer!
Wonderful community leader for all these years after that fabulous career - doing charity work along w his beloved wife, interacting w fans @ his restaurant, ambassador for the game worldwide.
RIP Stan the Man - This Bud's for You :beer:
He was born in my mother's hometown of Donora, PA, R.I.P. Stan. :beer:
RIP Stan. AN amazing baseball player and an even better human being.
I've had pretty good success with Stan (Musial) by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third."
- Carl Erskine
"He could have hit .300 with a fountain pen."
- Joe Garagiola