Baseball's Stan Musial

[+ WilliamM]

Stan the Man would have been 100 years old today. Played his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals

 

He retired in 1963 with a career battling average of 330.

 

Loved by almost all baseball fans.

 

God bless!

[+ azdr0710]

When I took Stan Musial in as a partner in my restaurant, I needed a partner about as much as I needed a new outboard motor for my automobile. Which gives you a rough idea of how fond I am of this smiling kid from Donora, Pennsylvania, who I consider without any disqualification to be the greatest guy and the greatest ballplayer of my career.

 

http://losttables.com/musial/musial.htm

 

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Edited November 22, 2020 by azdr0710

[+ WilliamM]

I did see Stan Musial play fairly often in the 1950s. My dad was a National League fan in Massachusetts

 

Musial's most memorable day,:

 

He hit five home runs in a double-header away, definitely not in St. Louis. The games were in the 1950s.

[+ Cock Eyed Optimist]

When I took Stan Musial in as a partner in my restaurant, I needed a partner about as much as I needed a new outboard motor for my automobile. Which gives you a rough idea of how fond I am of this smiling kid from Donora, Pennsylvania, who I consider without any disqualification to be the greatest guy and the greatest ballplayer of my career.

 

http://losttables.com/musial/musial.htm

 

.

 

 

OMG! "Stan and Biggies" restaurant. I ate there several times as a kid growing up in St. Louis. One time when we were there, Stan stopped by our table to say hello. Fond memories. Since I moved to Chicago to start my career, I became a Cubs fan, but always found a soft place in my heart for the Cardinals.

[samhexum]

Stan the Man would have been 100 years old today. Played his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals... He retired in 1963 with a career battling average of 330... Loved by almost all baseball fans... I did see Stan Musial play fairly often in the 1950s. My dad was a National League fan in Massachusetts... God bless!

When I took Stan Musial in as a partner in my restaurant, I needed a partner about as much as I needed a new outboard motor for my automobile. Which gives you a rough idea of how fond I am of this smiling kid from Donora, Pennsylvania, who I consider without any disqualification to be the greatest guy and the greatest ballplayer of my career.

OMG! "Stan and Biggies" restaurant. I ate there several times as a kid growing up in St. Louis. One time when we were there, Stan stopped by our table to say hello. Fond memories.

 

1. Musial collected 3,630 career hits, the fourth-highest total in MLB history (second highest at time of retirement) -- 1,815 came at home and 1,815 on the road.

 

2. Musial was born on Nov. 21, 1920, in Donora, Pennsylvania, a small mining town in the southwest corner of the state. Forty-nine years later -- to the day -- Ken Griffey Jr. was born there too. Thus, as baseball historian Bill James put it, Griffey could be described as "the second-best left-handed-hitting, left-handed-throwing outfielder ever born in Donora, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 21."

 

3. Musial debuted as a 20-year-old on Sept. 17, 1941, at the tail end of baseball's greatest summer. Ted Williams batted .406 that year, the last player to hit .400 in a full season. Musial batted .426 -- 20-for-47 -- in 12 games.

 

4. Musial's nickname -- Stan the Man -- was bequeathed to him by Brooklyn Dodgers fans in 1946, who chanted "O-O-h, here comes the man again" when he walked up to the plate. Musial produced 522 career hits against the Dodgers, most by any player all time.

Don Stanhouse was a pitcher who had a nine-year career, from 1972 to 1980... he was acquired by the Orioles and excelled in 1978 when Manager Earl Weaver employed him as a full-time closer. Because of his Harpo Marx hairstyle and pre-game batting practice antics – where his primal scream would entertain early ballpark arrivals – he was quickly labeled Stan the Man Unusual, a pun on the nickname "Stan the Man."

 

5. Musial generated 1,377 extra-base hits (the MLB record at the time of his retirement) for his career against 696 strikeouts. That margin (681 more extra-base hits than strikeouts) is the largest of its kind among all players to debut in the live ball era (since 1920).

 

6. Musial became the first player in National League history to win three MVP awards (1943, 1946, 1948). But perhaps more impressive, he finished top 10 in MVP voting 14 times, a record that stands to this day (for any player in either league). A Sporting News poll named Stan Musial its Player of the Decade for the years spanning 1946 to '55 (post-World War II). One voter was Joe Cronin, who served as Red Sox manager (1935-47) and general manager (1948-58) during that entire time. Over that span (under Cronin's watch), Ted Williams led MLB in all three triple-slash categories (.344/.490/.642). But Cronin did not vote Williams his Player of the Decade.

 

He voted for Stan Musial.