Stan Musial

[Kel Varnsen]

He was only 6' tall and 175 lbs. Lifetime batting average for over 20 years .333. His 22 years in the majors were all with the Cards and the year before he retired he batted .330. Around 3600 hits and 450+ home runs and not one tattoo. As a lifetime Cub fan he was one of my all time favorite players. You were the MAN.

That is a great tribute. Excellent post.

I wish everyone could experience what it's like to face a major league pitcher for at least a pitch or two. I had to stop playing baseball once the guys could throw curveballs. To this day, I'm just astonished how anybody ever hits a baseball. So for someone to get a hit in one out of every three at bats over 22 years (without HGH or anything like that)...well, it just blows me away. We lost a good one, for sure, but his memory will live on.

 

[john h]

That is a great tribute. Excellent post.

I wish everyone could experience what it's like to face a major league pitcher for at least a pitch or two. I had to stop playing baseball once the guys could throw curveballs. To this day, I'm just astonished how anybody ever hits a baseball. So for someone to get a hit in one out of every three at bats over 22 years (without HGH or anything like that)...well, it just blows me away. We lost a good one, for sure, but his memory will live on.

I was on our high school baseball team until I tried to duck under a curve ball and was beaned. We did not wear hard helmets in those days. That ended my baseball career so I turned to fast pitch softball where I think the ball was pitched even faster than in baseball. Worse yet I was a catcher. I have at least 10 broken fingers some of which still hurt today. The pitchers in our league were paid mercenaries (of course as we were in Chicago) who could really bring it. 1 run games were very common. These pitchers could pitch from 2nd base and still strike you out more often than not.

 

[john h]

I heard that 5 HR game vs. the Giants. (A strong wind was blowing out to left, and Stan had to buck the crosswind to hit some of those dingers). . My older brother, Jim and I usually stay in touch every month or two. When news of Stan's passing hit the wires, the first thing he did yesterday was e-mail me to reminisce about being a Cardinal fan in the 1940's.

Jim was born in StL. I was an eastern newcomer to Cardinal fandom. To an outsider, mention StL and the first thing that comes to mind is The Arch. But if you were closer to the scene, if someone mentioned StL, the first thing you'd think of was Stan "The Man." A fixture. As great off the field as he was on it.

Like Garth (who's lived in my hometown of Scarsdale, NY) I was first a BB Cardinal fan, which led me to root for the (Trippi, Angsmann, Christman & Harder) Chicago Cardinal FB team.

When Stan was a young man he played for a small semi pro team in PA. The left field wall was short so he learned how to drive most of his balls to LF and is why he was such a great hitter to LF. He was actually hitting the ball better than Joe D., and other great hitters of his day but being from the Midwest he got very little press. St Louis and the old Browns stadium were the only ball parks west of the Mississippi. Good old Harry Carry was a broadcaster of many of Stans Games. I got to see him play many times as I only lived 20 minutes from Wrigley. $ .50 for a bleacher seat. At one time I only lived about 10 minutes from Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn on Flatbush Ave. and got to watch him there

 

[BC867]

I heard that 5 HR game vs. the Giants.

Stan Musial was my all time favorite player, as I posted earlier in this thread.

But, to set the record straight, Stan had a 5 HR doubleheader, not a 5 HR game. 4 HR remains the record for a single game.

'Still, not bad for a talented player whose best HR season was 39.

 

[BC867]

Bob Costas eulogy of Stan Musial

If you have twenty minutes, you may want to watch this moving eulogy to Stan The Man (with references to some of his contemporaries).

I was moved to tears a few times and not just because he has been my favorite baseball player since 1953.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...tas-eulogizes-stan-musial-004519221--mlb.html