Stan Musial
Stan Musial | ||
---|---|---|
Outfielder | ||
Born: November 21, 1920 | ||
Batted: Left | Threw: Left | |
MLB debut | ||
September 17, 1941 for the St. Louis Cardinals |
||
Final game | ||
September 29, 1963 for the St. Louis Cardinals |
||
Career statistics | ||
AVG | .331 | |
HR | 475 | |
Hits | 3630 | |
Teams | ||
Career highlights and awards | ||
|
||
Member of the National | ||
Baseball Hall of Fame | ||
Elected | 1969 | |
Vote | 93.2% (first ballot) |
Stanley Frank Musial, originally Stanisław Franciszek Musiał, (pronounced Myou'-zee-ull, IPA: /'mjuz.i.əl/); nicknamed Stan The Man, Stash, and The Donora Greyhound (born November 21, 1920 in Donora, Pennsylvania), is an American former player in Major League Baseball who played 22 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941 to 1963.
Contents |
Early life
His father, Lukasz, was a Polish immigrant; his mother, Mary, was the daughter of Czech immigrants. Musial started his career as a pitcher but after a shoulder injury moved to the outfield in 1940. On his 19th birthday, he married Lillian Labash, and they have four children. Musial remains an idol in the St. Louis area. Musial is also an honorary member of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity.
Career
Musial played 1,890 games in the outfield and 1,016 games at first base, but was primarily known for his consistent hitting. The left-hander led the National League in batting average seven times and in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and hits six times each. He won the National League Most Valuable Player award in 1943, 1946, and 1948, and in 1957, received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award. He is one of only two players to hit five home runs in one day - he did it in a doubleheader against the New York Giants in 1954 (Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres also accomplished it in 1972).
His 3,630 career hits made him the second in the NL's all-time leader list at the time he retired, and still ranks fourth all-time, behind Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, and Hank Aaron.
Musial's career was perhaps most notable for its consistency. His .331 career batting average ranks 30th; he batted .336 at home and .326 on the road. He batted .340 in day games and .320 at night. Remarkably, Musial had exactly 1,815 career hits at home, and 1,815 hits on the road. When he retired Musial had the most career home runs for a player who never won a single-season home run title. In his September 1941 debut, Musial had two hits; after he got two hits in his final game, 22 years later, a sportswriter jokingly wrote, "He hasn't improved at all."
Musial once said, "I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider; then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first thirty feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it had crossed the plate."
Former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine once described his strategy of pitching to Musial: "I've had pretty good success with Stan by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third."[2] Erskine's teammate, Preacher Roe, shared a similar sentiment. He summarized his strategy of pitching to Musial as "I throw him four wide ones and try to pick him off at first."[2] "Once Musial timed your fastball," observed Warren Spahn, "your infielders were in jeopardy." In another story, Willie Mays, then playing for the New York Giants, was receiving instruction from his manager Leo Durocher about how he should prepare defensively in center field for each of the hitters in the Cardinals' lineup. He described the weaknesses and tendencies of the first two hitters, then moved on to the cleanup (fourth) hitter. Mays interrupted to ask about the man in the third slot. Durocher replied, "The third hitter is Stan Musial. There is no advice I can give you about him."
It was fans of the Dodgers who gave him his nickname. After several fine hitting performances at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn fans would see him come to bat, and say, "Uh-oh, here comes that man again. That man is back!" St. Louis sportswriter Bob Broeg picked up on this, and Musial was "Stan the Man" from that point on. Brooklyn fans never booed him at Ebbets Field - out of respect.
Like many American baseball players of his era, Musial spent part of his career serving in World War II, missing the 1945 season to serve as a seaman first class in the United States Navy from January 1945 to March 1946.
Musial played in 24 All-Star games [1] and the Cardinals retired his uniform number 6 at the end of the 1963 season. He was a fan favorite for his reputation, both on the field and off, as a gentleman.
In Retirement
At the time of his retirement in 1963, Musial held 17 major league, 29 National League, and 9 All-Star game records. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1969.
A statue of Musial was erected outside of Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri in 1968. It is inscribed with a quote from former baseball commissioner Ford Frick: "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight."
Musial also served one year as general manager of the Cardinals. After the 1966 season, Musial succeeded Bob Howsam as GM and the 1967 Cardinals promptly won 101 games, the NL pennant, and the 1967 World Series title. Musial then stepped down at the end of the season and was succeeded by Bing Devine.
Following his retirement Musial has been a successful businessman and restaurateur, and remains a popular figure in the St. Louis area. When asked why he always seemed so happy, he remarked, "If you had a .331 lifetime batting average, you'd be happy all the time, too!"
In 1985, he opened and operated at the Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.
In 1989, he was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
In 1999, he ranked tenth on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Some fans suggested that being placed so high on the list was a "hometown pick," as TSN is published in St. Louis. Musial did less well in fan voting for that year's Major League Baseball All-Century Team, but was added by a special committee along with Honus Wagner, one of only 30 players to be honored for his great success. The surprise at his high esteem among baseball critics and omission from fan-voted all-time teams are a reflection of his rather understated demeanor. Indeed, it was Musial's characteristic modesty, in addition to the fact that he played his entire career for a midwestern ballclub, that allowed his legacy to fall behind those of his contemporaries such as Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Despite media acknowledgements of his playing career [1], many younger baseball fans are unaware of his accomplishments.
Trivia
- Musial is an accomplished harmonica player who often appears at major functions (Opening Day at Busch Stadium, the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony) to play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
- Recorded his 3,000th career hit, a pinch hit double off of the Chicago Cubs' pitcher Moe Drabowsky, on May 13, 1958. St. Louis won the game 5-3.
- Musial collected 3,630 hits; 1,815 at home, and 1,815 on the road.
- Musial was ranked #1 among most underrated athletes by ESPN.
- Stan Musial's 3,630th hit on the last game of the 1963 season was hit past Cincinnati rookie 2nd baseman Pete Rose, who was destined to break Musial's record and become the Major League's all time hits champion.
- Musial threw out the first pitch in the 5th game of the 2006 World Series, which featured his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, against the Detroit Tigers.
- Musial was named the NL honorary captain in the 1975 MLB All Star Game.
- In an article in 1976 in Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Musial was the center fielder on Stein's Polish team.
See also
- Top 500 home run hitters of all time
- DHL Hometown Heroes
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- 3000 hit club
- 3000-300 club
- Hitting for the cycle
- List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
- MLB consecutive games played streaks
- Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
Regular season stats
Career Statistics:
Hitting
G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ |
3026 | 10,972 | 3630 | 725 | 177 | 475 | 1949 | 1951 | 1599 | 696 | .331 | .417 | .559 | .976 | 159 |
6th | 9th | 4th | 3rd | 19th | 23rd | 9th | 5th | 11th | - | 32nd | 22nd | 22nd | 16th | 16th |
External links
- Official Site
- Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Stan the Man and the Question of Fame
- St. Louis Walk of Fame
- SABR Biography Project
- Stan Musial Photographs in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
- The Sporting News - An interview with Stan Musial and Tony Gwynn, July 1997
Accomplishments | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
---|---|
P. Rose | T. Cobb | H. Aaron | S. Musial | T. Speaker | C. Yastrzemski | C. Anson | H. Wagner | P. Molitor | E. Collins | W. Mays | E. Murray | N. Lajoie | C. Ripken | G. Brett | P. Waner | R. Yount | T. Gwynn | D. Winfield | R. Henderson | R. Carew | L. Brock | R. Palmeiro | C. Biggio* | W. Boggs | A. Kaline | R. Clemente |
|
|
---|---|
Nolan Ryan • Sandy Koufax • Cy Young • Roger Clemens • Bob Gibson • Walter Johnson • Warren Spahn • Christy Mathewson • Lefty Grove Johnny Bench • Yogi Berra • Lou Gehrig • Mark McGwire • Jackie Robinson • Rogers Hornsby • Mike Schmidt • Brooks Robinson • Cal Ripken, Jr. • Ernie Banks • Honus Wagner Babe Ruth • Hank Aaron • Ted Williams • Willie Mays • Joe DiMaggio • Mickey Mantle • Ty Cobb • Ken Griffey, Jr. • Pete Rose • Stan Musial |
References
- ^ a b Baseball Almanac - All Star Game Note: Hank Aaron and Willie Mays also appeared in 24 games.(Musial and Mays consecutive; Aaron 24 out of 25). There were also 2 All-Star games played from 1959-1962.
- ^ a b Stan Musial Quotes. Baseball Almanac. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
Persondata | |
---|---|
NAME | Musial, Stan |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Musial, "Stan the Man" |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Major League baseball player |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 21, 1920 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Donora, Pennsylvania |
DATE OF DEATH | |
PLACE OF DEATH |