by Datechguy | January 20th, 2013
ReadabilityStan Musial is Dead
The Greatest Left fielder in the History of baseball, Stan Musial died yesterday at the age of 92.
That many of you might not have heard of him is understandable. He didn’t play in NY or Boston, he didn’t have feuds with the press, he didn’t have headlines with starlets nor was known for carousing. He married in 1940 and stayed married 72 years until his wife death last may.
What he did was play and play hard in a career that started when he was signed in 1938 and ended with his retirement in 1963. He made a good living off of baseball saved his money, went into business and made more of it.
He was voted into the Hall of Fame in the first year he was eligible appearing on 93.2 percent of the ballots proving that at least 6.8% of the HOF voters in 1969 were out of their minds.
I wrote about him last February saying this:
For reasons I still can’t understand Stan Musial somehow doesn’t seem to get the respect among the greats of Baseball.
You don’t hear people speaking about his greatness outside of St. Louis. They don’t talk about his longevity, his hitting, his work ethic and the killer numbers he put up year after year.
Looking closer at America today I think I understand now
Stan the Man Musial was a shining example of hard word, decency, honesty and how to live a life well.
Which explains more than anything else, why he was not and could not be celebrated in the America of 2013. Musial was a walking talking indictment of Modern America just by being himself.
The Greatest Left fielder in the History of baseball, Stan Musial died yesterday at the age of 92.
That many of you might not have heard of him is understandable. He didn’t play in NY or Boston, he didn’t have feuds with the press, he didn’t have headlines with starlets nor was known for carousing. He married in 1940 and stayed married 72 years until his wife death last may.
What he did was play and play hard in a career that started when he was signed in 1938 and ended with his retirement in 1963. He made a good living off of baseball saved his money, went into business and made more of it.
He was voted into the Hall of Fame in the first year he was eligible appearing on 93.2 percent of the ballots proving that at least 6.8% of the HOF voters in 1969 were out of their minds.
I wrote about him last February saying this:
For reasons I still can’t understand Stan Musial somehow doesn’t seem to get the respect among the greats of Baseball.
You don’t hear people speaking about his greatness outside of St. Louis. They don’t talk about his longevity, his hitting, his work ethic and the killer numbers he put up year after year.
Looking closer at America today I think I understand now
Stan the Man Musial was a shining example of hard word, decency, honesty and how to live a life well.
Which explains more than anything else, why he was not and could not be celebrated in the America of 2013. Musial was a walking talking indictment of Modern America just by being himself.
I’m a Cardinals fan, so of course I consider him one of the very great ones and he was long before my time. But, by the numbers, I’d say he was easily in the top five of all times. Maybe a close third behind Cobb and Rose. Rest in peace, Mr. Musial.
I only saw Stan in two games: one at Yankee Stadium in 1960 and the other at the Polo Grounds in 1962. He hit 4 home runs in those 2 games. I wrote up my recollections in this article here:
southerncrossreview [dot] org/73/mellet-musial [dot] html