Stanislaw Franciszek Musial
"The Donora Greyhound"
b November 21, 1920 - Donora, PA d January
19, 2013 -St Louis, MO
Son of Lukasz and Mary
I'm sure you already knew that Stanley Frank Musial was a
great harmonica player
in St. Louis, MO. I won't rattle-on about his musical ability as you have
probably heard
Stan play in one of the St. Louis Joints sometime within the last 60+ years.
However, I will point out that Stanley was a pretty fair
baseball player in
his day. Here are some of the non-musical facts relating to Stanley's
consummate skill on the baseball diamond.
Stan The Man wore #6 for the St. Louis Cardinals for 22 years.
Stan's number 6
was retired by the Cards in 1963. Stan was the first Cardinal to have
his number retired. Red Schoendienst as a 1945 rookie wore Stan's #6 while
Stan was in the Navy and gave the number back to Stan in 1946.
7-time National League Batting Champion-1943, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, & 1957.
3-time baseball's Most Valuable Player-1943, 1946, & 1948.
Played in 24 All Star games. Only Hank Aaron played in
more All Star games(25).
40 All Star total bases. Tied with Willie Mays.
8 All Star extra base hits. Tied with Willie Mays
6 Home Runs as an All Star.
3 pinch hits as an All Star.
The first player to hit 5 home runs in a single day. May
2, 1954 in
St Louis, MO against the New York Giants.
This was also accomplished on August 1, 1954 by Nate Colbert
of the San Diego Padres. Nate was born in St Louis, MO and at age 8
was in Sportsman's park when Stan hit his five!
Played in 3,026 games and had 3,630 hits
May 18, 2008 was "Stan Musial Day" at the ballpark and a pre-game
ceremony was held
to honor Stan on the 50th anniversary of his 3,000 hit which was on May 13,
1958.
In 1958, Stan was only the 8th player to get 3,000 hits. In addition, a
portion of
Eighth Street was renamed "Stan Musial Drive". When you're at
the stadium,
check out "Stan Musial Plaza" located outside of Gate #3 where you'll
find 3,630 bricks,
one for each of his career hits. The bricks are evenly split as Stan had
half of his hits at home and half on the road.
1,951 Runs Batted In and scored 1,949 runs.
Stan was the General Manager of The St. Louis Cardinals in
1967.
Guess what team won the World Series that year?
.331 Career Batting Average with 475 Home Runs.
Led MLB 6 years in slugging percentage.
Led MLB 6 years in total bases.
Elected to The Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
Inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
Player of the decade 1940's at Right field by Sporting News.
Player of the decade 1950's at 1st base.
Named to All Century team in 1999.
Bridge over the Monongahela River in Donora, PA was named
The Stan Musial Bridge in May-2011.
Bridge over Mississippi River in St Louis, MO named
Stan Musial Veterans Memorial in July-2013.
Served in the United States Navy in 1945.
As a 14 year old, Stan was the water boy for the Donora
American Legion team.
He pitched for them one day and they put him on the roster. He was signed
as a pitcher by the cards, however switched to left field in 1941.
Stan's baseball salary in 1938 was $65 per month as he played
class D in West VA;
then class C in Springfield, MO; then class AAA in Rochester, NY.
Three years in the minors on his way to the Major Leagues in 1941.
Joined the Cardinals on September 17, 1941 and only played in 12 games that
year.
Stan signed in 1942 for $350 per month. Stan lived near the ballpark in
1943
and 1944 and walked over to Sportsman's Park as he didn't own a car.
Stan became the first $100,000 baseball player on January 29, 1958
signing a contract with owner, Gussie Busch.
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Hussein
Obama, Jr.
at the White House on February 15, 2011.
Life-size Statue of Stan "The Man" Musial dedicated
at Busch Stadium-St. Louis, MO in 1968.
This statue was sculpted by Washington University fine arts professor Carl Mose.
Five years in the making, Mr. Mose was picked to make the statue by
the 1963 St. Louis Mayor Raymond Tucker.
Inscribed on the base of the statue are the words of former baseball
commissioner Ford Frick,
"Here stands baseball's perfect warrior, Here stands baseball's perfect
knight."
An additional statue honoring Stan was unveiled on April 2,
2005 at the Missouri
Sports Hall of Fame. The life-sized statue was made by Missouri sculptor
Harry Weber
and the statue is based on a 1963 sketch by Amadee Wohlschlaeger,
an artist employed by The Post-Dispatch newspaper at the time.
The sketch shows Musial signing an autograph for a youngster. Springfield,
Missouri
businessman John Q. Hammons provided the $100,000 to pay for the statue
which will reside at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Missouri.