Cardinals mourn loss of Stan Musial

St Louis Cardinals ^ | 1/19/13

[justiceseeker93]

1950s baseball was incredible. I watched Spahn pitch when I was a little kid against players like Mantle, Dusty Rhodes, Musial and Ted Williams.

Yes, baseball was much better for the average fan in the 1950s. Two leagues, eight teams in each, and nowhere near the number of players moving from one team to another or from one league to another as you have today. Much easier for the fan to know all about the players because there were much fewer of them and they generally stayed with their teams for longer periods of time. Also, fans could identify more readily with the players in general because they were 90+% Americans and more accessable to the general public.

Stan Musial was the epitome of that: 23 years with the same team!

But Warren Spahn never pitched to Ted Williams in any game that counted because Spahn was in the National League and Williams in the American. He did face Mantle, but only in two World Series.

[Frank_2001]

“This was a great man. It is so sad how sports has devolved with felons and thugs.”

Agreed. RIP, Stan the Man.

[doug from upland]

I read many baseball biographies when I was a kid. Spahn was a demolition Sgt in WW II. He stepped off a bridge just before it collapsed and killed many comrades. He literally came within seconds or minutes of us never knowing who he was.

[bobby.223]

Or this one, (and I do not recall who the other Cards player it was), Stan and and another player sitting on the bench just before going out and the other player says: “Stan I feel great, great night’s sleep last night, great breakfast at the hotel, great bus ride over her to the park and well damn I feel so great I feel like I’m gonna get three hits out there today....you ever feel that way Stan?” Stan....”Yeah, Every day”!

[chopperman]

I was thinking the same thing, but Spahn might have pitched to Williams in an All Star Game.

[Digger]

If I may for once on this site since 1988 - Stan ways my hero. The only hero that I remember. I was so fortunate to be able to listen to Jack Buck Harry Carry & Joe Carargiola (sp) on the same broadcast. My father had a 59 Oldsmobile & living in central Nebraska the closest station was in St. Joe, Missouri. I would sit in the car & run the battery down because normal radio was too weak. I could hear Carry saying, Here's Musial, and he seemed to always come thru with the hit to win the game. Yes, he & Bob Hope are two individuals that took a part of me away with their passing on. May he rest in peace.

[justiceseeker93]

Spahn might have pitched to Williams in an All Star Game.

I'd say since they were both frequent All Stars and their careers overlapped for many years, there is a very good chance that it happened. But I'm sure that they met up in a number of exhibition games. Remember that both played in the same city - Boston - for a number of years until Spahn and the Braves moved to Milwaukee.

[doug from upland]

Williams was in Korea, serving as John Glenn’s wingman during the 1952 All-Star Game, but returned from war in time to throw out the first ball at the midsummer festival in ’53. Three years later, he hit his fourth and final All-Star homer, a shot off Warren Spahn in a 7-3 AL loss at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Williams was one of four players who homered in the game, a lofty group that included Willie Mays, Stan Musial, and Mantle.

[itssme]

The mention of these names brings back memories of my Mother and her love of baseball. I remember as a young kid in the late 1940s, early 1950s, laying in my bed at night, and being able to hear as my mother sat in the kitchen, which was dark with the exception of the little light on above the kitchen stove, listening to a baseball night game, while waiting for my Dad to come home from his 2nd shift job. She was a White Sox fan, went to the games with my aunt and all of us kids. I was never a real fan of baseball, but through osmosis, I learned all the names of the well known baseball players from all the teams, and never forgot them. RIP Stan Musial, and to the wonderful memories of my Mother and baseball a long time ago.

[AuH2ORepublican]

May he rest in peace. One of the greatest ever to play the game, and a gentleman both on and off the field.

[Pining_4_TX]

Ditto here. My great grandparents, grandparents, and parents were Cardinals fans, and I’m no spring chicken. ;-)

To me, the Cardinals are baseball.

[Biggirl]

From this American of half Polish heritage to a legendary baseball player of Polish heritage, RIP.

[TheGrimReaper]

I was lucky enough to see Stan Musial play in his last season in 1963 at Sportsmans' Park in St. Louis. My dad & I would pile into the car early on a Sat or Sun morning for the 5-hour drive from Western KY to St. Louis to catch (if we were lucky) a double-header.
My dad later met Stan at his restaurant, Stan & Biggies', in St. Louis and got an autographed B&W photo of Stan. My dad still treasures it to this day.

[Marathoner 244]

The only baseball I ever got at a game was thrown up into the stands by Stan during batting practice, it bounced off of the hands of the guy in front of me and I caught it. I was a young boy and it made my day. RIP Stan.

[Starstruck]

Met Musial at a political rally back in the early sixties. I was a teenager and can’t remember what Governor the rally was supporting. I do remember I had my first ever cup of beer.