Posted on 01/19/2013 6:01:28 PM PST by bd476
Last year I read a book about Stan Musial called Stan The Man. I do remember as a 10 year old kid seeing the Braves and Cardinals play an old timers game in 1971 and I saw on the cardinals side Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean and I think Ducky Medwick and Frankie Frisch were there as well in addition to old time Braves like Eddie Matthews and Spahn and Sain. From what we know no one had a bad word to say about Stan Musial although I geuss he and Joe Garogiola kind parted ways after a testy business relationship. May he RIP.
I saw him play at Wrigley Field. God bless him. No finer man ever stepped into the batter’s box!
There was a time where Musial got distracted and didn't immediately notice play had resumed. A fly ball was hit to left field and Musial didn't have his glove on. Musial ran the ball down and caught it BARE-HANDED!
Yes, I saw him a number of times at old Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, in the late 50s/early 60s towards the end of his career. I understood I was watching a legend.
His batting stance was different, but a lot of guys then had different kind of stances. One thing my dad always pointed out to me was that he would go to the plate and while he was digging in, he would wipe out the back line of the batters box. When he finally took his stance, his back foot (for him left foot) was mostly outside where the line would have been. That gave him just that extra split second to watch the pitch.
I saw my first major league game in 1950 the Cardinals vs the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Bottom of the 2nd inning Stan led off and hit the first pitch over the screen in right field. I would have been satisfied to leave right then for the 200 mile trip home.
I was there for Stan's last at bat, a single off Jim Maloney.
Wish I'd seen "The Man" in action, or in person.
Envious of the FReepers who did.
Yep, saw him in his last game played at Connie Mack (Phillies), saw a lot of the great NL players like Mays, Koufax, Clemente and Aaron there, wasn't much to see on the Phillies side, I missed Ashburn when he played for the Phillies, I would have been 4 when he left Philadelphia.
Tears running down my cheeks ...
Remember Wes Covington, he would drop his back so far behind his back he looked like he was chopping wood, hehe, maybe he was.
When I visited ST. Loo for the first time in the 1980s, the first thing I did was get to his statue outside the stadium.
RIP.
Bah, bat not back.
I saw him play in an old timers game in 1971.
When I was a kid, I tried to copy his stance.
It didn’t do me any good.
92.
not bad for a guy that endorsed Chesterfield cigarettes and Hamm’s beer!
Saw him hit one out of Al Lopez in Spring Training in Tampa against the Reds. He made it look easy.
Stan the Man, RIP.
.331 is nothing to sneeze at, not close to Ty Cobb’s .357 lifetime average but respectable nonetheless.
One night while gleefully playing his accordion for Polka dancers he remarked:
“Some people consider me a baseball player who also loves to play the accordion. But I’m really an accordion player who just happened to once play baseball”.
He will be missed.
Condolences to family and friends of Stan Musial. Part of American exceptionalism has passed. R.I.P., sir.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=musiast01&t=b&year=1950
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