The entire St. Louis Cardinals family is deeply saddened by the passing of Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial at the age of 92. Musial, who played his entire 22-year major league career (1941-63) for the Cardinals, died this evening at his home in Ladue surrounded by his family.
“We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family,” said William DeWitt Jr., Chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals. “Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball.” “The entire Cardinals organization extends its sincere condolences to Stan’s family, including his children Richard, Gerry, Janet and Jean, as well as his eleven grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren,” DeWitt said. “We join fans everywhere in mourning the loss of our dear friend and reflect on how fortunate we all are to have known ‘Stan the Man’.”
Musial was the first player in Cardinals history to have his uniform number retired, and he was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 1969, being named on 93 percent of the ballots. At his retirement ceremony at the end of the 1963 season, Musial was referred to as “baseball’s perfect warrior, baseball’s perfect knight” by Commissioner Ford C. Frick. Frick’s words are inscribed at the base of a bronze statue of Musial that stands outside Busch Stadium. The now iconic statute, which sits on Musial Plaza along Stan Musial Drive, serves as a popular, almost hallowed, gathering spot for generations of Cardinals fans.
Repoz
Posted: January 19, 2013 at 08:55 PM |
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The greatest living (retired) Cardinal is now Bob Gibson.
Also virtually the end of an era. Bobby Doerr is now the only prominent player from the '30s and early '40s still alive; Ralph Kiner, Yogi Berra, and Andy Pafko are the biggest living stars of the '40s. A reminder of the relentless march of generations. I saw Musial play once in an Old-Timers Game; conversely, Ty Cobb died when I was two years old. Mortality …
Indeed. R.I.P., Stan Musial.
Godspeed, Donora Greyhound.
You're right – I can still do that too. "Like a kid peeking around a door"; you sort of rest your chin on your right shoulder. And who knows why I used to try to do that. Musial retired when I was four years old, I only knew his stance from still photos and that one OT game, and I was right-handed anyway.
RIP, The Man.
Eh, it still ticks me off. Probably wouldn't have bothered Stan. But it irked me then when I was a much younger guy (a teenager!) and irks me a bit still.
Barking up the same tree, because of Stan Musial, Ken Griffey Jr. was only the second best left handed outfielder born on November 21st in Donora, PA.
RIP Stan
Seriously, may he rest in peace. But as Cooper notes, he lived a long time, was among the best to ever play his sport and perhaps was the most universally loved and respected among the inner circle types. It sucks that he's gone, but that's one hell of a legacy he left behind.
Cardinals fans of the era used to root for this gentleman to win the NL batting title every year when that was far bigger a goal than today. Stan's finishes, 1st 18 years
3rd
1st
2nd
WAR (not the stat, the scary one)
1st
5th
1st
2nd
1st
1st
1st
3rd
4th
3rd
4th
1st
3rd
Started before integration, and soon competed with Banks, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, FRobinson, etc. He held up rather well, once given the privilege to actually play against his peers.
Seriously?
Is this a reference to the long debunked story about Curt Flood and Musial's restaurant?
EDIT: Also, Musial refused to go along with a boycott against playing the Dodgers proposed by several Cardinals when Jackie Robinson broke in. While he wasn't vocally advocating for Robinson, neither did he make an effort--as many did--to prevent him from playing.
I was just talking to a friend and Stan Musial Society member, and we were imagining a Cardinals-Yankees Spring training game circa 1954, which likely would have had three still-living keystone combo members (Schoendienst, Solly Hemus and Jerry Coleman) and a fourth (Phil Rizzuto) who lived to 89.
Indeed:
And as for the Musial vs. Williams as the Greatest Left Fielder Ever, James concluded: "I'd take Musial in left field, Musial on the basepaths, Musial in the clubhouse and Williams only with the wood in his hand. And Stan Musial could hit a little, too."
Detwhiler=Danny Litwhiler. Senior moment.
Sorry. totally missed that. Forgot about the whole Murray Chass "MR.PRESIDENT" thing. Sarcasm filter not in fine form right now.
It's interesting that the stats by the Stan Musials and Monte Irvins may validate both the superstar MLB stats of just before 1947, as well as the Negro League stats from the same period.
Far many others players involved, of course, too - just 2 examples. An intersection of greatness, in spite of cultural inanity.
Janis Joplin was born 70 years old today (1/19/1943). On the day she was born, Stan Musial was already a star major leaguer. Stan Musial made his big league debut before most Americans had ever heard of Pearl Harbor, long-playing records or Harry S. Truman. Rodgers and Hammerstein had yet to collaborate when Stan debuted. Ditto Lerner & Loewe, Martin & Lewis or Les Paul & Mary Ford. Stan was a star when all nine of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.'s children were still alive. Stan played World Series games at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park before either of those venues had lights. Stan was Catholic, and retired from MLB while Masses were still conducted in Latin. When Stan entered the major leagues in September 1941, the Hall of Fame had exactly 26 members, 11 of whom were living.
certainly something in the water supply of Donora Pa (pop =5,653)
BTW, I have never heard any "debunking" of the Flood/Musial story, and it was told as praise of Stan, anyway. The reference is to Flood's first autobiography, "The Way It Is." When Flood came up to the Cardinals, one of the most famous restaurants in town was "Musial and Biggie's." Back in the minors, when all he knew was that he was not going to make the majors as a pitcher, but might as a hitter, Stan got hooked up with an Italian chef nicknamed "Biggie" and the two set up the restaurant when Stan did get established in STL. "Stan's Homers and Biggie's Steaks" was the motto. Pretty decent steakhouse, when I went there. Well, Flood and a date went to the restaurant one day and were turned away because they were black. Curt mentioned it to Stan the next day, and by the end of that day, Musial had been on the phone, and Musial and Biggie's was open to everyone. Flood, Gibson and Bill White all make it clear in their bios that Musial was the opposite of a racist. The story that, if I remember right, all three tell, is of going to spring training one year, only to find out that the hotel the Cards used didn't allow blacks. Gussie Busch, apparently also not a racist, talked a friend of his into buying another hotel in the town so that the whole team could stay together. Musial and Ken Boyer, the two big stars on the team at the time, were paid enough to have private cabanas on the beach, but gave them up and stayed at the hotel as a show of solidarity with their black teammates. There's nothing to debunk. The stories make Stan out to be willing to actually do something to oppose racism, not just sit there and watch integration happen. In other words, Stan was the same person in private that he was in public.
I have a friend named Jim who works in parking garages as a valet parker. One day, he got Stan's car for him. Jim's not a baseball fan, but knows I am, so he asked Stan if he could have an autograph to give me. Stan whipped out TWO pictures of himself, and autographed one for me and another for Jim. That's what I will remember.
- Brock Hanke
Reminds me of Jim Henson & Sammy Davis Jr dying on the same day. I'm sure there are other pairs, but that's the one I remember.
The Man was just about as exquisite a baseball player as can be imagined. May he rest in peace.
That's what I told my wife today after I heard about Weaver and Musial ... every old-geezer HOFer should be hammering out that last will and testament just about now.
Born before there was such a thing as a baseball commissioner.
He lived under 17 different presidential administrations.
The first Bears-Packers game took place six days after his birth.
George Gipp was alive when Musial was born. Ditto Enrico Caruso, John Butler Yeats, Alexander Graham Bell, Marcel Proust, Gustave Eiffel (yeah, the Tower guy), Joseph Conrad, William Jennings Bryan, Harry Houdini, Eugene V. Debs, and Wyatt Earp,
Just a month younger than Montgomery Clift. Howard Unruh, who spent 60 years in prison after killing 13 people in 1949, is younger than Musial. Ditto Sugar Ray Robinson, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Deborah Kerr, Prague Spring head Alexander Dubcek, Harold Washington, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Bob Dole, Hank Williams Sr., 1970s president Jimmy Carter, filmmaker Ed Wood, Rod Serling, Bloody Sam Peckinpaugh, Flannery O'Connor, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Sellers, RFK, Marilyn Monroe, John Coltrane, and all the Golden Girls.
Folks, he's older than Abe Vigoda.
I actually think I'm recalling the version of the story as related, third-hand, in the infamous Chass blog post:
"As a person, however, he left much to be desired. Marvin Miller raised the issue in a recent conversation and provided the evidence to make his case. It is a convincing one.
...“Curt Flood organized this group of African-American players,” Miller related, “He got together a group that had known Musial as a teammate and they thought it was appropriate that they should go. As he said to me, ‘We didn’t always dress up but that night we did. We wore freshly pressed pants, shirts, ties, jackets and off we went to help celebrate with our former teammate.
“When we got to the restaurant, the maitre d’ refused to seat us,” Flood told Miller.
“He said they wanted to know why that was,” Miller continued, “and the maître d’ finally pointed around the restaurant and said, ‘Do you see any black faces here?’ Flood said he asked ‘Is this your idea?’ No, he said. The owner had given him instructions. They left.”
The owner in the story, of course, is supposed to have been Musial. This was the story I was referring to that had been debunked.
Only got to see Musial play twice in Washington, in the 1956 and 1962 All-Star games. In the 1956 game there were 4 home runs, 1 each by Mays, Williams, Mantle and Musial. In 1962 I got an autograph from him at the hotel while he was eating lunch the day before the game. I can't believe I ever did that, but he smiled and signed and couldn't have been nicer. And then in the game itself, he pinch hit in the middle innings, lined a single to right, was taken out for a pinch runner, and got the biggest ovation of the afternoon. Turned out to be his last All-Star game hit ever. I saw Mantle and Williams play many times, but I sure as hell wish that Washington had been a two league city.
God--I remember that so well, except I saw it on television, not in poison, like you did Andy
Luv it.
The "owner" mentioned in #58 would have been Biggie. Stan wasn't a chef; he didn't run a restaurant. It was his name and Biggie's food. Curt talked to Stan (Stan was NOT retired and was NOT in the party that got turned away, at least not in Flood's version, which is the primary source), Stan called Biggie, and there was no more racism in Musial and Biggie's. That's the story. Flood actually puts it into a context of explaining that, even as late as when Flood entered the majors, St. Louis still had a lot of Jim Crow left in it, which is true. The points that Curt was trying to make were 1) Musial was the opposite of a racist, and 2) STL was so Jim Crow a town that no black person had ever bothered to create any ruckus when turned away from Musial and Biggie's until Flood, who had some leverage, did. Stan responded immediately. Either Miller or Chass misinterpreted the story. I don't know who, but somewhere between Flood and Chass, the story got turned completely around. Given what I hear about Chass....
Alex (#57) - Thanks. I've never heard that one before, and today, I needed a "Stan Musial was great" story that I didn't already know. - Brock Hanke
The great writer C.S. Lewis died the day JFK was assassinated. Obviously, he didn't get the headlines he might have otherwise.
Even after losing Musial, Marion, Dom DiMaggio and Pesky in the last few years, we still have Schoendienst, Garagiola, Doerr and Ferriss as survivors from the '46 Series.
One reason I was pleased Pujols went elsewhere was so Musial's records would remain at the top of the team's lists.
Reading this thread, I hope the 3rd rhymes with Curry Mass.
saw stan musial play several times. it was a privilege
I'm a few years too young to have seen him play, but poring over his numbers on BB-Ref I was blown away by what a hell of a ballplayer he was, and reading this thread has reminded me of what a good man he seems to have been. RIP.
*Murray Chass excepted.
EDIT: It turns out that Bill Walsh died the same day, July 30, 2007. Another Hall of Famer, though a totally different Hall from Antonini and Bergman.
The Carl Erskine quote in #27 is one of the all-time greats.
This.
More, more! I'm pretty neutral on the subject of the Cards, but they were very much a part of the baseball air that I breathed for most of my life from growing up in Arkansas, thanks not only to their near-omnipresence on the radio (I still remember, at age 10 or so, circa 1970, marveling at hearing the announcer -- Jack Buck, most likely -- pronounce the 2B's name as Hoo-lee-un Hah-vee-air, since common sense made me think of him as Jewel-yun Jay-vyur) but also to the fact that the Travelers in Little Rock were St. Louis' AA team till I was past 40.
Of course, Stan Javier (born in 1964) was named in honor of Musial.
They've had some nice documentaries and other videos going last night on the local stations in town, and it's been fun watching the footage.
I hope you're having fun hitting triples again wherever you are Stan.
I always enjoyed Bob Prince's line: "It's ridiculous that we are gathered here tonight to honor a man who made more than 7,000 outs."
RIP
I can remember hearing Harry Caray (as the Cardinals announcer) prounounce it as "Jewel-yun Javer" on more than one occasion. Thanks to growing up the son and grandson of Cardinals fans I got to see Musial play several times, towards the end of his career. I have a memory of Stan hitting a homer in Sportsman's Park to beat the Pirates (I think), about 1960 or 1961. Stan Musial embodies all that is good about sports, and life in general. He will be missed. RIP Stan.
Jack Buck was somewhere near to fluent in Spanish, and tended to get names right that other announcers (especially Harry Caray) could not do. I'm not close to fluent any more, but Spanish is a VERY logical language, and absolutely rigid regarding the pronunciation of individual letters (regional dialects aside). "a" is always - and I mean ALWAYS - pronounced like the "a" in "father." "e" is pronounced like the "a" in "mate." "i" is pronounced like the "ee" in "feed." "o" is pronounced like the "o" in "slow." "u" is pronounced like the "u" in "mute." "y" is pronounced just like "i" is. The consonants also only have one pronunciation, again excepting regional dialects (in much of Spain itself, "d" is pronounced like we would pronounce "th"). As it happens, "j" is pronounced like the "h" in "hat."
So, it's "WHO lee ahn" "hah vee AIR", where capitalization means that this is the syllable you emphasize. Actually, "julian" should have an accent mark on the "an" at the end. In Spanish, you emphasize the last syllable if the word ends with anything EXCEPT a vowel, "n" or "s". So, it should be "ja vi ER", which it is. If the word does end with a vowel, "n" or "s" then the emphasis goes on the second-to-last syllable, so it should be "who LEE an". But you've all seen those little accent marks on Spanish words. Those are there when the word has an off-rule emphasis. "julian" should, and probably did, centuries ago, have an accent mark over the "a" at the end, to emphasize that it's "who lee AHN" or "WHO lee ahn", but not "who LEE ahn." The accent mark, BTW, goes on the vowel of the syllable to emphasize, never on the consonant.
One more thing about Spanish - there's another mark, like a wavy line, that you will sometimes see, usually over an "n." It's called a "tilde", which is pronounced "TEEL day."That means to add a "yuh" sound at the end of the letter. So, the word "ano", which means "year", has one of those tildes on top of the "n" (I don't know how to get that to print here on the site). The word is pronounced "AHN yoh." Note that the emphasis is on the second-to-last syllable, because the word ends with a vowel.
And finally, there is the override rule for names. If you ask a player with a Spanish name how to pronounce it, and he gives you a pronunciation that doesn't fit the rules above, use his. It is, after all, his family name, and has probably been Anglicized by his family living in the U. S. for some time. I got to work with the actress Morena Baccarin (Firefly), whose name is obviously Spanish. Not wanting to mispronounce her name all day, I asked whether it was "bah car EEN" or "bah CAR een." She laughed and said it's "BACK are in." Her family has been in Southern California for some time. - Brock
U of Miami coaching legend Ron Fraser died today, per Wikipedia.
Having not even had high school Spanish, that's the part that throws me. I want to say "HAH vee air."
The Mets announcers always called him "WHO lee ahn HAH vee air."
Just like everyone except pedantic Jon Miller calls him Carlos BEL-trahn.
Miller calls him Carlos bel-TRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHN, as if showing off. lame.
Edmundo - Very interesting. Thank you. Don't tell Firefly fans, or Joss Whedon fans in general, that you don't know who she is. They think she's God. She was just giving me the short version. Rio, being in Brazil, has Portuguese as it's "official" language, but Portuguese is so close to Spanish that, back when I was close to fluent in Spanish, I could follow Portuguese (I was able to follow the Brazilian classic movie Black Orpheus, without subtitles.) Italian isn't a whole lot further away. I will admit to a little embarrassment at taking her Portuguese (or Italian) name as being "obviously" Spanish. Part of it was that "morena" is a word in Spanish - it means "brunette," if I remember right. Probably means the same thing in Portuguese and Italian.
The Met announcers aren't really doing much violence. They're taking a three-syllable word whose emphasis should be on the last syllable, and moving it to the first. That's not a big deal. Moving it to the second syllable would be wrong. That's what Caray could never remember. - Brock
For the died on the same day list: JFK, CS Lewis, and Aldous Huxley.
Impressive command of languages. Me, I took Intermediate French (having taken the equivalent of Elementary in high school) & Elementary Spanish the same semester(s?) in college. Made A's, but it didn't do much for my comprehension of either later on. And the fact that my gf/first wife was a Spanish major (for no apparent reason) proved that osmosis doesn't work.
Also, the ability to see that Spanish, Italian and Portuguese are very very close to each other is SO obvious and thoroughgoing that there's no "command of languages" involved. All you need is any one of the three, and they are all VERY logical with few rules, but rules that they do follow all the time. Now, realizing that French, too, is a "Romance" Language", THAT would take a command of languages. - Brock
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