Stan Musial
Dear Stanley and Earl,
Yesterday, January 19, 2013, you each caught the same flight to Hall of Fame Heaven.
We shall miss both of you, but we shall also thank the both of you forever!
Rest in Peace to the two newest stars in the night skies of our fondest baseball dreams!
Affectionately,
The Baseball Fans of the World
Earl Weaver
Tags: Earl Weaver, Stan Musial
The Pecan Park Eagle 
January 20, 2013 at 3:20 pm |
It is indeed a sad day. The two almost became teammates when Earl was placed on the Cardinals’ spring training roster in 1952. But as a second baseman with Red Schoendienst and Eddie Stanky in front of him, there was no way Weaver was going to make the cut.
January 20, 2013 at 4:01 pm |
One of the most impressive things about Stan Musial was not only his ability on the field,and his relationship with teammates and other players but also his character when he was out of uniform and off the field – what a man for all seasons!
January 20, 2013 at 4:49 pm |
Some of us had the pleasure (and honor) to watch Stan the Man play against the Colts in 1962 and 1963. In fact, my friend Andy Lopez and I were in Colt Stadium for Musial’s final game in Houston in 1963. The team honored him, and Stan joked that he might think about coming out of retirement just for a chance to play inside that domed stadium that was being built next door. After the game, Andy and I and a lot of other boys hung outside the visitors clubhouse (which was situated amidst the concession stands down the first base line). Sure enough, Musial came out, and there were a lot of grownups with him, and they were trying to hurry Stan to a meeting with some other grownups in the Long Branch Saloon (or whatever it was called). Stan being Stan, he graciously signed autographs for us kids as he walked, and not in a hurried or grumpy way either. He genuinely seemed to appreciate our wanting to be near him. When we got to the saloon, Stan stopped on the front porch rather than go in, and turned and signed even more autographs. There was a horse trough out front (seriously), and with water in it no less, but Andy and I jumped on it and stood with a foot on either side of the top, risking a fall in the water just for a chance to get his autograph. Andy got lucky and made it – Stan signed something for him. I was next. Just then, some grownup put his hand on Musial’s shoulder and said, “We really have to go in, Mr. Musial, they’re waiting.” Musial said, “I’m really sorry boys,” and he turned and went in. I didn’t get my autograph. But even as a disappointed 12-year old, I understood that Stan had done his best to accommodate us fans, and I felt no ill will toward him at all. In fact, I respected him all the more. Jump ahead many years, and I started dating my future wife in Memphis, and I found out that her father was a lifelong Cardinals fan, and that Stan was his favorite player of all time. I was able to tell him my story, and how I knew firsthand that Stan Musial was a good man, and that story made him very happy.
January 20, 2013 at 8:54 pm |
My dad and I were at Sportsmans Park one day in mid-September 1941 when the Cardinals brought up a rookie sore armed pitcher turned outfielder name of Musial. Dizzy Dean on KWK called him Moosil. First time up Braves (Boston pitcher Jim Tobin threw the first knuckle ball the kid had ever seen and he popped it up. Second at bat another knuckler and Stan lined it off the right field pavilion screen for a double. So we got to see the first of his 3,630 hits. A few days later we knew what kind of right stuff he was made up in his first at bat in Ebbetts Field against the hated Dodgers (Brooklyn) when Kirby Higbe fired a first pitch fastball at his head and Stan got up and lined the next pitch into the gap for a triple. Long time NL umpire Jocko Conlin in his book “Jocko” says he took his whisk broom and went around to the front of the plate and said to Dodger catcher Mickey Owen “Well Mickey, you really scared hell out of the kid.” We know there is baseball in heaven and Stan is up there hitting more line drives…Stan at the Pearly Gates: “Is this Sportsmans Park?” St. Peter:”No it’s Heaven”.
January 21, 2013 at 5:58 pm |
Bill: Stan the Man was a great player and he will be long remembered in St. Louis. I got to see him play his last game in Cincinnati in September 1963. The Reds presented him with a rocking chair. Pete Rose was a rookie second baseman in that game.