# Stan Musial, 1920-2013 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 20, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766 "2013-01-20T01:18:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/1 "2013-01-20T01:18:57Z")
[Stan the Man is gone](http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/stan-musial-the-man-dies-st-louis-cardinals-at-92-01913). One of the classiest guys in baseball. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/2 "2013-01-20T01:24:26Z")
Beyond classy, he was never ejected from a game. RIP The Man ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/3 "2013-01-20T01:30:05Z")
My father’s favorite player. 24 All-Star games in 22 seasons, 3 MVP’s, 7 batting titles. 1,815 career hits at home, 1,815 career hits on the road. Between 1942, his first full season, and 1946, he won 3 World Series titles, 2 MVP’s and he served a year in the navy. One of a kind. RIP Stan. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/4 "2013-01-20T01:38:45Z")
Heading downtown now to lay some flowers at his statue. I’ve met him a few times over the years and he is the real deal. St. Louis has lost a piece of itself. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/5 "2013-01-20T01:50:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > My father’s favorite player. 24 All-Star games in 22 seasons, 3 MVP’s, 7 batting titles. 1,815 career hits at home, 1,815 career hits on the road. Between 1942, his first full season, and 1946, he won 3 World Series titles, 2 MVP’s and he served a year in the navy. One of a kind. > RIP Stan. 24 all-star games in 22 seasons? I was not aware of him playing in the era of two All-star games a year. I’ll have to look that up. Also, I’m curious… Did he ever miss a game, but made both all-star games in another year to offset the miss? Of course, if you simply made a typo, and reversed the numbers, that’s cool too. Anyway, I did not know he died until reading this post, so I am a bit sadder now than I was 5 minutes ago. One of the game’s true giants. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/6 "2013-01-20T01:52:23Z")
> [@stink fish pot](#): > > 24 all-star games in 22 seasons? I was not aware of him playing in the era of two all-star games a year. 1959-1962 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/7 "2013-01-20T01:54:40Z")
St. Louis never had a greater player and likely never will if they play baseball there for five hundred years more. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/8 "2013-01-20T02:02:24Z")
My second-most admirable sports star of all time. Quite a Man. And the same day as Earl Weaver–one great known for his frequent ejections, one known for his never getting ejected. Among other things. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/9 "2013-01-20T02:11:10Z")
“Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.” RIP Stan the Man. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/10 "2013-01-20T02:23:55Z")
People outside St. Louis don’t really understand the impact The Man had here, so let me try to explain it this way. The local NPR station, which has no local news on weekends, broke into programming several times this evening to announce his death. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/11 "2013-01-20T02:31:38Z")
Bob once said, "“He didn’t hit a homer in his last at-bat; he hit a single. He didn’t hit in 56 straight games. He married his high school sweetheart and stayed married to her, never married a Marilyn Monroe. He didn’t play with the sheer joy and style that goes alongside Willie Mays’ name. None of those easy things are there to associate with Stan Musial. All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being.” So long, Stan. Thanks for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/12 "2013-01-20T04:07:12Z")
I’m too young to have seen him play but I’ve heard stories from my Grandpa, and growing up a Cardinals fan it was difficult to not know about the legend of The Man. It feels like I’ve lost a family member. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/13 "2013-01-20T04:21:09Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Bob once said… Oops. That should be “Bob Costas”. Typing on a phone sucks. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/14 "2013-01-20T04:23:56Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > My second-most admirable sports star of all time. Quite a Man. > > And the same day as Earl Weaver–one great known for his frequent ejections, one known for his never getting ejected. Among other things. Talk about the Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett syndrome. Never die on the same day as a legend… You’ll hardly get any press. In this case, Weaver = Fawcett ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/15 "2013-01-20T04:25:04Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Oops. That should be “Bob Costas”. Typing on a phone sucks. Hell, any baseball fan knows which Bob you meant. Costas worshipped Musial, and Costas would be the person to so accurately and eloquently explain Musial. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/16 "2013-01-20T05:54:29Z")
Apologies for hijacking The Man’s eulogy here, but if you have 3 minutes spare, [here’s a profanity laced tirade of Earl Weaver getting ejected from a game](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLUuxVX4Z10). Particularly hilarious is when the ump, Bill Haller scoffs at Weaver after claiming that he’d end up in the Hall of Fame - “For what? Fuckin’ up the World Series?” A couple of Weaver stories, from his [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Weaver): Weaver headed to the dugout screaming, “I’m going to check the rule-book on that” to which the umpire replied, “Here, use mine.” Weaver shot back, “That’s no good - I can’t read Braille.” He once told an umpire that he could appear on What’s My Line? wearing his mask, chest protector and ball/strike indicator and still nobody would guess he was an umpire. Of course, I’ll always remember him for his seminal quote - “pitching, defense, and the 3 run homer.” RIP Earl. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/17 "2013-01-20T12:28:25Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Apologies for hijacking The Man’s eulogy here, but if you have 3 minutes spare, [here’s a profanity laced tirade of Earl Weaver getting ejected from a game](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLUuxVX4Z10). Particularly hilarious is when the ump, Bill Haller scoffs at Weaver after claiming that he’d end up in the Hall of Fame - “For what? Fuckin’ up the World Series?” > > A couple of Weaver stories, from his [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Weaver): > Weaver headed to the dugout screaming, “I’m going to check the rule-book on that” to which the umpire replied, “Here, use mine.” Weaver shot back, “That’s no good - I can’t read Braille.” > He once told an umpire that he could appear on What’s My Line? wearing his mask, chest protector and ball/strike indicator and still nobody would guess he was an umpire. > > Of course, I’ll always remember him for his seminal quote - “pitching, defense, and the 3 run homer.” > RIP Earl. Weaver should have his own thread. Musial deserves one by himself. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/18 "2013-01-20T12:29:39Z")
> [@](#): > > It is a very sad day for me," Willie Mays told ESPN’s Willie Weinbaum of Outside The Lines at the Baseball Writers’ Association of America dinner in New York. "I knew Stan very well. He used to take care of me at All-Star games, 24 of them. He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field – I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever. RIP, Stan the Man. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/19 "2013-01-20T14:10:38Z")
Stan the Man - what a class act. RIP, Mr. Musial, and thank you for all you did and for all you were. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766/20 "2013-01-21T06:19:01Z")
The only man ever to make Ken Griffey Jr. second best. If not for Stan, Griffey Jr. would be the best baseball player ever to be born in Donora PA. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stan-musial-1920-2013/647766.md?page=2)