Quite simply they called him "The Man"

by akaitori on May 18, 2008 11:26 PM EDT

For those of us fortunate enough to have seen Musial in action, I thought it might be interesting to post memories to commemorate his day. In no particular order ten that come to me:

1. Watching him wind into that incredible corkscrew stance and sense the crowd’s anticipation as he uncoiled with amazing speed and deftness.

2. Sitting in the cheap seats (right filed pavilion) and watching Musial tattoo line drive after line drive off the screen. Often they’d land on the pavilion roof.

3. Remembering the city of St. Louis collectively rising and threatening to lynch Frank (Trader) Lane when the latter offered to swap Musial even up for Robin Roberts.

4. Wishing my family had enough money to just once take me to his restaurant.

5. LOL with his advice to rookie Curt Flood. On how to hit: Wait for a strike and then knock the shit out of it.

6. The grace and dignity with which he conducted himself – particularly in contrast to the taciturn sullenness that marked rival Ted Williams.

7. Actually catching a foul ball he hit on his next to last game.

8. Watching him depart with two hits in his last game.

9/10 Counts double – having the chance to interview him many years after his retirement, and having lunch sitting between Musial and Ozzie Smith. For a Cards fan that’s an operational definition of sublime.

Tweet Comment 4 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I only saw The Man...

at the tail end of his career; but I still have the baseball and B&W “glossy” photo he signed for me at the restaurant!

Watching the World Series DVDs from the ‘40s, one gets a couple of glimpses of The Man zipping around the bases… not only could Musial really run, he “cut off” the base paths as well or better than anybody I’ve seen! There was no “bowing out” to tag the base as he went by; Musial ran with his head pointed towards the pitcher’s mound, and used each base to change direction at top speed! The Man stayed in a straight line between bases… incredible!

"In this game, don't nobody know nuthin' about nuthin'." -- attributed to Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra

by The Ol Goaler on May 19, 2008 12:38 PM EDT reply actions

I lost my B&W glossy

from Stan & Biggie’s…

My family and I went there when I was 11, and Stan himself walked up to our booth and said “Give me five, young man!”

Being either awe-struck or extremely polite, I held out my hand for a handshake and he got quite the chuckle out of it.

That’s the only time I ever met Stan, but he was incredibly warm and gracious. Made me proud to be a fan of the Cardinals. Still does.

I’m looking forward to the Stan Musial celebration at next year’s All-Star Game.

"The only thing you know about pitching is that you can't hit it." Bob Gibson to Tim McCarver

by player2bnamedl8r on May 19, 2008 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't rag too much on Williams for "sullenness" --

he had to deal with a VASTLY more hostile media situation. Yes, he was grouchier by nature than Stan the Man, but Mother Teresa would have been swearing under her breath dealing with the East Coast media of the time.

I lived too far from St. Louis to have first-hand Musial experiences, but I do remember Musial playing, albeit only toward the end of his career, and possibly my first baseball memory is of sitting in my aunt and uncle’s living room watching the Cubs-Cards game on TV when he got his 3000th hit. I loved my aunt and uncle dearly, but they were Cubs fans …

Blessings on ye, Stan, and thanks for being who you are.

by StanTheManFan on May 19, 2008 10:48 PM EDT reply actions

I became a

Cardinal fan in 1946, when they won the WS, beating Boston. I was 11 years old and it was the first time I became aware that there were greater baseball players in the world than my own hometown heros. It was a shock to find out that there were many greater than my older brother and that big cities actually paid players to play for their teams.
There were no radio or TV broadcast of MLB nationally at the time (except WS) and I never saw Musial play until 1950 on TV. Mutual radio started broadcasting Game of the day in 1949 and I would miss school if I could when Brooklyn and Cards played. I only saw Musial play 2 exibition games in person, but the old Movietone news played highlights of all major league every day at the theater and Musial, Williams and Di Maggio always made the highlights. I loved Musial and would fight anyone who said Williams or Di Maggio were better….oh well, such is the life of a kid.

by ridgesee on May 20, 2008 10:14 AM EDT reply actions