A

Stan Musial

1920-

American baseball player

The greatest baseball player in one of the greatest baseball towns in the United States, Stan "The Man" Musial spent his entire career twenty-three-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, including sixteen consecutive seasons when he hit .300 or better. Musial was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best hitters of all time, and one of the game's great ambassadors. A retiring country gentleman who transcended humble beginnings but never completely overcame his stuttering, Musial constantly expressed gratitude and love for the game—and he embodied the straightforward, no-frills attitude of America's baseball heartland. Being a player was far more important to Musial than being a celebrity.

The Longshot

Stanislaus Musial was born in 1920 in Donora, Pennsylvania, three years after another Hall of Famer from

an immigrant family in southwestern Pennsylvania, Honus Wagner, retired from active play. The parents of Musial's mother, Mary Lancos, had emigrated from Czechoslovakia. His father, Lukasz Musial, was a Polish immigrant who worked in the shipping department of the mill in Donora. The Musials had four daughters before Stanislaus was born, and later had another son, Ed, who would go on to play baseball in the minor leagues.

Stan Musial took to baseball at an early age, excited by a neighbor who played semipro ball. A natural left-handed hitter and thrower, Musial made an important refinement in his batting skills while playing for the local Donora Zinc Works company team. Their home field had a short left-field fence with a trolley track behind it, and Musial adapted his stroke so he could hit to the opposite field. His ability to hit to all fields made him very difficult to get out.

Musial's adeptness with the bat was overshadowed in his teen years by his powerful throwing arm. He threw very fast, but his pitching was unpolished. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Wagner's team, never showed any interest in Musial, but the St. Louis Cardinals did. The Cardinals' owner, Branch Rickey, had developed a far-flung scouting system. After Musial played basketball for Donora High School over the winter of 1937-38, he left school before graduating after signing a professional contract with St. Louis. The Cardinals assigned him to Williamson, West Virginia, in the Class D Mountain League, the lowest level of the minors. There Musial spent the 1938 and 1939 seasons and did not impress anyone. His strong arm was erratic, and Williamson's manager, Harrison Wickel, reported to the parent organization that he was the wildest pitcher he'd ever seen. The statistics bear out that judgment: in 1939, Musial walked eighty-nine batters (while striking out eighty-five) in ninety-one innings.

Wickel recommended that Musial be released, but luckily for Musial a Williamson outfielder was injured, and he was pressed into service as an everyday hitter. He batted .352, and that saved his career. The next season, the Cardinals moved Musial to Daytona Beach in another Class D league, the Florida State League. For Daytona Beach, he pitched and played outfielder between his pitching starts. During one game, playing center field, Musial tried to make a diving catch and injured his left shoulder. That pretty much ended his pitching career, but his .311 batting average prompted the Cardinals to give him a second chance.

Meteoric Rise

In 1941, Musial turned around his lagging career, rising from the low minors to the major leagues during the course of a single remarkable season. To start the year, the Cardinals promoted him one level to a Class C farm team in Springfield, Missouri. There, in eighty-seven games, he hit twenty-six home runs and batted .379. That earned him a midseason promotion to Rochester, New York, a Class B Cardinals farm club, where he hit.326 in fifty-four games. In September, Musial was called up to the Cardinals and was an immediate sensation, getting six hits in a doubleheader and batting .426 in his twelve-game stint. His standout performance earned him the starting left field job for the 1942 season.

The 1942 Cardinals had a team of young, inexperienced players like Musial. They were a loose, carefree bunch, including many young men with rural backgrounds, all corralled by Rickey's sterling scouting network. "They horsed around more [than older players], cut up with hillbilly songs and musical instruments," recalled Musial in his autobiography, Stan Musial: "The Man's" Own Story. "I never had the courage to try my harmonica outside my hotel room, but I could make my share of noise with the slide whistle and coat hanger. I always thought it helped to laugh it up before a game, not to become too tense." The Cardinals laughed their way through the National League, surprising everyone by winning 106 games, including forty-three of their final fifty-two. In the World Series, the New York Yankees were heavy favorites, but the Cardinals rolled by them in five games, though Musial hit only .222.

Led by Musial's hitting, the Cardinals won the National League pennant again in 1943, and Musial hit.357 to win the first of his seven league batting championships.

He also led the league in slugging percentage (.562), on-base percentage (.425), hits (220), doubles (48), and triples (20), and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the National League. In the World Series, however, the Yankees turned the tables and beat St. Louis. The following year, Musial hit .347 and led the league in on-base and slugging percentages, hits (197), and doubles (51). The Cardinals won their third straight league pennant and lost the World Series to the St. Louis Browns, with Musial hitting .304 in the series.

In 1945 Musial was drafted and joined the Navy but he was saved from combat duty. He served as a mechanic on a ship repair unit at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and played baseball every afternoon to entertain other servicemen and women. The Cardinals missed Musial during the 1945 season and finished in second place.

With World War II over, Musial returned in 1946 and led the Cardinals to yet another pennant. St. Louis had finished first in each of Musial's first four full seasons, but they would never do so again throughout his long career. He again led the league in batting with a .365 average, and also topped the league in slugging, hits (228), runs (124), doubles (50), and triples (20). He was again named the league's MVP. Musial, who was a competent but not spectacular outfielder, was shifted from left field to first base, and played most of his games at his new position. In the World Series, the Cardinals faced the Boston Red Sox, and the matchup featured a showdown between each league's best hitter—Musial and Boston's Ted Williams. Neither slugger hit much in the series (Williams batted .200 and Musial .222) but the Cardinals won the series in seven games. It would be Musial's last appearance in a World Series.

Stan the Man

Musial acquired the nickname "Stan the Man" from Brooklyn Dodgers fans who would groan when he came up to bat with runners on base, yelling: "Oh no! Here comes that man again." Because he concentrated so much and was such an apt learner, "Stan the Man" was very difficult for pitchers to figure out. He rarely was fooled on a pitch. "If I freed my mind of all distracting thoughts, I could tell what a pitch was going to be when it got about halfway to the plate," Musial wrote in his autobiography. He told the Sporting News: "I had a sixth sense. I don't know what else you call it, but it never deceived me." Musial feasted on fastballs, and always seemed to know when one was coming. But early in his career pitchers started throwing him breaking pitches, and he learned how to hit them too.

Musial didn't look like a fence-busting hitter. He dug his left foot into the back line of the batter's box and crouched down in a drastically closed stance. He held his bat back until the last possible moment, then unwound like a corkscrew and quickly slashed at the ball with the thin-handled, lightweight bats he preferred to use (he would scrape the bats to make the handles even thinner). He punched many of his hits to the opposite field, but he was impossible to defense. He might deliver a blooping single to any field, a screaming line drive down either foul line or up the gap for a double or triple, or a wicked liner at an infielder—and most opposing infielders quivered when he came to bat. He was a very tough man to strike out; he never had more than forty strikeouts in a season and for his career averaged one strikeout for every 158 at-bats. Although he was not primarily a power hitter, he ended up with 475 career home runs because his prodigious line drives often cleared the fences. He feasted on all types of pitching and always relaxed mentally and physically before entering the batter's box. Disciplined and consistent, Musial rarely fell into slumps and was reliably productive.

In 1947, Musial "slipped" to a .312 average—mostly because he suffered from appendicitis and put off surgery until the season's end—and spent the entire year playing first base. It was the only time during his first twelve full seasons that he failed to lead the league in any offensive category. In 1948, Musial switched back to left field and had his best season. He led the league with 230 hits, forty-six doubles, eighteen triples, 135 runs, 131 runs batted in, a .376 batting average, .450 on-base percentage, and .702 slugging percentage. These were all his career best marks except for the doubles and triples. It was one of the most dominating seasons in baseball history, and it included thirty-nine home runs—one short of league leader Johnny Mize. Musial had a home run taken away from him when one of his blasts hit a speaker at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, bounced back on the field, and was ruled a double. Another home run came in a game that was rained out before completion, so it also did not count. In recognition of his achievements, Musial was named the league's MVP for the third time.

Baseball Ambassador

In 1949, Musial opened his own restaurant in St. Louis. In a few years he had become one of the city's most prominent figures, and he would remain an outstanding citizen long after his playing career ended. Generally quiet, as a player he avoided controversy and stayed out of the public eye. He never was thrown out of a game. But when the Cardinals tried to take advantage of his easygoing nature to keep down his salary, he fought back by staging several holdouts during spring training. In those days, with players bound by the reserve clause which tied them to teams for life, it was the only weapon players had to leverage their salaries.

In the era after World War II, many "franchise" players stayed with teams for their entire careers. Many of these stalwarts played away from the media spotlight, in the working class towns of middle America. Besides Musial, they included Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers, Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs, and Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates. None of these steady performers achieved the status of nationally known superstars. If Musial had played in New York, he would have been known widely as the greatest hitter of his generation. As it was, he was content to let his play speak for itself.

And his numbers speak volumes. Besides his seven batting titles, Musial led the National League in slugging percentage six times, in on-base percentage six times, in hits six times, in doubles eight times, in triples five times, in runs five times, in RBIs twice, and in walks once. For sixteen consecutive seasons, from 1942 through 1958, he batted over .300 (not including his short stint in 1941)—only Ty Cobb had a longer streak of.300 batting averages.

After failing to hit .300 in 1959, Musial considered retiring. The Cardinals had a new young first baseman, Bill White. But Musial's bat was still potent. "I was having too much fun hitting to want to quit," Musial recalled in his autobiography. Instead, he switched back to left field and played four more seasons, though sitting out frequently because of age and injuries. At age 41, in 1962, he hit .330 with nineteen home runs and eighty-two RBIs. Following the 1963 season, he hung up his spikes after twenty-two years with St. Louis. On the last day of the season, he was honored in pre-game ceremonies and gave a speech, then had two hits in the game.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson named Musial the director of the National Council on Physical Fitness. In 1967, Musial served one season as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. With his friend Red Schoendienst as manager, the Cardinals won the National League championship and beat the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

In 1969, Musial was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Like Williams, Musial was a consummate hitter who lacked the speed and defensive abilities to be considered as one of the greatest all-round players in baseball history. But it could be argued that Musial was a more accomplished pure hitter than Williams, who is usually considered the game's best hitter. In almost every offensive category, Musial has much higher all-time totals than Williams. Musial is fourth all-time in career hits with 3,630, eighth in runs scored with 1,949 (Williams had 1,798), third in doubles with 725, fifth in RBIs (1,951), second in total bases (6,134), second in extra-base hits (1,377), sixth in games played (3,026), ninth in at-bats (10,972), and 11th in walks (1,599). Musial is tied for 19th in triples with 177, but he is first in triples among players who played after World War II. And since Musial stopped playing, only Tony Gwynn retired with a higher career batting average than Musial's .331.

After his retirement from playing, Musial became one of baseball's greatest ambassadors. He appeared frequently at the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and at other important baseball events. When Busch Stadium opened, local baseball writers held a testimonial dinner for Musial and raised $40,000 to erect a statue of him outside the ballpark. The statue says: "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight."

Musial continued to express gratitude for his long career. "I was a poor boy who struck it rich in many ways through the wonders of baseball," he said in his autobiography. "I believe baseball was a great game, is a great game, and will be a great game."

SELECTED WRITINGS BY MUSIAL:

(With Bob Broeg) Stan Musial: "The Man's" Own Story, as told to Bob Broeg, Doubleday, 1964.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

The Baseball Encyclopedia. New York: Macmillan, 1997.

Broeg, Bob, and Stan Musial. Stan Musial: "The Man's" Own Story, as told to Bob Broeg. New York: Doubleday, 1964.

Thorn, John and Pete Palmer. Total Baseball. New York: Warner Books, 1989.

Periodicals

American Heritage (October 1992).

Boys'Life (August 1999).

"Living Legends." Sports Illustrated. July 30, 2001.

"The Naturals: Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn." Sporting News (July 28, 1997).

"Stan Musial: 1948: a season worth another look." Baseball Research Journal (2001): 99.

Other

baseball-reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com (November 7, 2002).

"Musial was gentleman killer." ESPN classic. http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Musial_Stan.html. (November 7, 2002).

"Stan Musial." baseball library.com. http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/Musial_Stan.stm. (November 7, 2002).

"Stan Musial." The Baseball Page.com. http://www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/musialstan/default.htm. (November 7, 2002).

Sketch by Michael Betzold