Stan Musial
Stanley Frank Musial, nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American professional baseball player. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent hitters in baseball history, Musial spent 22 seasons as an outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1963. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 in his first year of eligibility.
Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, where he played on the baseball team at Donora High School. Signed to a professional contract by the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher in 1938, Musial was converted into an outfielder and made his major league debut in 1941. Noted for his unique batting stance, he quickly established himself as a consistent and productive hitter. In his first full season, 1942, the Cardinals won the World Series. The following year, Musial led the NL in six different offensive categories and earned his first MVP award. He was also named to the NL All-Star squad for the first time; he appeared in every All-Star game in every subsequent season he played. Musial won his second World Series championship in 1944, then missed the 1945 season while serving in the Navy. After completing his military service, Musial returned to baseball in 1946 and resumed his consistent hitting. That year, he earned his second MVP award and his third World Series title. His third MVP award came in 1948, when he finished one home run short of winning baseball's Triple Crown.
Over the next decade, Musial won four more batting crowns, and variously led the NL multiple times in runs, doubles, slugging percentage, total bases, and games played, as well as posting seasonal leads in hits, triples, RBIs, and walks. He batted well over.300 every single year, and was fearsome enough at the plate to lead the NL in intentional walks in five of the 10 seasons through 1958. After struggling offensively in 1959, Musial used a personal trainer to help maintain his productivity until he retired in 1963.
Over the course of his career, Musial batted.331 and set National League records for career hits , runs batted in, games played, at bats, runs scored and doubles. His 475 career home runs then ranked second in NL history, behind only Mel Ott's total of 511. A seven-time batting champion, he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player three times and was a member of three World Series championship teams. At the time of his retirement, he held or shared 17 major league records and 29 National League records. He also shares the major league record for the most All-Star Games played with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.
In addition to overseeing personal businesses during and after his playing career, Musial served as the Cardinals' general manager in 1967. The team won the pennant and the 1967 World Series, and Musial then resigned his position. Musial was selected for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. In February 2011, President Barack Obama presented Musial with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award that can be bestowed on a person by the United States government.
Early life
Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, as Stanislaw Franciszek Musial on November 21, 1920. He was the fifth of the six children of Lukasz Musial and Maria "Mary" Lancos. His mother was a Czech American born in New York City. His father was a Polish immigrant from Przemyśl who always referred to his son by the Polish nickname Stasiu, pronounced "Stashu". Young Stan frequently played baseball with his brother Ed and other friends during his childhood, and considered Lefty Grove his favorite ballplayer. Musial also learned about baseball from his neighbor Joe Barbao, a former minor league pitcher. When he enrolled in school, his name was formally changed to Stanley Frank Musial.At age 15, Musial joined the Donora Zincs, a semi-professional team managed by Barbao. In his Zincs debut, he pitched six innings and struck out 13 batters, all of them adults. He played one season on the newly revived Donora High School baseball team, where one of his teammates was Buddy Griffey, father of MLB player Ken Griffey Sr. and grandfather of Ken Griffey Jr. His exploits as a rising player in Pennsylvania earned him the nickname "The Donora Greyhound".
Musial also played basketball and was offered an athletic scholarship to play it at the University of Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals had scouted Musial as a pitcher and offered him a professional contract after a 1937 workout with their Class D Penn State League affiliate. Musial's father initially resisted the idea of his son pursuing a baseball career, but he reluctantly gave consent after lobbying by his son and his wife. Musial also credited his school librarian Helen Kloz for pointing out that baseball was his dream and advising him to pursue it professionally. In what was then a common practice, the Cardinals did not file the contract with the baseball commissioner's office until June 1938. This preserved Musial's amateur eligibility, and he was still able to participate in high school sports, leading Donora High School's basketball team to a playoff appearance. He then reported to the Cardinals' Class D affiliate in West Virginia, the Williamson Red Birds.
Professional career
Minor leagues
Musial's rookie year with Williamson in 1938 was a period of adjustment both on and off the field. He began gaining more in-depth knowledge about baseball strategy while posting a 6–6 win–loss record and a 4.66 earned run average, to go along with a.258 batting average. Off the field, he experienced feelings of homesickness while learning to live comfortably and independently on his $65-per-month salary. Musial finished his high school education before returning to Williamson in spring 1939. That season his numbers improved to a 9–2 record, a 4.30 ERA, and a.352 batting average. Musial spent the 1940 season with the Cardinals' other Class D team, the Daytona Beach Islanders, where he developed a lifelong friendship with manager Dickie Kerr. His pitching skills improved under the guidance of Kerr, who also recognized his hitting talent, playing him in the outfield between pitching starts. On May 25, 1940, Musial married fellow Donora resident, Lillian "Lil" Labash in Daytona Beach, and the couple's first child followed in August. During late August, Musial suffered a shoulder injury while playing in the outfield, and later made an early exit as the starting pitcher in a 12–5 playoff game loss. For a while Musial considered leaving baseball entirely, complaining that he could not afford to support himself and his wife on the $16 a week pay. Kerr talked him out of it, and even took the Musials into his own home to relieve the financial burden. To repay the debt, Musial bought Kerr a $20,000 home in Houston in 1958. In 113 games in 1940 he hit.311, while compiling an 18–5 pitching record that included 176 strikeouts and 145 walks.Musial was assigned to the Class AA Columbus Red Birds to begin 1941, though manager Burt Shotton and Musial himself quickly realized that the previous year's injury had considerably weakened his arm. He was reassigned to the Class C Springfield Cardinals as a full-time outfielder, and he later credited manager Ollie Vanek for displaying confidence in his hitting ability. During 87 games with Springfield, Musial hit a league-leading.379 before being promoted to the Rochester Red Wings of the International League. He was noted for his unique batting stance, a crouch in which his back was seemingly square to the pitcher. This stance was later described by pitcher Ted Lyons as "a kid peeking around the corner to see if the cops were coming". According to a 1950 description by author Tom Meany, "The bent knees and the crouch give him the appearance of a coiled spring, although most pitchers think of him as a coiled rattlesnake." Musial continued to play well in Rochester—in one three-game stretch, he had 11 hits. He was called up to the Cardinals for the last two weeks of the 1941 season.
St. Louis Cardinals (1941–1944)
Musial made his major league debut during the second game of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park on September 17, 1941. The Cardinals were in the midst of a pennant race with the Brooklyn Dodgers; in 12 games, Musial collected 20 hits for a.426 batting average. Despite Musial's late contributions, the Cardinals finished two and one-half games behind the 100-game-winning Dodgers.Cardinals manager Billy Southworth used Musial as a left fielder to begin 1942, sometimes lifting him for a pinch-hitter against left-handed pitching. Musial was hitting.315 by late June, as the Cardinals resumed battling the Dodgers for first place in the National League. The Cardinals took sole possession of first place on September 13, and when Musial caught a fly ball to end the first game of a doubleheader on September 27 they clinched the pennant with their 105th win. He finished the season with a.315 batting average and 72 runs batted in in 140 games. Musial received national publicity when he was named by St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor J. Roy Stockton as his choice for Rookie of the Year in a Saturday Evening Post article.
The Cardinals played the American League champion New York Yankees in the 1942 World Series. Representing the winning run at home plate in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 at Sportsman's Park, Musial grounded out with the bases loaded to end the game. Musial's first hit of the Series was an RBI single that provided the margin of victory in Game 2, allowing the Cardinals to tie the Series. Over the next three games at Yankee Stadium, Musial had three more hits as the Cardinals defeated the Yankees in the Series four games to one. Musial batted.222 for the Series, with two runs scored.
Musial's 1943 season started with a brief contract holdout in spring training. He made the National League All-Star team for the first time as a starting left fielder and got a double in the All-Star Game on July 13. He finished the season leading the major leagues in hitting with a.357 batting average and led the NL in hits, doubles, triples, total bases, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. This performance earned him his first NL Most Valuable Player Award, ahead of teammate and catcher Walker Cooper. After romping to another NL pennant by 18 games, the Cardinals again faced the Yankees in the 1943 World Series. Musial had a single in the Cardinals' Game 1 loss, and scored a run in a Game 2 win. The Cardinals did not win another game in the Series, but the loser's bonus share paid to each Cardinals player still amounted to nearly two-thirds of Musial's regular season salary.
United States involvement in World War II began to impinge on Musial's baseball career in 1944, as he underwent a physical examination in prelude to possible service in the armed forces. He ultimately remained with the Cardinals for the entire season, posting a.347 batting average with 197 hits. The Cardinals claimed the NL pennant for the third consecutive season, and faced St. Louis's other major league team, the Browns, in the 1944 World Series. The Browns took a 2–1 lead, while Musial hit.250 with no RBI. He broke out in Game 4 with a two-run home run, single, double, and a walk as part of a 5–1 Cardinals win. The Cardinals went on to defeat the Browns in six games, and Musial posted a.304 batting average for the Series.