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Stan "The Man" Musial

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- "Swingin' Stan the Man" - Chuck and Bob Loomis.

In a Pennsylvania town

In nineteen twenty-one

To a miller and his wife

One day was born a son!

 

Stanley F. Musial!

Swinging Stan the Man!

He's the man that thrills the fans!

Swinging Stan the Man!

For those who wish to sing along they can click to play the famous tune although for obvious reasons the arranger prefers to remain anonymous.

Of course, some artistic license is allowed in any work of art. And Chuck and Bob's song - the brief excerpt quoted here for commentary and review - misses Stan's birthdate by six weeks.1

Regardless of the exact natal date, on the various "Greatest St. Louis Cardinals" lists, you'll likely find Stan Musial ranked at the top. True, the fans of Adam Wainwright, Ozzie Smith, Albert Pujols, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Rogers Hornsby, and of course, Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean may disagree. But as in matters de baseballibus just as in de gustibus, non est disputandum.

Stan the Man - his inevitable and poetical sobriquet - had an unusual style at bat. His "corkscrew stance" helped him smack line drives for base hits rather then high flys that were inevitably caught. During that span - which began in 1941 and ended in 1963 - Stan racked up 3,630 hits, 475 home runs, and 1961 runs batted in. His lifetime batting average was .331, an average most players don't even get in their best year. In Stan's first year he hit .426 - topping even Ted Williams's best year - and in his last year he hit .255, a number that a lot of good hitters achieve in their prime.

As unthinkable as it would be today with the ever shifting rosters, trades, and free agencies, Stan spent his entire 22 years in professional baseball as a Cardinal.2 Carl Yastrzemski beat Stan by one season, spending 23 years with the Boston Red Sox, as did Brooks Robinson playing for the Baltimore Orioles. But there were only two other 22 years/one team players: Mel Ott (the New York Giants) and Al Kaline (Detroit Tigers).

During his tenure on the team Stan played in every World Series where the Cardinals landed. All in all the Cardinals have played in the World Series 23 times, the first in 1926. Their 1942 Series was Stan's first and he was in 12 more contests. Of those three - 1942, 1944, and 1945 - the Cardinals won. Alas, the Cards have never had such a cluster of wins since and their last appearance in a World Series was lamentably in 2011.

Stan was selected for 24 All Star games and naturally he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. That was only six years after he retired. Out of 247 Hall of Famers elected in the 20th Century, only 35 were first ballot selections.

One characteristic of Stan was a genial personality and although he may have disagreed with a call here and there, he was never ejected from a game. After all it's not every baseball player who has a catchy tune written about them. Certainly you don't hear songs like:

Billy Martin is the man

Who argues with the umps!

No matter what play they call

He always says they're chumps!

But of course Billy was in a class by himself.

A Class by Himself
(Click to zoom in and out.)

References and Further Reading

Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man, James Giglio, University of Missouri Press, 2001.

"Stan Musial", Baseball Reference.

"Baseball Hall of Fame Alphabetical List", Baseball Almanac.

"The 20 Greatest St. Louis Cardinals of All-Time", Baseball Scholar.