January 21, 201313 yr A disturbing number involving Stan...23. That's the number of sportswriters who did NOT name him to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Thank goodness the other 317 had some common sense.
January 21, 201313 yr The Man struck out 696 times in 24 seasons! That's 2 seasons worth of work for Adam Dunn...
January 21, 201313 yr The Man struck out 696 times in 24 seasons! That's 2 seasons worth of work for Adam Dunn...
January 22, 201313 yr One of my favorite Stan Stories: It was April 18, 1954, in Chicago. The Cardinals trailed 3--0 in the seventh, and lefty Paul Minner was on the mound. There was a man on first, one out, when Musial smacked a double down the rightfield line. Or, anyway, the Cardinals thought it was a double. Wally Moon, the man on first, ran around the bases to score. Musial stood happily at second. The Cardinals' bench cheered. And apparently nobody noticed that first base umpire Lee Ballanfant had called the ball foul. No footage of the play remains, of course, so we only get what we can read in the newspaper reports: Apparently the ball was definitively fair. Cardinals players came racing out of the dugout to go after Ballanfant, starting with shortstop Solly Hemus. Donatelli, the crew chief, who was behind home plate (and who apparently realized that Ballanfant had blown the call), threw Hemus out of the game. Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky was right behind. Donatelli threw him out of the game too. Peanuts Lowrey rushed out, and Donatelli was telling him to get back or he would get tossed too. And it was about then that Musial, who apparently was not entirely sure why there was so much commotion, wandered over to Donatelli. "What happened, Augie?" Musial asked. "It didn't count, huh?" Donatelli nodded and said the ball had been called foul. "Well," Musial said, "there's nothing you can do about it." And without saying another word, Musial stepped back into the batter's box and doubled to the same spot in right field. This time it was called fair. The Cardinals rallied and won the game. Great story. Musial was definitely "The Man". What a great career, great stats and a great man. RIP.
January 28, 201313 yr Author Video of Costas giving the eulogy at Stan's funeral. Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | Costas recounts his favorite memories of Stan the Man - Video | cardinals.com: Multimedia
January 28, 201313 yr I couldn't pull up Costas' eulogy here at work, so I'm not sure this was part of it or not. If any of you watched the Ken Burns' Baseball documentary, Costas was saying (paraphrasing) when Musial took his first big league at bat in 1941, the United States was not yet involved in World War II, it was six years before Jackie Robinson came into the league, there were no baseball games on television, and teams traveled to games by train. When Musial took his last at bat on September 29, 1963 as the all-time National league leader in hits, 2nd in the majors only to Ty Cobb, he got a base hit past a diving rookie second baseman named Pete Rose, who would eventually pass him and then pass Cobb. We were less than two months before President Kennedy's assassination. It was an enitirely new era of baseball in America.
January 29, 201313 yr Pretty cool video on Yahoo today with the crowd singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame during his funeral procession, I think when it stopped at his statue at Busch Stadium.
January 29, 201313 yr Video of Costas giving the eulogy at Stan's funeral. Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | Costas recounts his favorite memories of Stan the Man - Video | cardinals.com: Multimedia If that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will.
January 29, 201313 yr Harry Caray announcing Stan's last at bat. "Take a good look, fans, take a good look...Remember the stance, and the swing. You're not likely to see his likes again."
January 29, 201313 yr Harry Caray announcing Stan's last at bat. "Take a good look, fans, take a good look...Remember the stance, and the swing. You're not likely to see his likes again." [video=youtube;T-MkfzSy4p8] Video footage of the at bat starts around 1:49
January 30, 201313 yr Thanks for sharing. Had no idea about the Pete Rose thing, just incredible. Costas puts it perfectly, that's just a baseball type of thing.
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