Saturday, January 19, 2013

Stan Musial 1920-2013

For the second time today, a legendary baseball figure has gone to the great dugout in the sky.  Stan Musial, known as "Stan The Man", died this afternoon at age 92, from natural causes.  Musial spent his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals, playing outfield and first base.  In high school and in the minor leagues, he had also pitched.  After ending his playing career, Musial worked for the Cardinals as a vice president and then as their general manager.

The son of a Polish immigrant father and a Czech-descended mother, Stanisłaus Franciszek Musiał was born in Donora, Pennsylvania.  Upon enrolling in school, his named was changed to Stanley Frank Musial.  At Donora High School, one of his teammates was Buddy Griffey, whose son Ken Griffey and grandson Ken Griffey Jr. each had successful major league careers.  After spending a few year in the minor leagues, Musial joined the major league Cardinals in September 1941 and stayed with them until the end of the 1963 season, except for a stint in the U.S. Navy in 1945 and 1946.  During his career, Musial won seven National League batting titles and three NL MVP awards, and was chosen to appear in 24 All-Star games.  The Cardinals retired his number, 6.  He was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and elected to the baseball Hall Of Fame in 1969, his first year on the ballot.  More recently, Musial was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Go to Baseball Reference to see his career statistics.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, the Global Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Cardinals website.

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