Stan ‘the man’ Musial R.I.P.

RIP Stan. STL mourns the loss of one of it's sons.

 

Today I saw a clip of Musial and Bill Russell receiving the Medal of Freedom. Their faces could easily be on the Mount Rushmore of classy, high-achieving athletes. Another truly great one gone...

 

Awesome player, wish I had seen him in his time, sad day for us baseball fans, we lose another Legend.

 

The STL area is pulling out the stops for the greatest Cardinal of all time. He was one of the rare people who no one has anything bad to say about him. Personally, I was impressed by the fact that he was so welcoming to black players when he could have easily done nothing. Stan Musial was a fantastic player and virtually a saint off the field.

 

I was a kid when Stan was playing. He was the first $100,000 ball player, but most players still had to have a second job for the off season. We lived in Frostfield subdivision, small slab built two bedroom homes with a carport. The great Cardinal 3rd baseman Kenny Boyer lived a few doors down and Wally Moon was around the corner.

Stan was one of the greatest players and one of the finest gentlemen in baseball. I moved away from St. Louis in 2008 but still follow the Cardinals, as I have my entire life.

 

Right on Doc. I couldn't agree more.

 

Growing up in St. Louis and working for Anheuser-Busch back when they owned the Cardinals, and later consulting with A-B and working with Stan's grandson in the marketing department (he is still there!), like most St. Louisan's, I have lots of memories of Stan, especially as a musician.

Stan LOVED to play the harmonica, and owned a popular restaurant in town back in the 70's and 80's. I remember many, many gigs where Stan would come up and play harmonica with the band for a tune or two.

Also, had the amazing experience of seeing him play one time at the old, historic Sportsman's Park in St. Louis in the early 60's before the team moved to Busch Stadium. I was very young, but remember my dad saying 'that is Stan Musial!

RIP. Very class act and great guy, from my few direct interactions with him.