January 20, 2013

Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight.:
Stan "The Man" Musial passes away at age 92.

posted by grum@work to baseball at 02:28 AM - 13 comments

Just the stats, man.

  • In the first 16 seasons of his career, he finished no lower than 5th in batting average, winning the NL batting title 7 times. He finished in the league top five for batting average 17 times, an MLB record (tied with Cobb).

  • He finished in the top 5 for OPS 15 times, tied for second with Cobb and Aaron (only behind Ruth, with 16).

  • Received 93.2% of the Baseball Hall of Fame vote in 1969, with a ballot that contained 15 other eventual HOF players.

  • He started his career 5 years before segregation in baseball, and finished it after Jackie Robinson had already been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

  • He's currently 28th on the all-time HR list (tied with Albert Pujols at 475), but he joins Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Frank Thomas, and Gary Sheffield as the only ones in the top 30 to never lead their league in home runs at any time in their careers.

  • He was an all-star 20 times (tied with Willie Mays, and one behind Hank Aaron for the record).

  • He's in the top five for every hall of fame measuring option available for position players (Gray Ink, Black Ink, HOF Monitor, HOF Standards).

  • He won 3 MVP awards, and is second all-time in total MVP shares (based on summing total percentage of votes won) behind Barry Bonds.

  • He's the best outfielder to ever come out of Donora High School in Pennsylvania. Sorry, Ken Griffey Jr., but you aren't quite good enough.

posted by grum@work at 03:01 AM on January 20, 2013

With the passing of Earl Weaver and Stan Musial on the same day, it's the only time two Baseball Hall of Fame members have died on the same day.

posted by grum@work at 03:03 AM on January 20, 2013

  • He had exactly 1815 hits at home, and 1815 hits on the road.
  • He has the most hits (3630) by anyone who played for just one franchise.

posted by grum@work at 03:25 AM on January 20, 2013

Baseball's "perfect night" was an excellent example of why kids look up to athletes as role models. And why adults remember many of those athletes with awe.

posted by roberts at 07:44 AM on January 20, 2013

"perfect knight"

posted by roberts at 09:57 AM on January 20, 2013

Indeed, Stan Musial was the perfect knight.

Some of today's highly (over) paid athletes could learn from gentlemen like Stan Musial.

Young athletes would do well to learn about Stan Musial, also. If you are looking for a role model Mr. Musial is your perfect choice.

A professional, a winner and a gentleman. The athletic world, indeed, the entire world misses him already.

posted by agwaurora at 10:31 AM on January 20, 2013

They don't make athletes these days with the character of Musial. Athleticism has increased over the years while guys who seem to conduct themselves with civility are practically extinct in pro sports.

posted by dyams at 12:34 PM on January 20, 2013

St. Louis Post-Dispatch front page for "Stan The Man"

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posted by tommybiden at 01:22 PM on January 20, 2013

Edit: Remove Sammy Sosa from my list of "never led the league in HR". I forgot that the years he DIDN'T hit 60+ HR between 1998 and 2002 were the ones he led the league in HR (50 and 49).

posted by grum@work at 01:51 PM on January 20, 2013

I'm sorry to say, I didn't realize he was still alive; he seems such a product of a bygone era. One of the very very very great ones, a man quietly a true inner-circle Hall of Famer.

posted by hincandenza at 04:01 PM on January 20, 2013

If someone could have been called "Mr. Cardinal", it was Stan Musial. He was everything one could desire in a baseball player, both on and off the field. It's odd that 2 so different personalities, both examples of excellence in their profession, should pass away on the same day. Continuing a theme from Earl Weaver's thread, I would bet he is nose to nose with God, arguing over any flaw found with Mr. Musial. He'd be right, too, because any flaw would be a bad call.

I once read an article about automobiles that discussed a Canadian version of a Ford called the Richelieu. In it, Richelieu was called the hardest hitting Cardinal until Stan Musial.

posted by Howard_T at 04:51 PM on January 20, 2013

I'll bet he was never ejected from a game by an umpire.

posted by tedlip1 at 10:20 AM on January 22, 2013

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