The Man in St. Louis

Just finished this new biography of Musial, Stan Musial: An American Life and one of the over-arching themes of the book is trying to understand why he has faded in the consciousness of baseball fans and why he no longer seems to have the stature of his contemporaries like Williams, DiMaggio, and Mantle. It’s a subject close to me since I’ve always revered Musial and felt he deserved a spot among the very, very top of any list of baseball greats. Unfortunately for him, he suffers when it comes to the way our culture likes to define our heroes……

Musial did not play in New York, he did not marry a movie star, he was not a decorated war hero, he was not an alcoholic, he didn’t war with the press, act like a big kid, or sustain major injuries to overcome. He didn’t hit .400, have a memorable streak, win a triple crown, or hit tape measure home runs. He wasn’t controversial or prickly or rude or even brash. He made the fatal mistake of being a normal guy in a mid-American market who stayed married to the same person, and just played at the same incredible level year after year.

But when you look at what Musial accomplished, it is hardly rivaled by any player, and what he lacked in flash he made up for with sheer dominance. Start off with 7 batting titles in a 14-yr period. And while hitting at that level, he rained extra base hits on the league, leading it 8 times in doubles and 5 times in triples, and maintaining a slugging average near the .600 range. Never thought of as a pure slugger, he nonetheless led the league in OPS 7 times because he added an on-base average of around .425 to that .600 slugging average. And of course I always call out the 1948 season, in which Musial led the league in: hits, runs, doubles, triples, RBI, batting average, slugging average, on-base average, OPS, and total bases. He missed the triple crown by 1 home run, which was washed away in a rainout. Typical of his career, this season rivals any ever had by a ballplayer, but because he missed the triple crown, it’s largely forgotten.

If you remember I always liked to evaluate players on how much they dominated their league or era. Bill James liked to look at “Black Ink” and “Grey Ink”, meaning how many times did a player lead the league in a major category (Black) or finish in the top 10 (Grey). Musial is 5th all-time in black ink and 3rd all-time in grey ink. He totally dominated his era. Also, James came up with a hall-of-fame tester to evaluate a player’s worthiness for the hall. In his point system, Musial is 1st all-time.

A couple of other things I took away from the book:

• Musial was elected to the Brooklyn Dodgers hall of fame. It was the Dodger fans who gave him his nickname “The Man” and over 163 games at Ebbets Field against the Brooklyn team, he hit .359 with 222 hits, 48 doubles, 13 triples, 38 homers, 127 RBI, and 141 runs.

• Musial played high school ball with one Buddy Griffey, whose son Ken also grew up in Musial’s hometown of Donora, PA. Junior was also born there, but grew up mostly in Cincinnati.

• One of the reasons that Cardinal fans have such respect for Albert Pujols is the way he has always deferred to and revered Musial.

• One of his best friends was the great author James Michener, with whom he travelled all over the world with.

By most accounts Musial was one of the most grounded, likeable, and loyal athletes you would ever meet. It’s just unfortunate that these traits have served to undermine his great stature in the game. So, my point is, don’t forget Stan the Man!

S