RIP, Stan Musial

[penfold]

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/new...r_stl&c_id=stl

What a player. What a man. RIP.

[Messerwhitescooter]

A great baseball legend, and sad that the baseball world lost him and Earl Weaver at the same time.

[snapple]

What a sht day for baseball

[yankswun96]

What an amazing player and human. I love this picture and the old school uniforms that had zippers instead of buttons.

[Jersey Yankee]

Most definitely a living legend until tonight.

I heard that he was underrated in his playing days compared to Williams, DiMaggio, Mays and Mantle. Still, he put up some wonderful numbers and had a great career in baseball.

[Eldee5]

What a sad day for MLB losing two all-time greats in Weaver and Musial.

[BronxYanks45]

RIP Stan

[BroadwayBomber55]

RIP Stan 'The Man' Musial, one of baseball's greatest legends.

One of the classiest and humble players to ever play the game.

[hardrain]

I've always loved this guy. 1815 hits at home. 1815 hits on the road. He just hit.

[kan_t]

RIP Stan 'The Man' Musial, one of baseball's greatest legends.

One of the classiest and humble players to ever play the game.

Couldn't agree more.

R.I.P. Stan the Man

[kan_t]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...2566/index.htm

One of the best baseball stories I have ever read.

[d32123]

Had no idea he was still alive

[boomerdisciple]

A great player and a great man. RIP. Tough day for our game.

[MMantle7]

I always felt he was the most underrated player in the game. He seemed to always play in the shadows f Williams, Joe D and later Mantle and Mays.

A fine person and may God bless him and his family.

[Yankee Tripper]

92 is a good long life. Classy player, classy man. RIP

[hardrain]

Had no idea he was still alive

That sounds a bit disrespectful for a guy who does not deserve it.

[kan_t]

Most definitely a living legend until tonight.

I heard that he was underrated in his playing days compared to Williams, DiMaggio, Mays and Mantle. Still, he put up some wonderful numbers and had a great career in baseball.

Back to his days he was not underrated. He was viewed every bit as good as those greats (and rightfully so). But people seem to forget his greatness after his retirement. I think Bill James said it best in his Historical Abstract,

He was never colorful, never much of an interview. He makes a better statue.

What he was was a ballplayer. He didn't spit at fans, he didn't get into fights at nightclubs, he didn't marry anybody famous. He hustled. You look at his career totals of doubles and triples, and they'll remind you of something that was accepted while he was active, and has been largely forgotten since: Stan Musial was one player who always left the batter's box on a dead run. (...) Stan Musial, while active was probably the most respected player, by press, fans and other players, of the postwar era -- more so than Mays, Mantle, Williams, Rose or anyone else.

It's really sad that in 1999 the special committee had to add Musial to the All-Century Team because the fans didn't vot him as one of the 10 best outfielders ever. It showed how underrated he was after his retirement.

[d32123]

That sounds a bit disrespectful for a guy who does not deserve it.

I did not mean it in a disrespectful way!

The man lived a long and wonderful life. He was a great baseball player and a great human being.

[JL25and3]

Back to his days he was not underrated. He was viewed every bit as good as those greats (and rightfully so). But people seem to forget his greatness after his retirement. I think Bill James said it best in his Historical Abstract,

I think that's all true, including the James quote. There's not a single interesting or memorable Musial story, except that he was apparently a decent, humble, honest, friendly man who lived a long, stable life with his family, and who was liked by everyone who met him.

I think his stature faded a little in the Northeast after he retired, and after there were no longer Giants and Dodgers fans in NY; I suspect they feared him as much as any other player. In the West, well, they didn't see him play until the end of his career.

He was hardly underrated when he played - 3 MVP awards and 4 second-place finishes. St. Louis is a great baseball town, and he's still worshipped there. But the Cardinals weren't just a local team, they were a regional team, and a huge region it was. Before 1958, St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost outpost of MLB, and their radio coverage was extensive. From the Southeast to the Rockies, everything south of Cubs country was Cardinals country: Tennessee to Georgia to Texas to Colorado, and everything in between, had the Cardinals as their home team. (Mickey Mantle grew up in Oklahoma as a Cardinals fan.) Musial was their superstar.

Looked at another way: between Rogers Hornsby and Willie Mays, I think Musial was unquestionably the greatest NL player, and they knew it full well when he played. And since everyone hated Rogers Hornsby, he hardly counted anyway...

[Nome]

During his playing days musial was respected by almost everyone as the great player he was. It was only in NY and especially Yankee fans that he wasn't as well regarded and this was due in most part that Yankee tradition had given its fans many, many great players to idolize that there wasn't room for outsiders. This isn't a rip on Yankee fans. I am as guilty as most but simply a statement of perhaps why Musial wasn't perceived to be as great as he really was.

Andy

[4LouGehrig]

During his playing days musial was respected by almost everyone as the great player he was. It was only in NY and especially Yankee fans that he wasn't as well regarded and this was due in most part that Yankee tradition had given its fans many, many great players to idolize that there wasn't room for outsiders. This isn't a rip on Yankee fans. I am as guilty as most but simply a statement of perhaps why Musial wasn't perceived to be as great as he really was.

Andy

For pure personality traits alone, he far outshone Teddy BallGame, Joe D and easily Mantle.

If he'd been a Yankee, he would have been far more storied than he was. However, you can't argue too much about New York or the Yankees. New York is our greatest city and the Yankees are the greatest and most famous team in all of sports ever!

[HerbieLee20]

RIP Stan the Man.

To this day, my dad (B&R Philadelphian) roots for the Cards and The Man = biggest reason. My mom don't know anyting about baseball, other than Stan Musial & Mickey Mantle (Babe= before her time). Even she has said over the years that Stan was her "favorite baseball player". Since at least the '80s, when I started following. Have heard it almost every time I bring up baseball. She heard about him more than Richie Ashburn, who played in her own city, and Ted Williams. Joe D she remembers most for Maryln.

Goosebump alert:

[Jersey Yankee]

Back to his days he was not underrated. He was viewed every bit as good as those greats (and rightfully so). But people seem to forget his greatness after his retirement. I think Bill James said it best in his Historical Abstract,

It's really sad that in 1999 the special committee had to add Musial to the All-Century Team because the fans didn't vot him as one of the 10 best outfielders ever. It showed how underrated he was after his retirement.

I don't take that All-Century team thing very seriously. Once I read that Cal Ripkin's streak was viewed as being more important than Lou Gehrig's speech, I'd had enough of that. If people can't understand historical value, then that's their problem, not mine.

I guess that Stan Musial didn't have the "aura" about him that others did. He did his job, was a decent "Joe Everybody" when he punched out at the end of the 9th inning. I'd put him in my all-time OF any day.

Modern-day peeps don't get it. I saw once that Beavis & Butthead were voted one of the top 10 all-time, but the Peanuts comics strip was barely mentioned. Nobody with common sense and a love of the history of animated or comic strip classics would ever consider voting Beavis & Butthead above Peanuts, whose creator inspired numerous current comic strip artists.

[Jersey Yankee]

During his playing days musial was respected by almost everyone as the great player he was. It was only in NY and especially Yankee fans that he wasn't as well regarded and this was due in most part that Yankee tradition had given its fans many, many great players to idolize that there wasn't room for outsiders. This isn't a rip on Yankee fans. I am as guilty as most but simply a statement of perhaps why Musial wasn't perceived to be as great as he really was.

Andy

I've been hearing on 1010WINS newsradio that it was Brooklyn Dodger fans who gave him the nickname "Stan the Man", even though he parked quite a few on the outside of Ebbets Field. Seemed more like one of sincere respect to a competitor.

[Jersey Yankee]

Someone else posted this on another board, in tribute to him: