I woke up this morning and noticed that Stan Musial passed away yesterday, Saturday January 20. There are few professional athletes that compare to Musial and it is not just because of his Hall of Fame career with the St. Louis Cardinals. His life was full of grace, kindness, hard work and dedication.
I first became aware of Stan Musial when I really became aware of the game of baseball. I was 8 or so. My father came home with a record that was being distributed by Phillips 66 petroleum. It was a record done by Musial with his friend and a St. Louis native Joe Garagiola. He gave hitting instruction along with recordings from radio broadcasts of milestones in Musial's career. I remember going in the backyard and working on the hitting style of The Man, holding the bat higher in the air, perpendicular to the ground.
The book Stan the Man by Wayne Stewart is a nice biography of the life of this legend. They do not make them like Stan Musial anymore. The great Willie Mays said, "I never heard anyone ever say anything bad about Stan." Me neither. The card below is from the 1963 Topps series, the first year I started collecting cards as a kid. 5 cents a pack with the gum.
UPDATE: Here is a link to an article about Stan Musial and David Brubeck.
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