The Man

What a last couple of weeks in sports. We have witnessed a retiring Ray Lewis make it to the Super Bowl, the uncovering of a non-existent girlfriend of a Heisman finalist, and the long-overdue admission of Lance Armstrong and his doping. I’ll offer some thought on those events another day. Right now I want to talk about Stanley Frank Musial. Stan “The Man” as he was known was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His passing on Friday marked the end of a 92 year life that was marked by success on and off of the baseball field. Musial had a remarkable career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-1963. He had a lifetime batting average of .331 which included 3,630 hits (1,815 at home, 1,815 on the road), 475 homeruns (without the benefit of PEDs), and 1,951 Runs batted in (RBI). He made an astounding 24 all-star games, three MVP awards, and three World Series titles with the Cardinals and was a first ballot inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. He was once called the greatest player alive by Ty Cobb, which Musial denied. He thought that honor should go to that DiMaggio guy. The fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers were the first to call him “the man.” They would refer to him as “that man” who would routinely bash their beloved Dodgers. It eventually became “The Man.” As great as his accomplishments were on the field it was how he treated others that set him apart.

In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch…

Fellow Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst was a teammate of Musial with the Cardinals in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The two roomed together for more than 10 years.
“A lot of times we would go visit kids in hospitals whenever we were on the road,” Schoendienst once said. “He didn’t want publicity for it, and he didn’t do it to seek recognition or humanitarian awards. He just did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. He enjoyed making other people happy and maybe give them a small ray of sunshine to brighten up their lives.”

USA Today ran an article about Musial and Albert Pujols. Below is an excerpt from that article:

"It was such a sad day,'' Pujols told USA TODAY Sports, "but I am so blessed to have spent time with him the last 12 years. He blessed my life, and many, many lives in baseball during his career, and after his career. He touched so many lives. He means as much as Roberto Clemente does to Latin people. Thank God I had the opportunity to know him.
"I wish my kids had the opportunity to be around him, because that's how I want my kids to live their lives. I want them to be like Stan Musial.
"Not the baseball player. The person.
"That's the respect I have for that man.''
Pujols, perhaps the greatest Cardinals' player since Musial when he departed last winter to the Los Angeles Angels, savors the memories and time spent together. He last saw Musial a year ago, and although Musial was disappointed that Pujols chose the Angels over re-signing with the Cardinals, he congratulated him and thanked him for the way he represented the franchise.
When Pujols joined the Angels, the Angels put billboards around town calling Pujols, "El Hombre.'' Pujols was furious. There is only one baseball player that should be called The Man, Pujols said, and it was Musial. The billboards came down.
"What he did for the Cardinal organization is unbelievable,'' Pujols said.”There will never be anyone else wearing that Cardinal uniform who will be the face of the franchise. You can talk about his numbers, the 3,630 hits, the 24 All-Star games, the seven batting titles, but the man himself is what made him so great. What he did for his community, for his country. That's what made him so special.''

The great Willie Mays had this to say about his death, "It is a very sad day for me," Willie Mays told ESPN's Willie Weinbaum of Outside The Lines at the Baseball Writers' Association of America dinner in New York. "I knew Stan very well. He used to take care of me at All-Star games, 24 of them. He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field -- I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever."

In a time where sport’s greatest athletes move from team to team and make headlines for controversial tweets or off the field actions, remembering the life of Musial brings a breath of fresh air. It is a rare combination of talent and a caring personality that set him apart from the ordinary celebrity. I would rather hear stories like this one than those that usually make the headlines. I hope today’s young athletes learn that being a good person off the field is more important than all the success on the field.