Farewell to Stan Musial, an American Icon (Thursday)

Photo by Doug Mills

                THURSDAY  

Here are two stories about Musial, over the transom, from readers in Connecticut and Missouri.  Your own comments are welcome, below:

 A little story about “Stan the Man”

This is probably one of a thousand stories about the special person that Stan Musial was.

Stan Musial’s daughter and her family lived on a beautiful street in Kirkwood next door to a friend and classmate of my daughter, Annie.  I had recently spoken to her friend’s mother who told me that Stan was always over at his daughter’s house doing chores and odds and ends and how he was just the nicest person to everyone in the neighborhood.

One evening, my brother Bill, who lived in Dallas, called to tell me that he was coming to St. Louis to attend the 40th birthday party of his very good friend and roommate at Mizzou.  His friend’s first name was Stan and was actually named after “Stan the Man.”

My brother commented that it would really be special if he could get something written from “Stan the Man” to Stan (his friend) as a birthday present.  I remembered what the neighbor said and called the neighbor to see if it were possible to do this the next time Stan was at his daughter’s house.

I had an 8 x 10 glossy of Stan Musial at home and I brought it over to the neighbor.  She said she would ask him the next time she sees him and that, as a matter of fact, Stan has been sealing his daughter’s driveway the past few days.

The neighbor called me the following Saturday to tell me that she saw Stan sealing the driveway and went out to ask him the favor of signing the picture.

She went on to tell me that upon this request, Stan said “Wait right here. I’ll be back in half an hour.”  A little later, Stan came back and brought with him a number of articles all signed by Stan and with well wishes for the other Stan on his birthday.  He obviously had dropped everything, drove home, and returned with the items which made one man’s birthday very very special.

And guess what?  Stan didn’t ask for one dime.  He was just honored to be asked. He did not personally know any of us but it didn’t matter.

When I think of Stan Musial, certainly I think of all the hits I witnessed as a kid and young adult, I am almost 70 now, but most of all I remember this story because this little act of kindness defines who he was. “The Man.”     

Bob Kreutz

Kirkwood, MO

The passing of Stan Musial is a sad event for all who knew of him! Litchfield, Connecticut, my life long home, may be far away from St. Louis and populated by Red Sox, Mets and Yankees fans, but any baseball fanatic who followed Mr. Musial's career,  even to a minute degree, had to love his kind and wondrous personality.

Indeed, I will never, ever forget the glorious human being who was Stan The Man Musial. And, thank The Lord I bumped into him in person twice by amazing chance.
One of those days, my son, Tommie, a Red Sox fan, and I, a Giants fan, were standing outside the door of the room where the Hall of Famers  go for their party in Cooperstown,  New York. Of course, we were gazing closely to catch glimpses of our Red Sox and Giants all time heroes. As we were doing so, a fan, standing right behind us, who did not need a microphone, began announcing the names and nicknames of each player moving toward us.

"Pee Wee Reese!" he exclaimed as Pee Wee moved right up to  us and gave all of us a high wave. "Willie Stretch McCovey!" the microphone blurted out. Willie simply moved by with speed, as if he were rushing out  of the dugout to his first base post at a Polo Grounds home game. I saw quite a few of those games with my dad, Thomas D. Williams, a Giants fan as well, particularly after Willie Mays became my favorite rookie center fielder ever.

Our announcer continued his stupendous identifications of a  couple of other famers before his apparent favorite arrived.

"Stan Musial!" he exclaimed with extraordinary enthusiasm.  Stan, donning a huge smile, began walking toward us from the car that took him there.  As Stan, got closer, our announcer yelled out: "Give us the stance, Stan!" So Stan stopped in mid-walk, and indeed gave us that notorious batting stance: his two arms high above and well in back of his head and his  legs slightly crouched and apart. Without further prompting, Stan swung his arms forward as if his bat was about to strike a fast ball. He finished the swing, moved forward toward Tommie and I, resumed his stance and swung again. By the time Stan repeated this for his third swing, he was just feet  away from us. He resumed his stance and exclaimed: "Once again?!" But, he stopped there for seconds, dropped the imaginary bat, broke out  with an amazing smile and continued walking into the Hall of Fame  party.

Upon another occasion, years apart, I was anticipating more  lively action from Hall of Famers close to the same hallers' arty location. First I remember Yogi Berra and several  other famers trudge by without episode or comment except for yells from the crowd: "Hey Yogi, Yogi,Yogi!" No answer and on into the Hall he walked. I was a bit disappointed until  I saw this guy I could not yet recognize get out of a car  and began his  energetic  walk. As he did so, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a harmonica. He soon put it to his lips as he continued his path and began playing "Take Me Out ToThe Ball Game!" As he was finishing, the crowd yelled:  "Give it to us again Stan!" It was Stan The Man and once again, he belted another one out of the park: this one, however, was the greatest of  baseball songs!

Dennie Williams, a Lifetime Giants Fan

Litchfield, Ct.  




                WEDNESDAY    

Fans have sent in their memories of Musial to John Hall, collector of midwest baseball history. Many are touching, and give a great sense of the hold Musial has on the region. 

http://komleaguebaseball.blogspot.com/

For fans further east, I hear there will be a service in his home town of Donora, Pa., in mid-February. I will keep you posted. GV



                 MONDAY                    

                Willie Mays on Stan Musial:

Mays was at the Baseball Writers’ dinner in New York Saturday night when word got around that Stan Musial had passed.

Willie Weinbaum of ESPN sent this report to Buster Olney:

"It is a very sad day for me," Willie Mays said in a brief interview after being informed of his perennial National League All-Star Game teammate's passing. Mays, on hand to celebrate the 2012 Giants' world championship honorees and the chapter's "Willie, Mickey and the Duke" award to his 1973 Mets, called Musial "a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could.

"I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever."

This dovetails with Bernie Miklasz’ anecdote about Musial. Some people from a younger generation see Musial as less than a hero because he didn’t go on freedom rides.

How you live your daily life is important, too.

Here's a link to a terrific column  by Bernie Miklasz in the Post-Dispatch. My thanks to Lynn McGuire, widow of the great John McGuire, for sending me this link. 

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/a-perfect-union-stan-the-man-and-st-louis/article_1f42f8b6-a9da-530f-9492-2a767479bd19.html#.UPyI1uRTG2M.email

A FEW PEOPLE HAVE INCLUDED PERSONAL MEMORIES OF MUSIAL. I'D LOVE TO SEE YOURS BELOW.  GV. 
 
                        SATURDAY NIGHT

We now prepare for the tributes, in the town that loved him.

Church and state in St. Louis will honor Stan Musial in the days and weeks to come, and the baseball-playing part of the world can update its memory of Stan the Man -- .331 batting average, 475 home runs, speed and consistency, voted the best baseball player of the post-war decade by Life Magazine.

He was more than that – he was the approachable face of baseball, a humble man who came to St. Louis and stayed, until he passed Saturday at the age of 92. The family has lost Lil and Stan in a short time.

I was lucky enough to get a feel for Musial in St. Louis while writing his unauthorized biography, Stan Musial: An American Life, which was a best-seller in 2011.

He was past speaking for himself but I was honored that some of his best friends, teammates, opponents and family spoke about him, portrayed him as very human.

I was privileged to be at the White House in 2011 when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He seemed subdued most of the time but lit up when President Obama put the medal around his neck.

His friends said he wore the medal when he made the rounds of his lunch places back home in the days afterward. .

I’ll be writing about him for the Times in the Monday edition.

For the moment, my condolences go to his family and that huge swath of the country that loved him, as its own.  

                

Poster Courtesy of John Hall