Stan Musial
Stan Musial (born November 21, 1920, Donora, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died January 19, 2013, Ladue, Missouri) was an American professional baseball player who, in his 22-year playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals, won seven National League (NL) batting championships and established himself as one of the game’s greatest hitters.
Musial was a phenomenal schoolboy athlete in both baseball and basketball, and he signed his first professional baseball contract while in high school. A left-handed batter and thrower, Musial began his career as a pitcher but developed a sore arm and switched to the outfield while still in the minor leagues. He quickly worked his way up through the Cardinals’ minor league system and made his major league debut in 1941. The following year Musial became a full-time player for St. Louis, where he teamed with Terry Moore and Enos Slaughter to form what would become one of the finest offensive and defensive outfield combinations in baseball history and played a significant role in the team’s 1942 World Series victory.
Musial’s breakthrough year came in 1943, as he led the NL in hits (220) and batting average (.357) and won the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at just age 22. After leading the Cardinals to another World Series title in 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy for service during World War II. Returning to baseball in 1946, he won a second MVP award after batting .365 as the Cardinals captured their third World Series championship in five years. Musial had his greatest season statistically in 1948 as he posted career-high (and league-leading) totals in batting average (.376), hits (230), runs (135), and runs batted in (131), which resulted in a third NL MVP award. In the 1950s the Cardinals had little success as a team, but Musial thrived as an individual, leading the league in batting average four times (1950–52, 1957), in runs three times (1951–52, 1954), and in hits once (1952).
He retired after the 1963 season with a career batting average of .331. At the time of his retirement, his totals of times at bat (10,972), hits (3,630), and runs scored (1,949) were second only to those of Ty Cobb, and his total of runs batted in (1,951) was exceeded only by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig; all were records for the NL (since surpassed). Musial also set a major league record with 1,377 extra-base hits (broken by Hank Aaron in 1973). When his career as a player ended, he became an executive of the Cardinals, which included a one-year stint as the team’s general manager in 1967, when he oversaw a World Series championship. He was named an NL All-Star in 20 of his 22 seasons and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. In 2011 Musial was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.