R.I.P. Stan Musial

St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial passed away on January 19th, 2013 at the age of 92.  Musial is no doubt  the most beloved player in Cardinals history, an iconic figure known to fans as Stan the Man.  Musial put up  some great offensive numbers during his career that lasted from 1941 through the 1963 season.

Musial played on four National League pennant winners and three World Series champions with the Cardinals in the ’40s.  He was the league’s MVP three times.  He led the league in many of the more important offensive statistical categories multiple times, including total bases (six times) doubles (eight times), triples (five times), on base percentage (six times), runs scored (five times) and RBIs (twice).   He might have  led even more times, but like so many players of his era, he lost a season(1945) to military service.  He finished with a lifetime batting average of .331, with 475 home runs and 1951 RBIs, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.

Musial stayed on in a front office capacity with the Cardinals for another quarter century after retiring as a player.  He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.  We can’t ever remember hearing or reading anything bad about Stan the Man as he was known, because there wasn’t anything bad about him to talk about.

Rest in peace, Stan the Man.