Baseball Jesus has ascended.
R.I.P. Stan "The Man" Musial
1920-2013
Today, at the end of a week filled with insane sports scandal, we lost the one true modern sports hero. Stan Musial was one of the greatest baseball players ever. You probably don't know his name like you know Babe Ruth's or Joe DiMaggio's names, probably because The Man was never a Yankee. Stan was only ever a Cardinal, and he was the greatest of them all. He held/shared 17 records at the time he retired, but he wasn't just a great athlete. He was a class act and a fantastic man. Stan lived an unflashy life and thought that his status as a professional athlete made him a role model---the first and last pro athlete ever to take on that mindset. He respected everyone and always had an autograph at the ready, eventually making himself an iconic figure in St. Louis even after his national celebrity faded in favor of far more flawed athletes. Cardinal Nation loved him for it and he loved right them back. In fact, Cardinal Nation loved him so much that they campaigned for him to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, and he received it in 2011. Because he was Baseball Jesus in Baseball Heaven, and we were too lucky to have him.
I believe The Man has gone on to a place where athletes need no PEDs, corked bats, or fake Twitter girlfriends to succeed. He's young again, slugging like crazy and catching every single fly ball that enters the outfield.
There goes baseball's perfect warrior. There goes baseball's perfect knight.
1920-2013
Today, at the end of a week filled with insane sports scandal, we lost the one true modern sports hero. Stan Musial was one of the greatest baseball players ever. You probably don't know his name like you know Babe Ruth's or Joe DiMaggio's names, probably because The Man was never a Yankee. Stan was only ever a Cardinal, and he was the greatest of them all. He held/shared 17 records at the time he retired, but he wasn't just a great athlete. He was a class act and a fantastic man. Stan lived an unflashy life and thought that his status as a professional athlete made him a role model---the first and last pro athlete ever to take on that mindset. He respected everyone and always had an autograph at the ready, eventually making himself an iconic figure in St. Louis even after his national celebrity faded in favor of far more flawed athletes. Cardinal Nation loved him for it and he loved right them back. In fact, Cardinal Nation loved him so much that they campaigned for him to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, and he received it in 2011. Because he was Baseball Jesus in Baseball Heaven, and we were too lucky to have him.
I believe The Man has gone on to a place where athletes need no PEDs, corked bats, or fake Twitter girlfriends to succeed. He's young again, slugging like crazy and catching every single fly ball that enters the outfield.
There goes baseball's perfect warrior. There goes baseball's perfect knight.