St. Louis Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. called Stan Musial the greatest Cardinal to ever live and one of the best in baseball. Stan the Man, who played his entire 22 year major league career with the Cardinals died Saturday evening at his home just outside of St. Louis. He was 92.
Stan Musial Tribute (2:15)
Musial was a member of Cardinals teams that won the World Series in 1942, 1944 and 1946. Musial’s lone World Series homer run came in the first inning of game four against the St. Louis Browns in ‘44. That homer gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead and they would go on to win three straight games and the series, 4-2.
Musial was the winner of seven NL batting titles and finished his career with a .331 average. His 3,000 hit came in 1958.
AUDIO Musial talks about his career (7:00)
His final game in a Cardinals uniform came on September 29th, 1963 at Busch Stadium, when in the bottom of the 6th inning, Musial faced Jim Maloney of the Reds. It was Musial’s 3,630th hit of his career which at the time of his retirement was tops in baseball.
That year was also the rookie season of Pete Rose who did become baseball’s all-time hit leader. However, no player could top Musial for the type of man he was off the field. In 2010, President Obama presented Musial with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the U.S. government.