It’s an appropriate time of year for Stan Musial to receive yet
another honor in a life of honors, coming as it does the week that
Major League Baseball players report to spring training camps in
Florida and Arizona (one of the happiest weeks in my calendar —
signaling an end to the baseball-free months). But this latest
distinction comes awfully late for fans of the Man, who showed
millions not only how baseball is to be played at the very highest
level, but also how an all-star life can be lived.
“I wish he’d received this award about 30 year ago,” said
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s long-time go-to writer on
the Cardinals, Rick Hummel, when we talked about the 90-year-old
Musial receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday at the
White House. “He’s very deserving of the award. Fans in St. Louis
still get excited when he shows up at the ball park.”
The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian
honor. Hundreds have received it over the years, including many
truly deserving, great Americans. Also some political choices of
questionable achievement, as well as some outright humbugs, have
crashed the proceedings.
Billy-Bob Carter and his astringent wife Rosalynn have the
award. This year’s class of 15 includes Warren Buffett, cellist
Yo-Yo Ma, George Herbert Walker Bush, AFL-CIO’s John J. Sweeney,
Holocaust survivor and author Gerda Weissmann Klein, poet Maya
Angelou, et al. TAS readers can separate the wheat from
the chaff in this lot.
The world of sport was also represented Tuesday by Bill
Russell, who along with the late Boston Celtics coach and then
general manager Red Auerbach, invented professional basketball (and
is in no way responsible for the slough the NBA has periodically
found itself in).
In the 1950s, when the NBA was still less than a decade
old, Auerbach added defensive specialist Russell to an already
dominant offensive team led by Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman. Russell
quickly became the game’s best rebounder and shot blocker. He
functioned, to mix sports a bit, as the team’s defensive
quarterback. And he helped lead the Celtics to an amazing 11 NBA
championships in 13 years, winning five league MVP awards along the
way.
But while these two men dominated their sports, their
off-the-field, off-the-court performances have been very different.
Musial before, during, and after his athletic stardom, was always
the friendly, gracious, humble but confident man, who was always
there for family and teammates, for his community, and for his many
fans. He may be the nicest man ever to play any major league sport.
From the Man, there was never heard a discouraging word.
“He checks off all the boxes in what make a good man,”
Cardinals director of media Brian Bartow told me. “He’s a true
gentleman. Not afraid to laugh at himself. He likes to play his
harmonica for people. He puts smiles of people’s faces.”
Russell on the other hand, has been a scratchier and
sometimes sullen business, prone to nurture grievances. But withal
a great athlete who contributed a lot to his sport, and gave his
fans many glorious moments. Not the least of which came when Wilt
Chamberlain was in the court for the opposing team. And it surely
was not easy to be the first black head-coach in any major sports
team.
Musial remains very popular in St. Louis, one of the
nation’s outstanding baseball towns, even though it has been 47
years since the Man swung at a Major League pitch (September 29,
1963, an RBI single in the 7th in Busch Stadium against
Cincinnati’s Jim Maloney).
Busch Stadium was packed at 2010’s final home game for
Stand Up For Stan Night, when Stan took the grand tour in a golf
cart and soaked up, yet again, the love that Cardinals fans still
have for him. It was those same fans who, with the encouragement of
the Cardinals management, lobbied the White House to correct the
oversight and give Stan the long overdue medal. The Man certainly
can keep company with previous baseball players who’ve receive the
award: Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio, Henry Aaron,
Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Buck O’Neil.
Doubtless it was a good week for Musial, who needs a bit
of help to get around these days, which he often gets on the arm of
his grandson, Brian Musial Schwarze. But now it will be back to St.
Louis, and more trips to the ball park once the baseball season
begins.
“He doesn’t come to the clubhouse as often as he used to,”
Bartow said. “But when he comes he captivates the room. The players
always look forward to seeing him. He’s part of the fabric of life
around here.”
Musial’s gaudy stats over a 22-year major league career
qualify him for any baseball accolade anyone can think up. Consider
a .331 lifetime batting average, 475 home runs, 3,630 hits, three
MVP awards, and five batting titles. But the way this son of
hard-working immigrants has led his life, along with Lillian, his
bride of 71 years, suits him for awards beyond the fame his
baseball prowess earned him.
Those who’ve followed Musial’s career and life don’t need
Barack Obama to tell us about Musial’s talent, integrity, and
decency. Tuesday’s award was plainly deserved and way overdue.
Musial certainly deserved to receive it from a better president.
But it appears that Stan enjoyed the day. The proceeding got great
ratings in St. Louis, where Cardinal fans are pleased to see their
Man on the national stage again. So I guess I’m happy about it
too.
