[Scott F.]

Number 6, Stan the Man passed away quietly in his home yesterday. Stan was 92. If you are from St Louis, you know just how much he was loved here in town. He was absolutely iconic with St Louis Cardinals Baseball.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/stan-the-man-musial-dies-no-was-greatest-cardinal/article_663ad0b8-d8fb-5cdd-8fd3-8f397f7a263a.html

I don't want to say that I knew Stan well but we saw each other quite often and talked occasionally as we frequented the same haunt for lunch. Stan and his grandson would come to the Frontenac Hilton for lunch several days a week. He has an assigned parking space in the Hotel lot that says "Reserved for No. 6. Me and the guys I work with would have lunch there at least once a week. Always being respectful of Stan's privacy and not mobbing him like the typical fan, we would let him eat lunch in peace. I think Stan appreciated it. In turn, we'd have casual conversations on occasion. Once you got past his fame, he was just a nice guy.

Over the past ten or twelve years, we've watched Stan's age start to catch up with him. We went from being spry and driving himself to lunch to needing to lean on his grandson to walk.

One of my favorite memories of Stan was a day I walked into the restaurant and there sits Stan, Whitey Herzog, Mike Shannon, Red Schoendiest, Bill Dewitt, Walt Jocketty and a half dozen other former Cardinal players and management. It was about 11:30 in the morning and Whitey was working on [about] his third Bloody Mary. Needless to say, he was holding court. Just sitting and eavesdropping on the 'stories' was a blast. Between him and Shannon, they had most of the other patrons in stitches.

Anyway, it goes without saying, it is a sad day here in St Louis. 

[zybar]

One of the best players of all-time and certainly the least appreciated.

George

[medium jim]

One of the best players of all-time and certainly the least appreciated.

George

Stan the Man was truly the man in St. Louis and was one of the most respected players among his peers.  A very unassuming person who I had the great pleasure of meeting in person in 1994....yes, he had his ever present harmonica in his pocket!  R.I.P. Stan

Jim

[Devil Doc]

Not a good day for us old timers. Earl Weaver passed away yesterday, as well.

Doc

[medium jim]

Not a good day for us old timers. Earl Weaver passed away yesterday, as well.

Doc

Yes, I know...

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=113396.msg1180274#msg1180274

Earl of a heart attack while on vacation...

Jim

[jackman]

One of the best players of all-time and certainly the least appreciated.

George

Agreed, Stan was a true legend and gentleman.  He never got the recognition he deserved because he didn't wear the Yankee pinstripes or play for the Red Sox.  If he played for one of those teams, he would have received the recognition he truly deserved.

Look at his numbers versus DiMaggio or Mantle (or Mays or Aaron for that matter).  I think Stan is easily top ten best of all time.  Better than Mantle and DiMaggio and several legends commonly ranked above Musial.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/610822-stan-musial-baseballs-most-forgotten-and-underrated-superstar

[thunderbrick]

But if he had, fewer people would have liked him.   

[soundbitten1]

I was a huge Yankee fan growing up and I loved Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford & Yogi Berra but my favorite ballplayer was Stan "The Man" Musial. 

[jackman]

Soundbitten,

Very cool.  I admire all of those players as well, and I'm a fan of DiMaggio.  Baseball is my favorite sport and it is always fun talking about players from this era.

[daves]

Stan is revered in the midwest. For years KMOX would crank up the power at night, and 500,000 watts of Cardinals baseball would pour out from tube radios in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee with minimal competition from other teams besides Chicago and Cincinnati.

Between the Gashouse gang and Stan, the Cardinals created a history that has placed them as the second most frequent visitor to the World Series after the Yankees...just don't pose this factoid to anyone east of Ohio - you will get a blank stare.

Stan is not underrated by knowledgable baseball fans, only by those who have been educated by ESPN, with is slight east coast bias. 

Stan was a prince in all respects of his life. We have lost the greatest of all Cardinals.

[Scott F.]

I'm not sure if anyone is watching but FOX 2 has great coverage of Stan's memorial service. They've been going since early this morning with a great group of revolving guests all sharing their memories of Stan.

It's a sad day.

[Joe_K]

[harley52]

I lived in Rochester ny. for way too many years. Moved there from St. Louis.I was just a 10 year old kid. During the season I'd lay in bed with my little transistor radio and lisen to the games 'til I fell asleep. Thought I had the radio hid well but my mother mentioned this to my dad and he told her, "what's wrong with that." Will never ever forget the Man.
 Remember the talk of Pujols would be able to match and replace STan and all the numbers Stan put up. They come and go but, Stan remains at the top of all Cardinals. My second favorite and extremely talented player was Jimmie Edmonds. I shed a tear when he announced he wouldn't compete for a place on the squad, last year or the year before. And lets not forget Gibby. Remember the year following his retirement,MLB made the Gibson rule of lowering the pitching mound because it was "just too unfair to the batter ".
 Oh, such wonderful memories.