Last Saturday night, I heard that Stan Musial had died at 92. I don’t know if young people today, unless you live in St Louis, would even know who he was. To people my age, at least to the males of the species, he was a hero. Hero is a funny word. In the classical world it meant people of almost super human strength who did great and wonderful things. In the West we would be correct if we use it for people who have succeeded on the field of battle. Audie Murphy would be close to what would qualify as a true hero. The word has had it value diluted. We have extended it to cover people who just show up on the battlefield. Not that I would have a problem with that. Given the terror of modern warfare surviving a great battle is a feat. We have also extended the usage to people who are popular figures of some accomplishment (usually athletics).
As a boy there were a number of baseball players who were heroes. Willy Mays was one, Stan Musial was another. So was Warren Spahn (I loved pitching so that is why he was there). I would have considered Ty Cobb to be a hero too. Tom Seaver of the Mets was probably the last hero added to my personal pantheon. Compared to the other heros, Stan Musial always had a special place. He was not just a big name ballplayer, he was ‘one of us’, my grandfather was a coal miner in PA, Stan’s father was also a coal miner also in PA. Stan’s family was Catholic and Polish, so was my mother’s. (It is hard to today to realize that at one time Catholics were outsiders. So were Polish Americans. That has all changed. We have 5 at least nominal Catholics on the Supreme Court.) I don’t go to church and I don’t know any Polish immigrants anymore so, some of those things aren’t so important to me.
Over time I have lost interest in most of my older heroes. As far as Ty Cobb goes, I don’t know when I realized what a scoundrel he was. I assume it was sometime before my mid 30’s. I still admire his skills but think he would have been a better player all around if he was slightly more human. For the more normal sports heroes (ie: Mays or Seaver), my interest in baseball has diminished and so has my interest in them. I just don’t follow baseball every day as I once did. I remember when one of my art teachers John Guderian told me that in 1955 the Brooklyn World Series was the most important thing in the world, but over time he lost interest in baseball. I never expected it would happen to me, but it did.
I never lost my appreciation of Mr. Musial. Some years ago I heard a story about him playing his harmonica at retirement homes. The interested me. He was a real person not just a public figure. Looking back at his baseball record. His was very balanced. He hit exactly the same number of hits away as he did at home. He was never a hot head, he never was thrown out of a game. When baseball integrated in 1947, some of the Cardinal acted badly towards Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial was never involved in that. He wasn’t just a figurehead, he helped operate the businesses he owned. He is one man who other baseball people respected. He was devoted to the city that he worked in and lived in, St. Louis, and lived in the area until he died. I would say that statistics speak for themselves, but that isn’t true. He was even more than those statistics.
In the last 3 days I have been reading a good number of articles about him and I have been happily recalling the time when baseball was more important in the life of the country and more important in my life. It is sad to see someone pass on even at an advanced age. For us it is time to remember his life and to recall the days of day baseball and some of the more sunny characters of our childhood. Nice guys don’t always finish last.
