2010 was a big year for the greatest St. Louis Cardinal ever, Stan Musial.
One of baseball’s last surviving stars from the 1940’s received word on November 17 from The White House that President Barack Obama will award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Four days later, the Hall of Famer celebrated his 90th birthday.
The highest civilian award in the United States recognizes those who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
“The Man” was the beneficiary of a drive fueled by thousands of Cardinals fans and supported by elected officials who took a “Stand for Stan” stance during 2010, drawing attention to and honoring Musial’s lifetime of achievement and service.
Of course, the Cardinals organization was fully behind the effort, starting with an online petition and a variety of other interest-generating elements throughout the season.
One of the most memorable aspects of the campaign was a printable “Flat Stan the Man,” a takeoff on the “Flat Stanley Project” used for years in literacy awareness efforts. Fans and celebrities alike posing for pictures with Flat Stan the Man were widely publicized.
The national media rediscovered Musial’s greatness as exemplified by Sports Illustrated, which featured him on their August 3 cover and ran an excellent story by Joe Posnanski entitled “What Modern Baseball Can Learn from Stan the Man.”
Current Cardinals star Albert Pujols once again reminded everyone that he does not want to be called “El Hombre” out of respect for the one and only “The Man.”
“Stand for Stan Day” was held at Busch Stadium on October 2. Musial was in the house as 39,633 fans showered their support. In the middle of the sixth inning, those in attendance were asked to stand up for Stan while holding oversized Flat Stan the Man cutouts distributed at the gates. Musial had earlier made an appearance at the April 12 home opener as well.
Others named to receive the 2011 Medal along with Musial are poet Maya Angelou, President George W. Bush, investor Warren Buffett and former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell.
To read more about the many on-field accomplishments of the man we named the top player in the history of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise, click here.
Link to The Cardinal Nation Blog’s top 20 stories of the year countdown
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Everybody should hope Stan can show at the Ballpark for several more years.I still get a kick thinking about him riding around the field and all the players and fans cheering for him.
Other baseball players to receive the award were Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente. Good company to be in.
I forgot Joe DiMaggio, Frank Robinson, and Hank Aaron as well.
Brian — Thanks for sharing the link to the SI story. Great stuff!
Albert > Stan as a player.
Everything I have ever read about Stan describes him as a better person than he was a ball player and he was a hall of fame ball player. Stan the person may be something that Albert may never be able to achieve.
The only way to make that kind of comparison is to wait until Albert is 90 and see what the perception of him as a person is by the folks around then. I’m happy enough comparing baseball exploits.
Don’t get me wrong Bling, Albert is a good guy and does great things for many many people. My comment was not a slap on Albert but rather a real plug about how great of a man Stan was said to have been since conception.
Heck Bling, hasn’t Albert won man of the year and numerous other good guy awards over the years? And he may reach the status that Stan has achieved one day but it sure seems like it would be hard from the way you hear people speak of Stan. Even Albert speaks highly of him, as a great man, not only a great player.
I don’t know what folks thought of Stan back in the early 50′s when he was 10 years in to his career. From what I remember hearing in the 60′s, he was known to be a saint and walk on water from birth on. As for me, I cannot ever remember not worshiping the ground he walks on. Back then, if there was any negative stuff concerning a hero figure, it was often not reported. So who knows. Personally, I wouldn’t want to know.
There is little doubt both Stan and Albert will be ranked as numbers one and two in some order of the greatest to ever wear the birds on the bat when all is said and done.
Years from now, there will likely be some lively arguments about who is #1 and who is #2.
Of course, if the Westy prophecy comes to pass (insert dots here)
As far as Albert goes, he’s a super rich guy who will be more super rich. He has a lot to offer and is entitled to get what he can. He is known to spread some of it around, especially in his homeland where it makes a big difference. He also does a lot of community and charity stuff, especially stuff concerning special needs kids, which is something he faces in his everyday family life. About the only negative thing I can think of is that it seems he is hard to work with if he thinks you don’t measure up. That’s understandable in a big money business where an expectation of professionalism and accomplishment is not unreasonable. The world would most likely be better if there were more Stans and more Alberts.
Albert hasn’t made too many mistakes in this life. He may not be able to walk on water but he doesn’t sink below the ankles when he heads across the Mississippi.
Maybe up to the knees now seeing as he’s thickened up around the middle.
“…according to Baseball Info Solutions stats the Cardinals plan to start three minus infielders and two minus outfielders in 2011…
From todays Goold article at stltoday.com
Mo says the Cards have their own defensive metrics and the team should be a good defensive club, if not better.
The story points out that defense wasn’t great last year, and also that the team will be minus two GG calibre starters in Ryan and Luddy. Also talks about Skips training routine this winter.
IIRC, a lot of the defensive problems last year came from 3B fill ins, Skip, and Brendan’s fielding slump. So if Freese stays healthy and Skip improves some, and Theriot is reliable on the plays he should make, maybe the infield will be better.
Lots of if’s and maybe’s bling , the Cards just don’t feel like they will even be average defensively this season. It all hinges on healthy Freese playing 145 games.
Skip is at a plateau on his fielding,
hopefully he can bounceback with the bat.
That will be a real interesting comparison between Stan Musial and Albert Pujols when
he retires. The huge difference between the two has to be the enormous money that players get now. I realize that Stan was well paid for the times but 100,000 isn;t the same as 15 million after adjusting for inflation.
Albert will have the edge with homers, how will he compare with the great Musial stat of 3,630 hits, including 1815 hits at home and 1815 hits on the road.
If Albert plays 22 years like Stan, does that mean Dewitt should offer 12 years at 20 million per?
KDSK is reporting that Stan Musial will receive his Medal of Freedom Tuesday, February 15th at 12:30 at the White House.