We unexpectedly lost my Uncle
Chuck this past week and, ironically, one of his heroes passed away a day or
two later.
As a child, I would visit my grandparents' house and often slept in the room that my father and his brother
shared. I can remember one of the wall
decorations was the logo of the St. Louis Cardinals.
It’s not hard to understand why
brothers growing up in the 1940’s and 1950’s in Philadelphia would wander away from being fans of the local
Philadelphia baseball teams. With the exception of the magic
they created in 1950, the Phillies fielded some pretty awful teams during that
era. The Philadelphia Athletics were even worse,
often finishing in eighth place out of eight teams in the American League.
The Cardinals have always had one
of the greatest logos in sports featuring two bright red birds perched upon a
baseball bat. The color and the logo was
almost enough to make you like the team. The fact that the Cardinals
usually had one of the National League’s best teams each season (especially in
the 1940’s), made it even easier to adopt them as the team to root for.
And then there was “The Man.” Stan “The Man” Musial…who quietly led the
franchise to much of it’s great success.
Stan played for the Cardinals (and ONLY The Cardinals) from 1941 to
1963. You don’t see that type of
longevity with a franchise these days regardless of what sport you’re talking
about.
Musial was a 24 time all-star and
led the league in batting average an incredible seven times. He helped the Cardinals win 3 World Series
Championships in the 1940’s and is easily considered the city’s greatest sports
legend.
Nationally, I think Musial
received great respect for his accomplishments, but I do think he was
underrated by a sports society who would sing about “Willie, Mickey and the
Duke.”
Then again, I think it’s quite a
complement to be referred to as simply…"The Man."
Knowing he was battling many health
concerns over the past few years, it wasn’t a tremendous shock to me to hear of
Stan’s passing. But, it does continue to
signify the passing of the greatest eras in baseball history.
As each of our legends pass, the
past seems even more distant than ever...and the game will never be the same as
it was “back in the day”.
Goodbye to Stan “The Man” and
goodbye to my Uncle Chuck. You both
will be missed by many.
copyright 2013 Bill Mattis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
