Today was a
difficult day for baseball with the passing of Stan Musial and Earl Weaver, both
Hall of Famers.
Stan Musial
was easily one of the nicest guys to ever play baseball; he spent his entire
career, 22 seasons, with the St Louis Cardinals where he won 7 batting titles,
3 MVP Awards and 3 World Series Championships. He had a .331 lifetime batting
average with 475 home runs and 3,630 total hits. If you look back at Major
League Baseball in the 1940s and 1950s three players stand out among the rest;
Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial.
Earl Weaver
was on the opposite side of the spectrum, he was known for arguing any call he
felt was questionable. Once his cap was turned backwards as he charged the
umpire you were almost certain he was about to be ejected. Weaver actually
started as a minor leaguer with the Cardinals in 1948 before moving on to
managing. He eventually worked his way up to First Base Coach with the Orioles
in 1967 before taking over as Manager the following season. In 17 seasons as
the Orioles Manager he went 1480-1060, a .583 winning percentage, making him
the 5th best winning percentage (with managers over 10 seasons or
more). During his time he took Baltimore to the World Series 4 times, winning
in 1970, he also won Manager of the Year Award three times. He had only one losing
season, 1986, which was his final season before retiring for good.
Both men were
well respected in their organization, both have statues located at their
respective stadiums and both had their jersey numbers retired. Even at their
advanced age, Musial was 92 and Weaver was 82, they stayed relatively active
with baseball and their teams.
Both have a
decent selection of cards, though with Musial being a player he has a larger
checklist, and both are included on a number of checklists in modern releases
from Topps and Panini.
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