Stan Musial And Earl Weaver RIP

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 5^th 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.

And Chipper Jones Goes Quietly In To The Night

After the Seahawks-Packers Monday Night Fiasco the referees/umpires are under constant media scrutiny. Tonight’s Braves-Cardinals one-game playoff game was probably not the night for an umpire to call a questionable rule especially in this situation. It was in the 8^th; the Cardinals are up 6-3 when the Braves Simmons knocks a pop-up in to Left Field with two players on and one out.

 

Left Field Umpire Sam Holbrook gestures an Infield Fly Rule just as the ball is falling to the ground automatically marking Simmons as out and in this case holding the Braves runners. So what should have been bases-loaded with one out it became two outs and deflated the sails of the Braves.

 

Understand that even if this Infield Fly Rule was not called that there is no proof that the Braves would have come back and won the game but you are left wondering.

 

The Infield Fly Rule is designed to protect players, unfortunately there is no set specific standard that defines how the rule is to be used and is left to the discretion of an umpire.

 

It truly is disappointing seeing Chipper Jones end his 19-year career on a game that ended in controversy, but he seems to be taking it graciously.

 

So just like in the Seahawks-Packers game, no matter how much evidence there is to the fact the ruling will not be changed and the game overturned. Once again a single referee/umpire makes a decision that ultimately affects the outcome of a game.