Leo Durocher, who faced Musial as a player and manager, once said the only way to pitch him was “under the plate.” Then I’d pick up the speed and rotation of the ball in the first 30 feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it approached the plate.” Musial said he “memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve and slider. In 1943, Musial won his first batting title and MVP award when the Cardinals lost the series to the New York Yankees. Louis outfielder Terry Moore said in the 1994 book “Stan the Man Musial: Born to Be a Ballplayer.” If the war hadn’t come along, I feel we could have won maybe six or seven pennants in a row,” St. “The ’42 Cardinal club was the best I was with. With Musial in the lineup beginning in 1942, the Cardinals reached the World Series in three consecutive seasons, winning in 19. “Facing oblivion in the spring, he reached stardom,” according to the 2001 book “Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man.” Musial had a remarkable season, hitting a combined. Louis, and the Cardinals finished second to the Dodgers. 426 in 12 games late in the season for St. In 1941, he reached the majors despite starting the season on a lowly minor league team in Springfield, Mo. “My arm never did get better,” he told the St. The next season in Daytona Beach, Fla., Musial hurt his left shoulder diving for a ball in center field, ending his pitching career. But another player’s injury gave him a chance to play outfield, and he saved his career by hitting. He was so wild in Williamson, W.Va., the lowest level of the Cardinals’ minor league system, that his manager suggested he be released. He could have played college basketball on scholarship but signed with the Cardinals as a pitcher in 1938. In high school, Musial was a two-sport star. 21, 1920, in Donora, Pa., to Lukasz and Mary Lancos Musial, the fifth of their six children.

Don Newcombe, a star pitcher for the Dodgers, told Sports Illustrated in 2010: “I could have rolled the ball up there against Musial, and he would have pulled out a golf club and hit it out.”

Stan the man musial