LITTLE ROCK — Happy birthday, Stan Musial.
Stan the Man turned 90 today. Not everyone is named to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as Musial was on Wednesday. Then again, not every everyone hit .331 in his career and is the most beloved citizen of his chosen town.
The mere mention of Musial brings a smile to baseball fans of a certain age, who remember his twisting but efficient batting stance and the way he peppered base hits for more than two decades.
Musial was one of the most joyful, decent superstars in any sport, at any time. But yet. That is the key phrase in the St. Louis region, where fans believe Musial has not been properly glorified into old age, as he outlived his more glamorous contemporaries, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio.
“You talk to some people in New York, he’s their favorite player,” said Bill DeWitt Jr., the owner of the Cardinals. “He’s a national figure, one-third of the significant players of his era.”
Still, it took a heartfelt outpouring of love from fans as well as a sophisticated campaign by the Cardinals organization, using modern social networks, and help from three senators from the region, to bring about the medal, which long ago was given to Williams and DiMaggio, and Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Buck O’Neil, HankAaron and Frank Robinson.
A very old-fashioned man, who came up to the majors at the tail end of the 1940 season, was finally put over the top by computer-savvy fans expressing their opinion via a cartoon figure named Flat Stan, based on the educational project Flat Stanley. Go figure.
But it happened, in time for Musial to enjoy the honor extended him by President Barack Obama.
“He was very pleased and humbled,” said DeWitt, who called to congratulate him. Musial has never complained about perhaps being overlooked back east. He knew he was a prince of New York City, particularly the borough of Brooklyn, where fans first called him the Man.
Not quite as mysterious or exciting as DiMaggio or Williams, Musial was quite comfortable being a family man, the personification of the postwar era, who emerged from the zinc factories of smog-plagued Donora, Pa. He was highly regarded by early African-American players because he wanted no part of rumored boycotts or racial slurs; in high school he had played on integrated teams that included Buddy Griffey, father of Ken, grandfather of Junior.
Albert Pujols, who treats Musial like a father figure, has asked Cardinals fans to not refer to him as El Hombre. There is only one Man in St. Louis, Pujols says.
This award comes at a bittersweet juncture for Musial, who hashis good days and his bad days, say old friends who see him at lunch. He magically perks up whenever he is talking hitting with Pujols, and he perked up on Wednesday when the White House adviser David Axelrod called him to deliver the news about the medal.
Several kind people in St. Louis have offered private jets to transport Stan and Lil Musial, married 70 years and now using wheelchairs, to the ceremony in Washington sometime in January.
Even the date of Musial’s birthday became bittersweet after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. A Democrat, Musial campaigned for Kennedy in what we now call red states in the fall of 1960. They met only a few times, but Musial called him “my buddy.”
Now Musial is being honored by another bright young president with, as JFK used to say, vigah.Obama was present at another bittersweet event in 2009 after the Cardinals planned a Stanfest for the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis, comparable to the homage paid to a visibly fading Williams at the 1999 All-Star Game in Fenway Park. But in 2009, the White House accepted the standing invitation to the game, which cut into much of the attention planned for Stan the Man.
The president, undoubtedly unaware of local feeling, greeted Musial on the field and later charmed Musial’s relatives in a private suite,but Cardinals fans saw the change of plans as yet another snub, however inadvertent.
After that, the Cardinals quietly mobilized. DeWitt formally nominated Musial for the medal and approved a “Stand for Stan” campaign, in which fans sent messages through the Cardinals’ website. Often they were photographed in familiar or exotic places with a flat likeness of Musial, adapted from the Flat Stanley series.
“The day we started, the team was in San Diego, and there were fans in the stands with Flat Stan posters,” said Ron Watermon, the team’s point man for the successful project.
The cause was moved forward by Sens. Kit Bond, R-Mo.; Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; and Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., who maintained contact with the White House. The decision is made by the president.
Last Wednesday, Musial was included on a list with Bill Russell, the dominant force of the Boston Celtics dynasty, former President George H.W. Bush and other prominent Americans, as well as the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Musial and Lil and most of their family will celebrate with a quiet party at home Sunday night. He is quite happy over the medal, but then again, he is almost always happy. As he has often said, you’d be happy, too, if you hit .331.
Happy birthday, dear Stanley.
Happy birthday to you.
Sports, Pages 26 on 11/21/2010