Hall of Fame Spotlight - Stan Musial

Plaque photo borrowed from http://www.baseballhall.org/

Stan 'The Man' Musial (b. 1920). A sure thing, slam dunk of a Hall of Famer if there ever was one. 3,630 hits. 475 home runs. .331 career batting average. Those are some lofty numbers. Let's look at the breakdown:

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  3-time NL MVP (1943, 1946, 1948)


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  Finished 2nd in MVP voting 4 times (1949, 1950, 1951, 1957)


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  3-time World Series champion (1942, 1944, 1946)


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  7-time batting champion [1943 (.357), 1946 (.365), 1948 (.376), 1950 (.346), 1951 (.355), 1952 (.336), 1957 (.351)]


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  Hit over .300 in 16 straight full seasons and 17 seasons overall


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  Hit 200+ hits in 6 seasons


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  20-time All Star


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  .331 batting average ranks 32nd all-time


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  3,630 hits rank 4th all-time


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  6,134 total bases rank 2nd all-time


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  725 doubles rank 3rd all-time


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  177 triples rank 19th all-time


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  475 home runs rank 28th all-time


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  1,951 RBI rank 6th all time

Musial played 22 seasons (1941 to 1944, 1946 to 1963) all for the Cardinals. He missed the 1945 season after enlisting in the Navy for World War II. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969 on 93.2% of the ballot.

I usually do a section on here of do they deserve to be a Hall of Famer, and a final verdict. I don't think that would be necessary in Musial's case. I do believe that he is one of the most overlooked players in the 'Greatest Player Ever' debate. However, if you were wondering - YES, Musial is a Hall of Famer. No doubt in my mind. I wonder why he only got 93.2% of the vote and not more? Ridiculous. He should have 100%.

You can get Musial's auto pretty cheaply online. The best place to go is his official website: http://www.stan-the-man.com/. I got a ball from there last year for $100.00.

I've also heard that some people have been lucky enough to get Musial TTM, but it's a real crap-shoot and I'd recommend that you save some time and go through his website instead.

Did you know that since Bob Feller passed away in December, Musial is now the longest tenured living Hall of Famer? He has been in the Hall since 1969 (almost 43 years).