STAN MUSIAL
Born: November 21, 1920 in Donora, Pennsylvania
Died: January 19, 2013 in Ladue, Missouri
Full name Stanley Frank Musial
Born November 21, 1920, Donora,
Pennsylvania
First Game: September 17, 1941; Final Game: September 29,
1963
Bat: Left Throw: Left Height: 6' 0" Weight: 175
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1969
Named NL Most Valuable Player by
Baseball Writers' Association of America (1943, 1946 and 1948)
Named NL Most
Valuable Player by The Sporting News (1943)
Named Major League Player of the
Year by The Sporting News (1946 and 1951)
Named NL Player of the Year by The
Sporting News (1948, 1951 and 1957)
Named first baseman on The Sporting News
Major League All-Star Team (1946 and 1957 to 1958)
Named
outfielder on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1943 to 1944 and
1948 to 1954)
STAN MUSIAL
This article was written by Jan Finkel and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research
About twenty-five miles south and a bit east of
Pittsburgh, roughly along the Monongahela River (Western Pennsylvanians call it
the Mon and the Mon Valley), lies the town of Donora. Donora and the surrounding
communities used to be a fairly thriving multi-ethnic area comprised of
Italians, Eastern Europeans, and African-Americans that turned out steel, zinc,
and world-class athletes. The Depression and management chicanery took care of
the steel industry. A thermal inversion finished off zinc. Many of the young
people left before conceiving children, athletic or otherwise.
It was glorious while it lasted, though. Dan Towler went
to nearby Washington and Jefferson College and then to the old Los Angeles Rams,
where he once led the National Football League in rushing. Arnold Galiffa
quarterbacked Red Blaik's undefeated 1948 and 1949 teams at Army. Buddy Griffey
didn't make it to the top, but his son (Ken) and grandson (Ken Jr.) did rather
well. And Stan Musial stood out above them all.
According to writer James Giglio, Lukasz Musial, age 19, left "the [Polish]
village of Mojstava in the province of Galicia, at that time part of
Austria-Hungary" in January 1910. He sailed on the President Grant out of
Hamburg on January 24, landing at Ellis Island six days later. Claiming to be
5'7" and 150 pounds but deemed much smaller by people who knew him, Lukasz went
straight from New York to Donora, where he worked at a variety of unskilled
jobs. Among other things, he was what was called a "'machine helper'" and a
porter at the Public Hotel. Early on he met Mary Lancos, 14 years old and the
daughter of Czech immigrants (who had a Hungarian surname) from the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. One of ten children, Mary, born in New York, was close
to six feet tall, big-boned, and although untrained, probably athletic. Not
unusual for the time and place, she had become a housekeeper when she was
eight.
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Film Credits
2010-2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2009 Ted Williams (Other), 2009 2009 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2006 St. Louis Cardinals: Baseball Heaven (in person), 2006 DHL Presents Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes (Other), 2005-2006 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2003 100 Years of the World Series (Other), 2000-2001 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 2000 Michael Jordan to the Max (in person), 1991 When It Was a Game (Other), 1991 CBS This Morning (in person), 1985 Hee Haw (in person), 1975 The Way It Was (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 That Girl (in person), 1964 What's My Line (in person), 1963-1965 The Merv Griffin Show (in person), 1963 1963 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1958 1958 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1957 1957 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1956 1956 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1955 1955 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1954 1954 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1953 1953 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1952 1952 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1951 1951 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1950 1950 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1949-1958 Toast of the Town (in person), 1949 1949 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1947 Style of the Stars (in person)
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