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Stan Musial

Info from here and here.

Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial (born November 21, 1920) is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals (1941–1963). Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection (tied with Willie Mays), and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. He compiled 3,630 hits (ranking fourth all-time and most in a career spent with only one team). With 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 on the road, he is also considered to be the most consistent hitter of his era. He also compiled 475 home runs during his career, was named the National League's Most Valuable Player three times, and won three World Series championship titles. Musial was a first-ballot inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 and is currently the longest tenured living Hall of Famer.

Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, where he frequently played baseball in both informal and organized settings, eventually playing on the baseball team at Donora High School. Signed to a professional contract by the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher in 1938, Musial was converted into an outfielder prior to his major league debut in 1941. Noted for his unique batting stance, he quickly established himself as a consistent and productive hitter. In his first full season, 1942, the Cardinals won the World Series. The following year, he led the National League in six different offensive categories and earned his first MVP award. He was also named an All-Star for the first time; he would be selected to every All-Star Game in every subsequent season he played.

During the winter months of 1943-1944, Musial, along with Danny Litwhiler, Hank Borowy, Dixie Walker and Frankie Frisch, was part of a USO sponsored group that traveled to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands entertaining troops.

When it became obvious that Musial would be inducted, Pete Reiser tried to convince him to sign up with the Army. That way, Reiser could get Musial to Fort Riley where he could play with the service team. "I told Pete, 'Naw, I'm going into the Navy'," he explained to author Frederick Turner. "I just liked the Navy for some reason - the water and all. You know where a lot of those guys wound up who were at Fort Riley? At the Battle of the Bulge."

Musial won his second World Series ring in 1944, then missed the entire 1945 season while serving with the United States Navy.

In June 1945, he was assigned to Special Services and sent to Hawaii. Attached to a ship launch unit at Pearl Harbor, he ran a launch out to battle-damaged ships that came in, ferrying personnel back to port. Three or four afternoons a week he played baseball for the Ship Repair Unit in the 14th Naval District League. "Ten thousand every game," he recalled. "You know, there were so many men around Hawaii, goddamn thousands and thousands of guys, so this was good diversion for them." In August 1945, he even resurrected his pitching career, blanking an Army all-star team with a four-hitter in a game at Maui.

In the fall of 1945, Musial's father fell seriously ill at home in Donora. Stan was granted emergency leave orders to visit home. After his father recovered he was assigned duty in Philadelphia and back at Bainbridge .

Musial was discharged from the Navy on March 15, 1946, and promptly returned to the Cardinals.

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