Starting out as a pitcher in the minors, injury pushed Stan Musial to first base. In a Majors career that spanned twenty-three years and three world Series rings, Musial established himself as one of the greatest hitters of all time. You want numbers? How about a career average of .331 over 3660 hits, 1951 RBIs, and 475 home runs.
In 1949 he was on course to win a Triple Crown in the National League, falling short by one home run… that he had a home run in a game subsequently rained off robbed him not only of the crown, but robbed the record books of the one player in the twentieth century who would have topped the league's single season tables in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, runs, hits, double, triples, and home runs.
That's why Musial put the "The "in "The Man".
For this week's game, we head to 1957. The Brooklyn Dodgers welcome St Louis Cardinals to Ebbets Field. Musial is third in the batting order and is going to go three from five in a productive day for his bat. But can the rest of the team back him up?
Behind the microphones you have Vin Scully for the first three innings, with Al Helfter for the final six.
And keep listening to the very end of the broadcast; with the last few plays missing, the team here at Classic Baseball Radio have reconstructed the calls and game summary. It's not an edit, more of a post-broadcast "here's what you missed".
You can find the boxscore here:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO195706161.shtml
This game was played on June 16 1957.
When You Need A First Baseman, Call For Stan "The Man" Musial, Cardinals at Dodgers, June 16, 1957. | Classic Baseball Radio podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
