Stan the Man

Baseball  Hall-of-Famer Stan Musial passed away today at the age of 92.  As a lifelong, die-had Chicago Cubs fan, it was difficult for me to like anything about their most intense rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.  (And all the more since he got his 3,000th hit at Wrigley Field.)  But it was difficult not to admire Stan the Man, which was so annoying.  But when a guy is not only great, but a truly wonderful, classy person (as all accounts his whole life reiterated), that softened the blow.

There have been an abundance of tributes, but I enjoyed this one on the Major League Baseball site since it had links to several videos.  But one video which I'm sure few places linked relates to one of my favorite memories of Musical -- and it had nothing to do with playing the game.  Musial loved playing the harmonica and carried one with him everywhere.  This is him at the 1997 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, and when he was introduced along with all the other legends, well...what's a baseball ceremony without "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"?!