Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Rodak Remembers: (This is not a) Baseball Quiz



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In the comment thread following Baseball Quiz #16, my cyber-buddy, Moose, brought up the subject of Stan “the Man” Musial. He asked if I had read the recent Sports Illustrated article on Musial. I said that I hadn’t. Moose kindly provided me with the necessary link when I couldn’t find it. (You can read the piece here.)

After reading the article, I posted this on the comment thread:


Thanks for sharing that, Moose. It literally choked me up. Blatant goodness is rarely seen. Instead of a Quiz, my next baseball post will be some of the pics of Musial I saved as a young kid. I only saw Musial play on TV, but even as I kid I knew how great he was. There were two guys: Musial and Williams. Everybody else scrambled for third place.

And Moose responded with:

I never got the chance to see him play, obviously, but always loved hearing the stories of him. And, yes, the article puts a lump in your throat. I do believe that there are guys out there now like him but that isn't as much of a story to tell as the assholes (or at least the outspoken ones), especially these days with our gotcha journalism and "tell all" behind-the-scenes books.



Moose continued:


I like how you state that the top was between Musial and Williams. Just look at the contrast between the two players. Williams seemed to excel based on his intensity and drive. Musial (not saying he wasn't intense or driven mind you) seemed to do well because he love being out there playing a game. Two totally different animals when you think about it. Also, I'm not saying Ted didn't love playing but I just don't think he derived the pure joy of playing ball that Stan did.
Definitely makes you want to read more about him, doesn't it?

So, I encourage you sports fans to read the article linked above, and close this non-Quiz by posting another of the promised pics:

Stan "the Man" Musial

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