Stan the Man in 1953 (Wikipedia)
The Mets have experienced their fair share of Met Killers over the past 60 years. One was a Red Bird.
I was fortunate enough as a young boy to see a bit of the career of the great St Louis Cardinal Hall of Famer, Stan "the Man" Musial.
I loved reading his baseball card and admiring those stats!
What I saw on TV was when he was a 41 year old in 1962's Mets inaugural year and in his final season in 1963 at age 42.
When I look at his stats against the NY Mets, I can only think one thing:
What on earth would he have done if he was 31 years old instead of 41 when the Mets joined the NL.
In two years against the Mets, Musial, whose career started more than 2 decades earlier in 1941, did THIS:
101 plate appearances....a mere 5 strikeouts vs. 20 walks...6 HRs, 21 RBIs...and .405/.515/.684.
Let me repeat...
Over 40 years old, and .405/.515/.684!!!
Stan, who had 3,630 career hits, 726 doubles, and 1,377 extra base hits vs. just 699 career strikeouts, and a .331 career average and a .417 OBP, probably could have played until 50 if he saw that sort of Mets pitching more frequently.
Hey, it just wasn't the Mets he wiped the floor with at age 41 in 1962. He hit a legit .330!
The three-time MVP missed the 500 HR club due to missing all of the 1945 season in military service. He amazingly had no rust when he got back in 1946, as he racked up 228 hits.
He hit over .300 SEVENTEEN TIMES!
Oh, by the way, he was not just a 3-time MVP, he finished 2nd in MVP voting 4 times, too. And got MVP votes in 18 different seasons.
WHAT A PLAYER. HE RACKED UP 128.7 WAR!
Consider Stan by comparison to the Mets' Gold Standard, David Wright.
Wright accumulated 79 fewer WAR points than Musial. 58% fewer WAR for Wright than Musial accumulated.
Of course "the Man" was a Mets' Killer.
Why not? He killed everybody.
He was Stan the Man. And everyone knew it.
8 comments:
Everyone is speechless over how great Stan the Man was, I know.
One of the all time greats. Even Brooklyn Dodger fans loved Stan, the man
Ray, sadly, by the time I started really watching baseball, I saw little of Stan. Great hitter, great guy.
I wonder if he earned $1 million in his career? Some guy calculated he made $1.25 million. Say that was equivalent to $20 million in today's $$. What a disgrace.
One thing I liked about him and Ted Williams is they pretty much branched from the time of Ruth and Gehrig into the McCovey etc. era, as their careers branched from 1940 to 1960. and helped show that the Babe and Lou were great then and likely would have done really well in the modern game too.
Mets held a "Night" for Stan in 63. Speeches, gifts, etc.
Did they do that for Chipper?
Hobie, kinder times, Stan was better, and he had less time to damage the Mets - and if he hit zero against the Mets instead of .400+, it would not have affected the Mets' dreary fortunes back then.
Chipper? We can have a Buffalo Chip Night for him. He did lots of damage against the Metsies.
As I sort through my many must-sell belongings prior to moving overseas later in the year, one of my prize possessions to go up for bid is an autographed baseball by Stan the Man.
Reese that's great. That ought to bring in a nice penny
Ryan Zimmerman retired. He hit well against the Mets but actually hit better against Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Miami.
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