sport historian
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This Summer, i am reading some biographies of famous baseball players. Last week, ESPN Classic reran their bio of Stan Musial. One of the main points is that Musial's reputation has faded, while Williams, DiMaggio, and others have stayed famous.
In the Bill James 1987 Baseball Abstract, James discusses this and tells us why he rates Musial ahead of Williams. Ted, until no longer able, was always being interviewed and quoted while Stan was mostly ignored. Still another major Williams bio, by Leigh Montville, was recently published.
My own memory is that during the 1950's, Stan Musial was the most respected player in baseball. More than Williams, Mays, Mantle, and Aaron. The late Roberto Clemente is the subject of a very flattering and much publicized recent biography. No serious student of baseball would have rated Clemente as being as good as Musial at his best during the 60's. The so-called sabermetricians DO like Musial. Jayson Stark in his book, "The Stark Truth," rates Musial the most under-rated left fielder of all time.
James Giglio, an academic historian, who writes Presidential biographies, has written a book about Stan Musial. It is published by the University of Missouri, not by a big publisher.
The ESPN show starts with Robert Creamer saying, "It drives me crazy the way Musial has disappeared from baseball's consciousness," A Cardinal announcer says that Musial is unhappy with this, "He feels there is an east coast bias." John Thorn says that "Stan Musial was geographically challenged. If he was in New York, he would have been Lou Gehrig. Tim McCarver says that "nobody was ever more appropriately named than Stan the Man."
Professor Giglio comes on and says, "If there is a mystery about Musial, it is in contradictions. During his playing career, no player was more cooperative with the press. On the other hand, in terms of anyone wishing to write about his life, Stan Musial has been virtually inaccessible. No superstar of his time has less reason to be secretive about his life, but in reality, Stan Musial has been as secretive as Joe DiMaggio."
A few days ago, i went to a Borders store and purchased Giglio's book. In the preface, he writes that to his surprise, except for a 15 minute telephone conversation, Musial refused to cooperate. He also doscouraged others from talking to Professor Giglio. Overall, Giglio writes very admiringly of Stan Musial, stressing his personal decency and great baseball skill.
I have only read parts of it so far. Giglio insists that Musial's Donora PA years are very important, and makes much of Musial cutting ties with his hometown. Giglio has a very long chapter on the events of 1947, and here is were he criticizes Musial. Namely, most of his Cardinal teammates did not want Jackie Robinson in the league. Stan did not object to Robinson. There appears to have been a move to strike. The strikers were told that they would be banned from baseball, and it ended.
Stan quietly let it be known that he supported Robinson's right to play in the majors. Giglio sees it as a "moral failing" that Musial was not vocal. If Stan had done so, he would have messd up the chemistry on his team, which is why he was "silent." To this day, Stan does not talk about the fact that most of his friends on the Cardinals were against integration. He will not embarass them, in my opinion. Giglio does not understand this.
I have read only parts of the book, but it is worth reading so far. I am finishing the Williams book by Montville, first.
In the Bill James 1987 Baseball Abstract, James discusses this and tells us why he rates Musial ahead of Williams. Ted, until no longer able, was always being interviewed and quoted while Stan was mostly ignored. Still another major Williams bio, by Leigh Montville, was recently published.
My own memory is that during the 1950's, Stan Musial was the most respected player in baseball. More than Williams, Mays, Mantle, and Aaron. The late Roberto Clemente is the subject of a very flattering and much publicized recent biography. No serious student of baseball would have rated Clemente as being as good as Musial at his best during the 60's. The so-called sabermetricians DO like Musial. Jayson Stark in his book, "The Stark Truth," rates Musial the most under-rated left fielder of all time.
James Giglio, an academic historian, who writes Presidential biographies, has written a book about Stan Musial. It is published by the University of Missouri, not by a big publisher.
The ESPN show starts with Robert Creamer saying, "It drives me crazy the way Musial has disappeared from baseball's consciousness," A Cardinal announcer says that Musial is unhappy with this, "He feels there is an east coast bias." John Thorn says that "Stan Musial was geographically challenged. If he was in New York, he would have been Lou Gehrig. Tim McCarver says that "nobody was ever more appropriately named than Stan the Man."
Professor Giglio comes on and says, "If there is a mystery about Musial, it is in contradictions. During his playing career, no player was more cooperative with the press. On the other hand, in terms of anyone wishing to write about his life, Stan Musial has been virtually inaccessible. No superstar of his time has less reason to be secretive about his life, but in reality, Stan Musial has been as secretive as Joe DiMaggio."
A few days ago, i went to a Borders store and purchased Giglio's book. In the preface, he writes that to his surprise, except for a 15 minute telephone conversation, Musial refused to cooperate. He also doscouraged others from talking to Professor Giglio. Overall, Giglio writes very admiringly of Stan Musial, stressing his personal decency and great baseball skill.
I have only read parts of it so far. Giglio insists that Musial's Donora PA years are very important, and makes much of Musial cutting ties with his hometown. Giglio has a very long chapter on the events of 1947, and here is were he criticizes Musial. Namely, most of his Cardinal teammates did not want Jackie Robinson in the league. Stan did not object to Robinson. There appears to have been a move to strike. The strikers were told that they would be banned from baseball, and it ended.
Stan quietly let it be known that he supported Robinson's right to play in the majors. Giglio sees it as a "moral failing" that Musial was not vocal. If Stan had done so, he would have messd up the chemistry on his team, which is why he was "silent." To this day, Stan does not talk about the fact that most of his friends on the Cardinals were against integration. He will not embarass them, in my opinion. Giglio does not understand this.
I have read only parts of the book, but it is worth reading so far. I am finishing the Williams book by Montville, first.
