Stan Musial: When Heroes Become Friends

Back in 1985, while I was living on a 5,000-acre cattle ranch 15 miles of unpaved, rocky road from the nearest town (Three Forks, Montana), the phone rang one cold February morning. After I answered with my standard greeting, the man on the line introduced himself as “Stan the Man in St. Louis.” The call was initiated by this all-time great major leaguer due to our mutual friendship with Paul MacFarlane, the historian at The Sporting News. Mac and I had been trading information I uncovered in my research that would help him as editor of Daguerreotypes, which was a great publication of player career records, and me with my endeavor to create the most complete player record ever compiled going back to when I was a kid.

That passion began in the early 1950s on the desert 10 miles north of downtown Phoenix in a working-class area known as Sunnyslope. Then, in the early 1980s, with encouragement and friendships of Harmon Killebrew and Ted Williams, I used my printing background and produced their limited-edition career record art prints that eventually became a total of 21 players with Rod Carew the last in 1986. MacFarlane is the one who named the growing list The Cope Collection. In the 1990s, with some major changes affecting the hobby and new technology making it possible to do smaller quantities, we began using that technology to produce smaller quantities. This allowed us to react to those families and friends of lesser-known players. It kept it more personable and enjoyable as it all originally began.

Stan Musial grew to be a baseball hero for me primarily in that I began collecting baseball books and studying records in 1949 right after his great 1948 season. Living in Phoenix then, it seemed great to have an idol in the most Western major-league city of the time. In addition, everything you read, or heard, about this great player indicated he was also a great person and family man.

The phone conversation with Stan lasted a glorious 30 minutes or so and began a friendship that would last until his and Mrs. Musial’s health began to fail. Some of the findings on his career that I shared with him brought out memories and that famous “Stan the Man” laugh. Some were news to him. The one that seemed to please him most was that he was the third batter in professional baseball history to make 4,000 or more career hits in their career, counting minors and majors. Stan finished with 4,001 in 1963 and joined Ty Cobb and Arnold “Jigger” Statz. (The latter had 3,356 of his 4,093+ overall hits in the Pacific Coast League with the Los Angeles Angels.)

Over the years there were many phone calls that are often referred to letters I still have and cherish. My favorite is the June 1990 handwritten letter (shown here) that reflects on his mention of President George H.W. Bush’s influence and Stan’s trip to Poland, where Stan was being honored. In a visit to Warsaw on September 10, 1989, President Bush talked about famous Polish-born Americans. He and Stan had just been together the week before at a ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of Little League Baseball, so Stan was a major topic. That presidential speech in 1989 led to Stan’s trip and his letter to me in 1990. Stan told me later that he had taken one of his career record prints to Poland in conjunction with the park being named after him. The next time we were on the phone, I had to tease him about his P.S. that mentioned him going into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame. I said, “Stan, you know you stole Mel Allen’s famous ‘How About That!!!’” I still remember his laugh.

Speaking of President Bush, this brings back a memory of another Hero That Became a Friend. One time I called Ted Williams down in Florida and his longtime secretary, Stacia Gerow, answered the phone. She said Ted couldn’t come to the phone as he was playing tennis with then Vice President Bush! So when Ted called back, I had to tease him about getting into politics.

Stanley Frank Musial, Stan the Man, Stash … whatever you want to call him, here was a man who earned the respect and adoration of young boys on the playgrounds in the 1940s and on to at least seven United States presidents by 2010. Broadcasting great Bob Costas put it this way at Stan’s funeral in 2013: “It seems that all Stan had going for him was more than two decades of sustained excellence as a ballplayer and more than nine decades as a thoroughly decent human being.”

This writer was so fortunate to become part of both of the Stan Musials that Bob mentioned. Over the past few decades, my friends have come to hear me refer to such as “Cope Luck!” A term I have coined to explain how this, and other friendships with baseball heroes, happened over the years.

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN AND EVOLVED

1990

Stan Musial Stadium • Completed & Dedicated • Kutno, Poland – 2000

Note: More information is available about Stan Musial Stadium in Kunto, Poland on:

• https://retrosimba.com/2018/05/10/moe-drabowsky-stan-musial-special-connection/
• Polish-American newspaper the Am-Pol Eagle of February 12, 2013
• https://www.littleleague.org/region/europe-africa-region/history/
• https://przystanekhistoria.pl/pa2/tematy/english-content

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STAN MUSIAL’S RECORD

Number of Records Held by Stan Musial at His Retirement

• 15 – Major League Batting and Fielding Records
• 31 – National League Batting Records
• 31 – St. Louis Cardinal Batting Records
• 15 – All-Star Game Batting, Baserunning and Fielding Records
• 5 – World Series Batting and Fielding Records

 

Thank you, Stan, for your kindness and memories.