SO LONG, STAN.

(NOTE: This article is adapted (longer!) from the one that was published in January of 2013 in The Piedmont Citizen. As a life long Cardinal fan, I consider having an article published about Stan Musial one of my proudest secular achievements and a great honor.)

"Meet me at Musial."

If you grew up in St. Louis, you knew exactly what that meant. That meant that you would meet up in a throng of baseball fans outside of Busch Stadium at the large statue of Stan Musial, that stood outside of the previous Busch Stadium on the left field side. 

The first time my wife saw the statue was when we were still dating in college. As we approached the statue, I thought it would be funny (and hopefully only mildly blasphemous  to take off my shoes as we got closer to its base. Needless to say, she was duly embarrassed - and thus began a Richter family tradition nearly every time we've gone to a Cardinals game. Funny thing is, fellow Cardinal fans who see us do this actually kind of understand exactly what I'm doing. 

Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, you were indoctrinated into local traditions and beliefs in the same way that other metro areas did to their residents. It has been fun in my life to have (mostly) light hearted debates with Oklahomans and people from all over the US concerning phrases, local cuisine, regional politics/politicians and other “local heroes.” Obviously sports and local teams instill many passions, pride and memories. Coming to Oklahoma and making it my home has exposed me to different sports values. College sports, namely NCAA football, is king around here. It stirs passions even in people who did not attend college at all, not to mention the team of which they might be a hard-core fan. 

In St. Louis, the game of baseball is the undisputed game of choice. And there was one undisputed local giant of their game, a player simply known as “The Man.”

I’m not an esteemed sports writer, so I haven’t earned the space to write a “Sports Illustrated” type epilogue that I could easily write about Stan Musial. So many aspects of not only Musial’s career but his notoriety as a great man off the diamond could command lengthy plaudits. Musial’s numbers, whether one looks at them through a traditional or modern “Sabermetric” lens, place him squarely and legitimately as one of the top 5 hitters in the history of the game (and debatably even higher.) My favorite Stan stat is that of his 3,630 lifetime hits (still 4th all time and was the most ever in the NL at the time), those hits were split exactly in half at home or on the road (1,815 each.) Didn’t matter where he was, The Man simply hit the ball. 

The other element of Musial’s fame was his reputation as a person. While noted on a national level, no place knew more about his goodness, humility and philanthropy than St. Louis. Two quotes sum up what people knew about Stan best. Esteemed broadcaster Bob Costas once said “All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being." On the day Stan was inducted into Cooperstown in 1969, the commissioner of baseball uttered the words that are inscribed on the base of the same Musial statue that stands outside of the newer Busch Stadium in STL today - “Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.”

So in a month when no one was judged worthy or clean enough for the baseball hall of fame, a prominent college football player’s part in an elaborate media hoax is debated and pro football deals with drunk-driving deaths and fallout from scandals of all sorts...an athlete legendary for doing things right on and off the field is mourned by his community and era. A Man who proved being one of the best of all time isn’t a license to becoming a lout in everyday life. 

The verse I’m reminded of is Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Our ultimate example of living this mindset of course is our Lord, but wherever we can find examples or encouragement to set our minds to the highest standards possible - we need to cherish and embrace them. It isn't too idealistic or outdated that we need to set our minds above the temporary and self-serving mindsets of today’s world. There is still a place for people who choose to dwell on what is right, noble and admirable for all of creation. Having “pure” and “lovely” as goals for our thought process isn’t pollyanna nor impossible. 

We need more positive mindsets. We need more people who truly believe the world can be a better place. We need people who choose to humbly serve God and strive for excellence for themselves and their communities - both on the job and in their homes. We need people who believe in holiness, decency and kindness. Praise God that He tells us these things are possible for those who choose to set their minds to it. 

And thanks to someone as meager as a great baseball player to exemplify these things as much as a human can. So long, Stan the Man...thank you for the example of what a good man can do when the right mindset is applied in all that he does.