He was selected National League Player of the Year three times and The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year twice. He won seven National League hitting championships, hitting over.300 his first 16 seasons in the major leagues and ending up with a career average of.331. Louis Cardinals before retiring in 1963 and was inducted into baseball's exclusive Hall of Fame in 1969. In one season, Musial had gone from being a dead-armed pitcher with a Class D team to the outfielder of one of the top major league teams of the day.īeginning as a $65-a-month Class D pitcher in his teens, Musial came to the major leagues in 1941 at the age of 20. Even though his throwing arm was still weak, his batting and base running skills got the attention of the Cardinal scouts. During that time, he was primarily a pitcher, but his Daytona Beach team had him playing centerfield so they could have the benefit of his bat on days that he wasn't pitching. In August 1940, Musial was in the outfield when he tripped and fell heavily onto the point of his left shoulder. The course of Musial's career also changed during this time period. On November 21, 1939, Musial married his high school sweetheart, Lillian Labash, who was pregnant at the time with the first of their four children. Louis Cardinals organization, much to the dismay of his fellow Donorans who wanted him to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Musial was so distraught about his father's decision that his mother had to intervene in order to get his father's approval. Musial's father immediately rejected the offer, wanting him to finish high school and attend college. In 1937, at the age of 16, Musial was offered his first professional baseball contract. Musial's basketball skills seemed to promise a college scholarship, but he had his heart set on baseball. He played both basketball and baseball at Donora High School. It became apparent early on that Musial was an exceptional athlete. The name Stanislaus was Anglicized into Stanley when Musial started school. His father hated working in the mines of western Pennsylvania and was determined that his children would never have to endure such miserable conditions to make a living. His father, Lukasz Musial, was a Polish immigrant born in Warsaw and his mother, Mary Lancos, was the daughter of immigrants from Czechoslovakia.
Musial was the second child and first son of six children born to working class immigrants. Stan Musial, often called Stan "the Man," was born in Donora, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1920.
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