Stan Musial (52 page)

  
1
 he missed the train:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 45.

  
2
 “Get your ass out of there”: Dave Anderson,
Pennant Races: Baseball at Its Best
(New York: Doubleday, 1994), 144.

  
3
 “This is strange”:
Halls of Fame: Stan Musial
.

  
4
 Stengel watched the kid: W. C. Heinz, “Stan Musial’s Last Day,”
Life
, Oct. 11, 1963.

  
5
 “Your club has got a guy”: Bob Broeg, interview, ESPN
SportsCentury
, Nov. 29, 2000.

  
6
 Not everybody was impressed: Boris “Babe” Martin, interview, Jan. 30, 2009.

  
7
 On September 20: Martin J. Haley, sports editor,
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
.

  
8
 In a doubleheader: James P. Dawson, “St. Louis Defeats Cubs, 6–5, 7–0; Daring Dash Decides First,”
New York Times
, Sep. 22, 1941.

  
9
 “Musial is really the answer”: Robert L. Burnes,
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
, Sep. 1941.

10
 As the team embarked by train:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 46. 87 Looking back at Musial’s debut: Sher, “The Stan Musial Nobody Knows.”

11
 “Pop and I”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 51.

12
 “A group of unidentified citizens”: Robert L. Burnes,
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
, Sep. 29, 1941.

  
1
 “It’s where he played”: William O. DeWitt Jr., interview, May 5, 2010.

  
2
 “I was able”:
Halls of Fame: Stan Musial
.

  
3
 At the start of the twentieth: U.S. Census,
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab13.txt
.

  
4
 by 2010 its population: Malcolm Gay and Campbell Robertson, “Population Off Sharply in St. Louis and Birmingham,”
New York Times
, Feb. 24, 2011, A19.

  
5
 
Meet Me in St. Louis:
Music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944.

  
6
 “Monkus,” he said quietly: Thomas Wolfe,
You Can’t Go Home Again
(Garden City, N.Y.: Sun Dial Press, 1934), 65–66.

  
7
 Other writers took their measure: Kate Shaw, “St. Louis Writers Who Fled, and the City That Loves Them,”
Current on Line
, University of Missouri at St. Louis, Jan. 24, 2005.

  
1
 “I went down to see him”:
The Legend of Stan the Man Musial
.

  
2
 “He was very diplomatic”: Stan Musial, St. Louis, May 17, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project, University of Kentucky Library, Lexington.

  
3
 Wesley Branch Rickey: Lowenfish,
Branch Rickey
, 19–25.

  
4
 After serving: Henry D. Fetter,
Taking on the Yankees
(New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), 122.

  
5
 “You know”: William O. DeWitt Sr., Cincinnati, Sep. 29 and Oct. 1, 1980, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

  
6
 “Pepper played the banjo-guitar”: Robert Creamer, “Mudcats in the Gashouse,”
Sports Illustrated
, Apr. 22, 1957.

  
7
 “That one really got to him”: Tom Ashley, interview, Feb. 2009.

  
8
 “I didn’t do well”:
Halls of Fame: Stan Musial
.

  
9
 “He was big”: Garagiola,
Just Play Ball
, 171–73.

10
 “I’m tearing it up, my boy”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 55.

11
 “Don Padgett told me”: John J. Archibald, “Musial … Musial … Musial … Name and Fame Here to Stay, All Agree,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, Jan. 25, 1957.

12
 “Everybody started laughing”: Marty Marion, interview, ESPN
SportsCentury
, Nov. 29, 2000.

13
 “I didn’t have my good arm”:
Halls of Fame: Stan Musial
.

14
 “Whenever the center fielder”: Enos Slaughter, interview, ESPN
SportsCentury
, Dec. 13, 2000.

15
 Leo would put one foot: John Heidenry and Brett Topel,
The Boys Who Were Left Behind: The 1944 World Series Between the Hapless St. Louis Browns and the Legendary St. Louis Cardinals
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), 57.

16
 This was the only time: Broeg,
The Man Stan
, 75.

17
 “Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 238.

18
 double whammy: Ibid., 70–71.

19
 The Yankees were not used to: Lowenfish,
Branch Rickey
, 317.

20
 “Stan was having a terrible time”: Sher, “The Stan Musial Nobody Knows,” 66–67.

21
 Now that Rickey was gone: Bob Broeg, “Baseball Vastly Different from Breadon’s Day,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, May 11, 1997.

22
 “They were entirely opposites”: William O. DeWitt Sr., Cincinnati, Sep. 29 and Oct. 1, 1980, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

23
 Marty Marion has talked about cliques: Golenbock,
The Spirit of St. Louis
, 256.

24
 “We’d cook corn”: Danny Litwhiler, interview, Apr. 13, 2010.

25
 Most of the Cardinals rented rooms: Freddy Schmidt, interview, Apr. 14, 2010.

26
 “We had a young club”: Danny Litwhiler, interview, Apr. 13, 2010.

27
 “Musial came up next time”: Mickey Owen, Springfield, Mo., May 27, 1989, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

28
 Players had their own ways: Tim Cohane, “Cards’ Walker Cooper Draws $850 Penalty,”
New York World-Telegram and Sun
, Aug. 2, 1943.

29
 The Yankees were so decimated: Heidenry and Topel,
The Boys Who Were Left Behind
, 44.

30
 “Brownie town”: Ibid., 81.

  
1
 Keith Hernandez, interview, Nov. 10, 2008.

  
1
 “I was fortunate”: Musial, St. Louis, May 17, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

  
2
 The people of Donora: “Donora Honors Musial,”
Sporting News
, Oct. 21, 1943.

  
3
 “They were called into service”: Bimbo Cecconi, interview, Mar. 24, 2009.

  
4
 Musial was playing: Heidenry and Topel,
The Boys Who Were Left Behind
, 116–17.

  
5
 “A storm came out”: Richard Goldstein,
Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War
(New York: Macmillan, 1980), 81–82.

  
6
 As Litwhiler told it: Danny Litwhiler, with Jim Sargent,
Danny Litwhiler: Living the Baseball Dream
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006), 86–87.

  
7
 “The pilot gave me a seat”: Danny Litwhiler, interview, Apr. 2010.

  
8
 “If I hadn’t done it”: Ed Linn,
Hitter: The Life and Turmoils of Ted Williams
(New York: Harcourt Brace, 1993), 127.

  
9
 “Doesn’t he know”: Richard Ben Cramer,
Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000), 198.

10
 “People just don’t like”: Ibid., 200.

11
 Joe D. had other trouble: Ibid., 207.

12
 “I remember that very well”: Stan Musial, St. Louis, May 17, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

13
 In January 1945: “Musial of Cards Accepted by Navy,”
New York Times
, Jan. 20, 1945.

14
 “Why didn’t you tell me”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 83.

15
 Bill Dickey, the old Yankee catcher: Leigh Montville,
Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero
(New York: Doubleday, 2004), 118.

16
 “After bouncing around”: Frederick W. Turner,
When the Boys Came Back: Baseball and 1946
(New York: Henry Holt, 1996).

17
 Eager to please the brass: Goldstein,
Spartan Seasons
, 236.

18
 He was also persuaded: Stewart,
Stan the Man
, 78.

19
 “My five-year-old”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 84. 116 Late in October: Montville,
Ted Williams
, 118.

20
 “The day before I was scheduled”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 84–85.

21
 he did pitch in the minors: Letter from George Shuba, 2009. Shuba would recall bunting on Shepard and being secretly happy when the one-legged pitcher fielded the ball and threw him out.

22
 “They sent the whole unit”: Turner,
When the Boys Came Back
, xiii.

23
 “It happened right near the end”: Goldstein,
Spartan Seasons
, 252.

24
 “All the guys”: George Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was: Great Sports Events from the Past
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974), 48.

25
 Other Cardinals came back wounded: Turner,
When the Boys Came Back
, 6.

26
 “Some of the guys”: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 49.

27
 “He stands in awe”: Tom Ashley, interview, 2009.

  
1
 Stan and Lil stared:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 90.

  
2
 “Assassins of careers!”: Lowenfish,
Branch Rickey
, 393.

  
3
 Willie Wells, an African American: Wendell Smith,
Pittsburgh Courier
, May 6, 1944.

  
4
 “Same country you did”: George Vecsey, “Ray Dandridge, The Hall of Fame and ‘Fences,’ ”
New York Times
, May 10, 1987.

  
5
 An American advance man: Mickey Owen, Springfield, Mo., May 27, 1989, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

  
6
 “I don’t think I will go”: Giglio,
Musial
, 129.

  
7
 “Stan, you’ve got two children”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 91.

  
8
 “Musial was smoking”: Mickey Owen, Springfield, Mo., May 27, 1989, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project. UK.

  
9
 “As I recall”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 90.

  
10
 “Packing”: Ibid.

11
 “I told ’em that I wasn’t”: Stan Musial, St. Louis, May 17, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

12
 “Breadon said, ‘I want to see’ ”: Bob Broeg, interview, ESPN
SportsCentury
, Nov. 29, 2000.

13
 Gardella, a fringe outfielder: Danny Gardella, Yonkers, N.Y., Aug. 27, 1980, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

14
 “A little later on”: Stan Musial, St. Louis, May 17, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

15
 “And Stan made a great decision”: Marty Marion, St. Louis, May 19, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

16
 “I’m sure that he had signed”: Mickey Owen, Springfield, Mo., May 27, 1989, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

  
1
 Much of this chapter and also Chapter Twenty-one is informed by conversations over the years with Joe Garagiola, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Harry Walker, and also by a book I edited:
The Way It Was: Great Sports Events from the Past
, 33–51.

  
2
 “He’d shake hands solemnly”: Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains:
Red: A Baseball Life
(Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing, 1998), 24.

  
3
 “So you’re the little SOB”: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 34.

  
4
 “He had a bad knee”: Stan Musial, St. Louis, May 17, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

  
5
 “I didn’t like first base”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 104.

  
6
 cornball music returned: Broeg,
The Man Stan
, 105.

  
7
 “Terry would chew you out”: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 35.

  
8
 “Oh, man, we were fearless”: Ibid., 34.

  
9
 Garagiola was outwardly brash: Broeg,
The Man Stan
, 164.

10
 “Durocher would say anything”: William Marshall,
Baseball’s Pivotal Era 1945–1951
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 102.

11
 “I remember one time”: Marty Marion, St. Louis, May 19, 1978, A. B. Chandler Oral History Project.

12
 On October 1: John McGuire, “Safe at Home: When War Veterans Returned to Baseball 50 Years Ago, They Staged a Season Like No Other,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, May 26, 1996.

13
 Once the Cardinals’ farm director: Turner,
When the Boys Came Back
, 221.

  
1
 Bimbo Cecconi, interview, Nov. 24, 2008.

  
1
 “The big individual duel”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 95.

  
2
 Williams had taken his first look: “Ted Williams Gets Eyeful of Stan Musial,”
World-Telegram and Sun
, Sep. 20, 1946.

  
3
 The Red Sox came into the Series: Turner,
When the Boys Came Back
, 226.

  
4
 Another difference: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 39.

  
5
 A note of defiance: Turner,
When the Boys Came Back
, 227.

  
6
 “Me, I’d have hit a ton”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 109.

  
7
 Once Williams had shot out: George Sullivan, “The Kid and I,”
www.bu.edu/bostonia/fall02/kid
.

  
8
 “Ted! Ted! They’re up there”: Freddy Schmidt, interview, Apr. 14, 2010.

  
9
 “Twenty years old”: Joe Garagiola, interview, Apr. 16, 2010.

10
 “Once he missed”:
Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story
, 96.

11
 “If I’m breathing”: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 42.

12
 Before the sixth game: Turner,
When the Boys Came Back
, 241.

13
 “Gonzalez couldn’t have stopped Enos”: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 51.

14
 “I’ve looked at those films”: Ibid., 50.

15
 “I’m out for the season!”: Ibid., 43.

16
 Less than two hours later: McGuire, “Safe at Home.”

17
 When the Sox arrived: Vecsey, ed.,
The Way It Was
, 43.