| − | '''Stan "the Man" Musial''' was a professional baseball player who spent all of his career with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], playing in 24 All-Star games during his 22-year career. He was one of the greatest hitters ever, rivaling and even surpassing [[Ted Williams]] and [[Babe Ruth]] according to some analysts. Musial had an unusual batting style that resembled a corkscrew as he unwound to hit the ball. He could hit to any field, and had better speed running the bases than Williams or Ruth had. Musial struck out substantially less often than Williams, Ruth, and Barry Bonds, and Musial had many extraordinary seasons.<ref>http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/stan-musial-s-career-through-the-years/article_0965847f-f3f8-593c-95bb-c698fad6c25e.html</ref> Interestingly, of his 3,630 career hits, he had exactly as many on the road as at home (1,815), demonstrating that he did not rely on a home-field advantage. Though not known as a home-run slugger, Musial had a higher career slugging percentage than even [[Mickey Mantle]] and [[Babe Ruth]]. | + | '''Stan "the Man" Musial''' was a professional baseball player who spent all of his career with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], playing in 24 All-Star games during his 22-year career. He was one of the greatest hitters ever, rivaling and even surpassing [[Ted Williams]] and [[Babe Ruth]] according to some analysts. Musial had an unusual batting style that resembled a corkscrew as he unwound to hit the ball. He could hit to any field, and had better speed running the bases than Williams or Ruth had. Musial struck out substantially less often than Williams, Ruth, and Barry Bonds, and Musial had many extraordinary seasons.<ref>http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/stan-musial-s-career-through-the-years/article_0965847f-f3f8-593c-95bb-c698fad6c25e.html</ref> Interestingly, of his 3,630 career hits, he had exactly as many on the road as at home (1,815), demonstrating that he did not rely on a home-field advantage. Though not known as a home-run slugger, Musial had a higher career slugging percentage than even [[Mickey Mantle]] and [[Willie Mays]]. |
| | [[Ty Cobb]], the top vote-getter among the initial inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame, said about Stan Musial:<ref>Life Magazine, 1952, quoted in https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1493164-making-a-case-for-stan-musial-as-the-greatest-hitter-in-baseball-history</ref> | | [[Ty Cobb]], the top vote-getter among the initial inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame, said about Stan Musial:<ref>Life Magazine, 1952, quoted in https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1493164-making-a-case-for-stan-musial-as-the-greatest-hitter-in-baseball-history</ref> |