Broadcaster Bob Costas, his voice cracking with emotion at times, pointed out during a two-hour Mass that in 92 years of life, Stan the Man never let anyone down.
Costas noted that even though Musial, who died Jan. 19, was a three-time NL MVP and seven-time batting champion, the pride of Donora, Pa., lacked a singular achievement. Joe DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams was the last major leaguer to hit .400, and Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle soared to stardom in the New York spotlight. Musial didn’t quite reach the 500-homer club – he finished with 475 – and played in his final World Series in 1946, ”wouldn’t you know it, the year before they started televising the Fall Classic!”
”What was the hook with Stan Musial other than the distinctive stance and the role of one of baseball’s best hitters?” Costas said. ”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.
”Where is the single person to truthfully say a bad word about him?”
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