St. Louis Cardinals Franchise Four: Stan Musial

Until May 8, St. Louis Cardinals fans can vote for the top four players in franchise history.

The players from each group that receive the most votes will be honored at this summer’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Cincinnati.

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Without the shadow of a doubt, Stan Musial is the Greatest Cardinals Player of All Time. The Hall of Famer left us in January 2013. He may be gone but he will never be forgotten.

The Donora, Penn., native signed with the Cardinals in 1938 and went on to make his Cardinals debut on September 17, 1941 and would play until he retired on September 29, 1963. With his name appearing on 317 of 340 ballots, Musial was elected by the BBWAA into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 with 93.2% of the vote.

A three-time National League Most Valuable Player Award winner, Musial was selected to play in 24 All-Star Games. Musial took home the National League Batting Titles in 1943, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1957. Musial played in four World Series with the Cardinals, winning three of them. He would later serve as the General Manager of the Cardinals when the team took home the trophy in 1967.

Musial’s 3,630 career hits rank 4th all-time and first in the Cardinals franchise records. He scored 1,949 times, hit 725 doubles, 177 triples, and 475 home runs. He drove in 1,951 batters on his way to the Hall of Fame.

As far as the Cardinals franchise goes, Musial owns the records for games played, at bats, plate appearances, runs scored, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, bases on balls (walks), singles, runs created, adjusted batting runs, adjusted batting wins, extra base hits, times on base, WAR for position players, and Offensive WAR.

Stay tuned during the rest of the week and next week as Redbird Rants profiles the other candidates being considered for the Franchise Four: Dizzy Dean, Albert Pujols, Bob Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Rogers Hornsby, and Ozzie Smith. We profiled Lou Brock on Monday.