Walt Jocketty remembers Stan Musial

Even though I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I attended the Reds caravan in Louisville. While I was at the autograph table, I asked Reds general manager Walt Jocketty about his favorite memories of Stan Musial.
Oct 18, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals former player Stan Musial (left) is driven around the field before game four of the 2012 NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants at Busch Stadium. Image Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Jocketty was a longtime Cardinals general manager from 1994 until after the 2007 season.

“Well, just a lot of great times with him,” Jocketty told me. “He was a great, great man. Very humble and, you know, he was always a lot of fun. He would always tell stories. He had some magic tricks that he did all the time. We saw him like 10 or 12 times but you still laugh and still enjoy what he did because he was just a neat guy. Really nice man.”

Musial will be missed.

I wrote about it last night but just got around to transcribing the audio from Jocketty’s comments on the Cardinals being the biggest threat to the Reds this season.

“The biggest threat is obviously St. Louis, because they had a great ball club last year and they are particularly strong,” Jocketty told the fans in attendance at Louisville Slugger Field. “I think St. Louis will be the chief opponent this year.”

ESPN senior baseball writer Buster Olney looks at the top ten baseball teams of all time. The 1967 Cardinals fell just outside the top ten. That team featured a rotation that included Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton while the lineup featured Lou Brock and Orlando Cepeda.

Regarding the best pitching rotations, the 1968 Cardinals also fell just short of the top ten. That rotation featured Gibson, Carlton, and Nelson Briles. The 1968 Cardinals ERA was 2.49.

The 1982 Cardinals just missed out on Olney’s top ten bullpens. Bruce Sutter was the closer that season.

Finally, the 1930 Cardinals found their way as the tenth best baseball lineup in MLB history according to Olney.

"This was the only National League team in history to score more than 1,000 runs in a season. Every player in the Cardinals’ everyday lineup batted over .300, from second baseman Frankie Frisch (.346) to Chick Hafey (.336) to George Watkins (.373)."

That’s not too bad of a lineup.