St. Louis Cardinals: Stan Musial's time in the Navy

Every, and I mean EVERY, St. Louis Cardinals fan has heard of Stan Musial. If you haven’t, then I probably would not consider you a true fan. But, along with being possibly the greatest and absolutely the most decorated Cardinal player of all time, Musial was much more than a baseball player, he was an American.

(Story was originally posted in February 2020 and has been reposted in honor of Veterans Day).

Stan Musial, born into an unfortunate era of war, was not exempt from the duties of fighting for his country. He was also just following an incredible year in 1944 where he led the league in slugging percentage (.549), on-base percentage (.440), WAR (9.3), and wRC+ (174). Along with that he was also 2nd in batting average (.347). All while leading the St. Louis Cardinals to their second World Series title in three years as they beat St. Louis Browns in an all-St Louis World Series matchup.

*Fun fact about the 1944 World Series is that it is the only World Series to not have a single successful stolen base recorded.

Somehow, despite putting up video game numbers, he actually came in FOURTH place in the NL MVP vote in 1944. Musial lost the MVP vote to his shortstop teammate Marty Marion, “The Octopus,” who produced very underwhelming numbers for an MVP winner. People still to this day scratch their head over how Musial did not win back to back MVP awards in 1943 and 1944. Marion only hit .267, had an OPS of .686, and a WAR of only 4.6.

Despite producing these gaudy numbers in 1943 and 1944, Stan Musial did his duty as an American Citizen and enlisted into the Navy on January 23, 1945. This was not Musial’s first time seeing a military base although.

Between the 1943 and 1944 seasons, Musial and some other MLB players made the trip up to Alaska to play some ball and entertain the troops that were stationed there. Some of the people that made the trip with Musial were St. Louis Cardinals player Frankie Frisch and Dixie Walker, who was the Dodger who beat Musial in batting average in 1944 while batting .357.

Initially, Stan Musial was sent to Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Maryland. While training there, he was the juggernaut of the Bainbridge Baseball Team where he played with other MLB players that were stationed there. Musial claims that he became more of a power hitter because of his time in the military because he altered his batting stance so that he could pull more home runs to entertain his fellow servicemen.

(Original Caption) 01/20/1945-Pittsburgh PA- Stan Musial, hard hitting outfielder of the St. Louis Cardinals, is given a physical examination at the Pittsburgh Induction Center by Lieutenant Commander J.A. Baute, before being accepted for duty in the Navy. /

After being in Maryland for about 3 months, he was then sent to Pearl Harbor under the instruction to join a Ship Repair Unit, in which he and his fellow shipmen would ferry people from damaged ships back to land.

While he was in Hawaii serving his country, he was also playing baseball there too in his free time. Musial claims that there were ten thousand people watching each game to get their minds away from the wartime they were in.

St. Louis Cardinals: Stan Musial’s time in the Navy

By Kyle Jasper | Nov 11, 2022