Stan Musial, the Hall of Fame outfielder and first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-1963, died January 19, 2013 at the age of 92. In his 3,026-game career, "Stan the Man" won seven National League batting titles. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969, his first year of eligibility.
In his stirring eulogy of Musial, (click below link) broadcaster Bob Costas remarks that, although his statistics rank Musial among the pantheon of the greatest players in our national pastime, his persona never reached the same heights as his peers Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. Costas comments that other factors besides statistics determined the level of fame or anonymity of Musial and his contemporaries.
First, Musial was non-confrontational. Considered a 'nice guy' by teammates and opponents alike, Musial never developed any animosity or veered away from his squeaky clean nature. The media writes about polarizing issues and Musial was universally liked so he never made 'good copy'. By contrast, Mays breaking down color barriers in baseball, Mantle constantly battling invisible demons and alcohol dependency and DiMaggio with his celebrity marriage to Marilyn Monroe and Hollywood lifestyle, grabbed the majority of headlines.
Further dampening the star-power of Musial, he played his entire career in St. Louis, a town he loved mainly because it was not a big city market like New York. News from small market towns like St. Louis tended to stay regional and therefore Musial's exploits on the ball field were recognized most within the small geographic market of St. Louis. Mays, DiMaggio and Mantle played in New York, the center of the baseball universe with several daily newspapers reporting daily on every baseball detail of the city's two famous teams.
Also, Musial just missed out on gaining awareness from a television audience. He played his last World Series game in 1946, one year before television began regional broadcasting during the 1947 World Series. So Musial's accomplishments never were widely publicized on a national scale, compared with baseball news from New York which was considered sports news around the country.
The stars were not aligned for Stan Musial because his small market team, good-natured personality and playing days that pre-dated national television prevented him from realizing the full measure of fame experienced by Mays, DiMaggio and Mantle. But there is another perspective.
Perhaps Musial understood best that to perform at his peak, he required a calm environment with limited media exposure in a city he loved and called home. In a culture that celebrates fame for fame's sake, Stan Musial willingly forfeited fame to achieve something more valuable to him: success. Hard to believe these days, but they don't always mean the same thing.
Goodbye Stan Musial, Hall of Famer, PR expert.
Bob Costas Eulogizes Stan Musial
No comments:
Post a Comment