When discussing Musial, long time sportscaster Bob Costas said,
"All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being." It's a shame many ballplayers today aren't more like Musial. In 1959, Musial reported to spring training out of shape, which ultimately lead to one of his worst seasons offensively that year. In 1960, he requested a 25% PAY CUT (taking him to $75,000) which the Cards granted.Musial was a 24 time All Star, and that figure would have been higher had the 1945 mid summer classic not been cancelled due to WWII travel restrictions. He was a three time NL MVP, won three World Championships with the Cards, and finished his career with an avg. of .331, 475 home runs, 3,630 hits and lead the league in hitting seven times. At the time of his retirement Musial held or tied for seventeen major league records, including one record of the only player to hit five homeruns in a double header! He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1969.
Runner up has to be Al Kaline from the Detroit Tigers. K
aline played 22 seasons for the Tigers, and was a 15 time All Star. While known primarily for his glove and arm in the outfield (Kaline won 10 Gold Glove awards), in 1955 he became the youngest player ever to win an American League batting title at age 20, hitting .340. Kaline retired at the end of the 1974 season with 3.007 hits and 399 homers. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980.
Tony Lazzeri was one of the cornerstones of the famous 1927 Murders Row of the New York Yankees. Lazzeri played second base, and while not as famous at his teammates Gehrig and Ruth, he was one of the top hitting second basemen of his time. Although he hit only 178 career homers, he was the first player ever to hit two grand slams in a single game. And speaking of grand slams, Lazzeri is the only player in history to hit for a natural cycle with the home run being a grand slam. This fact is often overlooked, because in the same game, Gehrig hit four homeruns! Lazzeri was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1991.
aline played 22 seasons for the Tigers, and was a 15 time All Star. While known primarily for his glove and arm in the outfield (Kaline won 10 Gold Glove awards), in 1955 he became the youngest player ever to win an American League batting title at age 20, hitting .340. Kaline retired at the end of the 1974 season with 3.007 hits and 399 homers. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980.
Tony Lazzeri was one of the cornerstones of the famous 1927 Murders Row of the New York Yankees. Lazzeri played second base, and while not as famous at his teammates Gehrig and Ruth, he was one of the top hitting second basemen of his time. Although he hit only 178 career homers, he was the first player ever to hit two grand slams in a single game. And speaking of grand slams, Lazzeri is the only player in history to hit for a natural cycle with the home run being a grand slam. This fact is often overlooked, because in the same game, Gehrig hit four homeruns! Lazzeri was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1991.Honorable mention shout out to Steve "Popeye" Garvey, who set a NL record by playing in 1,207 straight games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Garvey was a 10 time All Star. Also deserving mention is Tony Oliva from the Minnesota Twins. Oliva was an 8 time All Star selection during his 15 year career, and won the Rookie of the Year award in 1964. Oliva is pictured here, along with the infamous Ed Kranepool, on a card in my personal collection.
Some local trivia from Tampa -- Steve Garvey was born in Tampa. He was also known as "Mr. Clean" because of his "goody goody" image he maintained throughout baseball. It's probably a good thing Tiger Woods didn't have that nickname! -- Maria
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty good rookie card. All of the guys had at least respectable careers.
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