Here and Now: Stan Musial's Final Time At The Plate

An excerpt of the 1990 documentary "The Legend Of Stan 'The Man' Musial" showing Stan Musial's final at bat of his career in 1963. Clip is courtesy of Dick Zitzmann and Stan the Man Inc.

[@mutigers87]

The most underrated player in the history of sports. Nationally, it's unbelievable how underappreciated he is.

[@Amick44]

He well may be. Frank Robinson was underrated his whole career as well.

[@davidrice3337]

@@Amick44 t agree and I think as far as all around ability, Hank Aaron- he was more than a home run hitter

[@badmaxx]

Always felt the same. A great case can be made as well for Frank Robinson and Hank Aaron as stated above.

[@iamthepapi6251]

We need more people in the world like Stan Musial

[@sergeantwarden471]

I usually have a lot to say. When it comes to Stan Musial, I don't know what to say. He made the world a better place. That's what I'll say.

[@rct303]

Musial was the essence of America's age of innocence. He wore his legendary mantle brilliantly and without a misstep. Beyond a role model, he represented the working fiber of America with a bat and a glove with humility and dignity and dependability. What a privilege to have been alive during those iconic times.

[@mikegee8875]

I wish he could have played one more year, to be on the world series winning team.

[@Amick44]

I believe, he, Ernie Banks and John Havlicek in basketball are perhaps the only 3 superstars I never heard a negative word about.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

He wore his legendary mantle even more brilliantly than Mickey Mantle!

[@ScratchGlass9]

I met Stan the man in Pomona, CA. 1988.. the man was a gentleman. . A true hero! What a special memory

[@carbajal8283]

Lifelong cards fan here. Awesome video. Stan Musial is one of the most under appreciated players of all time. He was always consistent and always humble. No ego, didn't play flashy. Always showed up to the field ready to play, and loved the game. Plus, when your nickname is "The Man," you know you've won at life! RIP Stan.

[@24HeySay]

Stan was absolutely the Man. Pure class on and off the field, always gracious and accessible to fans. I have a ball he signed sitting in a place of honor on my desk. Even his signature was graceful and fluid.. This was great to watch -- thanks for putting it on KZbin!

[@Pga924]

Farewell to the greatest player of a great franchise.

[@ThatYankeesBlog]

RIP. 1,815 hits on the road, 1,815 at home.

[@TheBatugan77]

Yessir.

[@steveafurman]

And now he's gone. The loss of an icon and a true leader. No doping, no lying, no ego. Only the sport.

[@SpottedSharks]

One of the great symmetries in baseball: Musial's final hit went just by the Reds' rookie second baseman, Pete Rose, who would break his record many years later.

[@kirkdooley8190]

One of the many great statistics about Musial is the fact that his career hit total -- which stood as the NL career record until Rose broke it -- was perfectly divided between home and road.

[@billsmith5985]

...as George Will always reminds us. True--1815 @Sportman's, 1815 on-the-road.

[@cheesehead6710]

How many would he have had without lost years to the war?

[@patrickmorgan4006]

@M Soccer is sh*t. Do you know why it is the most played sport on the planet? Because it's easy. It requires very little skill or athletic ability.

[@oscarwinner2034]

@M Soccer sucks.

[@jpcfit]

Musial's name should be mentioned in the same breath as Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Aaron and Mays when you talk about baseball's greatest hitters. He was that good.

[@garysolorzano3216]

Ummmmm it is. There were two things working against The Man. 1. He was a quiet, decent human being with no scandals or bad behavior attached. 2. He played in St. Louis, not on the east coast. Bob Costas tells the story of when he had both Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial to his house for dinner one night, and after everyone left for the evening, Bob and Mickey sat talking after everyone went to bed. Mickey told Bob that, although he had more strength, could run faster, etc, that Stan was a better player.... because he was a better person, took care of himself and truly enjoyed the experiences of baseball and life. There was never a greater combination of great player and person rolled into one... than Stan The Man Musial.

[@Bascomblodge]

The only ones better than Stan were Ruth and Cobb.

[@gooday1361]

Bascomblodge Stan was better then Cobb. Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, and Hank Arron are better then Cobb and others also have a case to be better then Cobb. IMO

[@tommcconville4270]

Absolutely, next to Babe, the greatest left handed hitter of all time.

[@lloydkline6946]

Stan manual a hitting monster or scientist

[@sjjcws]

Most baseball experts rate him very high on the list of all-time greats; but, many also believe, if he had played in New York, he would have been at or near the top.

[@wimbledon5353]

Beautiful Video, what a legend!

[@stevesecret2515]

The older gentleman telling the story deserves recognition. He was BOB BURNES Born: July 14, 1914; St. Louis, Missouri Died: July 11, 1995; St. Louis, Missouri Write For: St. Louis Globe-Democrat (1935-1986), San Francisco 49ers (2008-2009)

[@irishsetterarchie]

Just the greatest on and off the field...well said! Watching these wonderful videos brought tears of joy to this 73 yr. old kid I live with!!!

[@fbrown172]

Stan Musial was my boyhood hero. St Louis is still today, "my" team because of him.

[@siLveRscOpe13x]

:/ He'll be greatly missed. I came straight to this video to remind myself of how great he was.

[@CheetoSantana]

It gave me chills God Bless Stan Musial a True American Hero

[@zriter59escritor33]

Remember the stance. Remember the swing. Damn straight. Rest in peace, dear Stash.

[@rogerhwerner6997]

I'm old enough to say I remember seeing Musial play. Amazing hitter!

[@1985OldSkool]

Absolutely. Stan Musial was truly one of the classiest players ever in the history of Major League Baseball. He ranks way, way up there along with the likes of Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Tom Seaver, Carlton Fisk, Johnny Bench, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Mike Schmidt, Cal Ripken, Jr., Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, and many, many others over the course of time. RIP, Mr. Musial. Amen.

[@cumulus1234]

1985OldSkool I think you could add Tony Perez also.

[@mikegee8875]

They can't even give away tickets to soccer games in the U.S.

[@jonathanhanser5914]

Stan s the Greatest St Louis Cardinal...and that s saying something!

[@1985OldSkool]

@@jonathanhanser5914 Always has been, always is, and always will be

[@TboneStLouis]

Musial was my favorite player I Loved him

[@AlTillyTheBum]

I can still recall as a young boy sitting on the porch during a hot summer's night listening on the radio back in the early 1950's .. the immortal Stan 'The Man' Musial coming to bat & drills a double to win an extra inning game .. Those Were The Days .. Thanks Mr.Musial .. R.I.P !

[@terrihenricks4160]

The last time at bat by the finest Cardinal of them all, Stan Musial, called by the greatest broadcaster ever Harry Caray.

[@garygarcia4929]

Harry Caray was not the greatest baseball broadcaster, it is Vin Sully, and I am a San Francisco Giants fan

[@garygarcia4929]

Vin Scully

[@canaanclb]

Greatest Cardinal player of all time.

[@robertkresko6338]

Rj Hampton No disrespect intended, but not a chance. Absolutely no way.

[@robertkresko6338]

Rj Hampton Musial career wise was better than Mickey Mantle, and Mantle was better than Albert.

[@Ka_Gg]

@Rj Hampton Musial was better than pujols. Pujols now has 19 years in and will NOT match Musial's war. Stan also is about 40 points higher in OBP. Stan has a very slightly higher slugging percentage. Higher BA. I also don't see him catching Musial in hits. Stan also has a higher OPS and OPS+. Albert has almost double the strikeouts and grounded into double plays about 50 percent more of thetime. In terms of defense, Stan played a lot more outfielder defense than Pujols. Pujols was pretty much only a first baseman after 25. Pujols has played 1890 games at first while Stan played only 1000. At the time of this post, Stan has 142 errors and Pujols has 141. So, to say that the only thing Stan was better at was BA is very laughable. This isn't a knock on Pujols, its just to show how great Musial was

[@garysolorzano3216]

No doubt Stan is the greatest. You can crunch numbers all day long. But when Stan had a bad year in the late 1950s, he actually asked to take a cut the following year. Pujols chased the money and never won again. That to me sets them worlds apart. It's not even close.

[@NotMissingLink]

@Rj Hampton Pshhhhhhhhhhhh

[@1020Shane]

One legend passes the torch to another.

[@hadmiar8]

nicest guy in the game.

[@georgelustrea2912]

On or off the field, all class !!

[@ronniecozzi8385]

Unique but beautiful swing.

[@thomaswolf723]

That was Bob Burnes who was the old man talking about Stan's last at bat. When I attended college in St. Louis beginning in 1964, he was the sports editor of the morning Globe Democrat and he hosted a sports call in show on KMOX.

[@Hawkeyefan42]

The greatest Cardinal of all time

[@tommcconville4270]

Stan and Rogers Hornsby as well, they were both great Cardinals players. And so was Red Schoendienst, an excellent player for the Cards an superb manager. Bob Gibson, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and a Hall of Famer. They had as many great players as the Yankees and Dodgers had.

[@danzemacabre8899]

Stan is the greatest, no doubt. Gibby and Brock get a mention and if you are going to bring up the great "Rajah" then Albert "El Hombre" Pujols most certainly gets a mention also..... And Dizzy wasn't too bad either

[@pcooke9865]

@@danzemacabre8899 All great but you forgot Rogers Hornsby

[@danzemacabre8899]

@@pcooke9865 Rajah was Hornsbys nickname, i wouldn't forget him.

[@willdrucker4291]

“A ground ball up the middle….ROSE to his right…a base hit”…the legendary HARRY CAREY with the call,,,

[@davidrice3337]

A True Gentleman and a Great American

[@Worklikeyoushouldbe]

Incredibly UNDERRATED baseball player. Incredibly

[@TheBatugan77]

My favorite Stan the Man story by Mickey Mantle... The Mick asked Stan what would happen if Stan hit the ball 'wrong' with that tiny bat. Stan said "Gee, Mick... I don't know."

[@1985OldSkool]

As a life-long resident of the St. Louis area, I had the privilege to see the game live, as it happened, on KSD-TV Channel 5 (now KSDK), the NBC affiliate for Greater St. Louis. WOW! That brings back very great memories from the time when I was just over two months away from celebrating my eighth birthday.

[@tommyglasgowphd9242]

I met Mr Musial at a golf tournament when I was a Metro Nashville Police Officer,

[@doyleholloway1818]

Im also old enough to have seen Stan Musial play . i was born in north st.louis, lived on Dodier Street near grand ave where Sportsman Park was...

[@kuwinsitall]

My dad grew up a Musial fan as a kid in 1950s & 60s Kansas. There were no Kansas City Royals or Colorado Rockies to root for. St. Louis was everyone's ball club. Musial was a class act. Very few genuinely likeable athletes like that around these days. Not that everyone was a saint back then either, but they sure seemed a bit less aloof.

[@RSLweblog]

RIP Stan. Thanks for playing your game.

[@marksinger3067]

My Dad grew up in St. Louis and watched the Bambino and Stan the Man..

[@rayrussell6258]

My favorite baseball players .... Stan Musial in the NL, and Al Kaline in the AL. Both wore #6, coincidentally.

[@joncosby4385]

Stan the man Musial

[@gmkm64]

RIP, Stan. You were the best!!!

[@wilrobles9824]

Wish I had gotten to see Stan play.

[@mortimerzilch9437]

I was at Stan's last game in New York. He hit three homers in a row after hitting one in the 8th inning the night before. That gave Stan 4 in a row. He had a chance for 5 but singled.

[@bots08]

Thanks for posting this !

[@robertboydiiido-bolsa7531]

I'm not sure where we are getting this "underrated" stuff from, as every baseball fan is well-aware of just who and how great a player he was. They don't elect underrated guys in the hall-of-fame. They are there because the voters and fans know of their talents all too well just who they were. Stan "The Man" is one baseball's all-time immortals and there has never been any question about that.

[@davidvanzant2019]

This was amazing

[@robertboney4493]

greatest left-hand hitter in NL history.

[@NeptuneCityRocker]

Nope. Sorry. Much as I love Stan, you forget about a man named RUTH. (Also Williams was left handed)

[@jkdm7653]

@@NeptuneCityRocker Ruth and Williams played in the American League, except for Ruth's last season, eh?

[@NeptuneCityRocker]

Yes of course. My bad.

[@austinpriest9830]

Ever heard of Barry Bonds??

[@someguy23475]

Bonds juiced so he does not count.

[@larryloveless2967]

I remember being 9 years old watching his last at bat on a black and white TV versus the Reds along with my mom and dad and getting that groundball hit past Pete Rose. I think we even cried some when taken out for a pinch runner. He was that popular in St. Louis. Harry Caray building up the drama for Cardinals fans was a factor as well. Cards fan from STL

[@garylobo3]

And how great to see Bob (The Benchwarmer) Burnes here, the late great sports columnist for the STL GLOBE-DEMOCRAT. He also used to do Sports Open Line call in shows on KMOX Radio in STL, which was perfect for him, because boy did he have a face for radio ;) Of course, so do I. Burnes was humble, direct and very knowledgeable. His counterpart at the Post Dispatch, Bob Broeg was better known nationally, but I always loved to read Burnes, a true Cardinal fan. Oh yeah, that Stan Musial was pretty good too. ;) A little STL background sportswriters history for you out of towners...

[@rct303]

if Musial played his career in Yankee stadium, NY, DiMaggio Berra, Mantle would be but footnotes to this man, Ruth and Gehrig would be breaking historical bread with an equal. I know St. Louis loves him, but i can't help but feel that some of the laurals of recognition were lost in middle America. An argument can be made, that Musial was the greatest National league player in the history of baseball. Not a hard argument to prove. He has my vote.

[@robertkresko6338]

robert thomas My two favorite teams are Cardinals and Yankees. And I agree. I don't know how anyone could possibly believe that Mantle was better than Musial but many seem to think that way.

[@TheBatugan77]

@@robertkresko6338 Mantle had more power and speed, and was a better fielder. Musial was a far better contact hitter. For what it's worth, Stan was the Mick's favorite player growing up.

[@james8156]

A great man and a "Legend"

[@MadShibbs]

Finally made it to the great diamond in the sky Stan :) You will forever live on in the hearts of Cardinal Nation for all time. Love you Stan...thanks for all the memories R.I.P.

[@Lava1964]

When baseball was king and everybody knew who the stars were...

[@chriscook7417]

RIP, Stan was the Man.

[@lennielefler2081]

Besides everything else he did- Musial one year hit. .376. !!! My baseball glove in 1958 Little League was a Stan Musial glove

[@Classicrocker6119]

Mickey Mantles rookie season of 1951 was his teammates last year. Somebody named Joe DiMaggio.

[@Jacobthekid28]

"Mr. Cardinal" and "The man." Either one works.

[@tomitstube]

what's amazing is how little footage there is of musial playing, he played for 22 years.

[@TheBatugan77]

It's not amazing. It's technology.

[@davidvanzant2019]

Wow what a great story

[@bordog88]

Never seen this video before...wonderful! Seeing Dizzy Dean and Bob Burns is a treat too! R.I.P. Stan!

[@johnwilson6319]

Stan the forgotten man and that's a shame

[@vivalasvegas2090]

7 batting titles for a man who hit 475 career home runs,most of the time batting titles are won by contact hitters

[@mcbaptista2805]

Wow....Simply Awesome!!! Go Cards!

[@baseballheaven2009]

It's insane when you think about this...4th all time in hits...3rd all time in doubles...more triples than ANY player who played even a single game after world war 2...475 homeruns...a strikeout rate better than any other homerun hitter...u have to look at joe dimmaggio's 361 homeruns to find a better strikeout rate...

[@stevechism436]

I watched that ballgame on TV...Was priviledged to see it on the Redding CA TV station,,living in Alturas, CA...I WAS in St Louis mentally..

[@nghattersley]

Rest in Peace Stan Musial. We all know that you'll be on the All-Star team in Heaven too.

[@joemckim1183]

He's playing in Field of Dreams now

[@empirestate8791]

Apparently, a biographer had to work really, really hard to find faults in Musial's character ... and the search turned up empty!

[@rmtuff]

Was at that game remember it like it was yesterday.

[@kbosch74]

Awesome! Stan the Man!

[@Howard2006]

Still fun to watch after all these years and Pete Rose at 2nd base. Who knew that Rose would pass Stan in hits some day, though Stan was a great ambassador of baseball and Rose had other issues.

[@MrSteve3065]

Always see the last AB for Ted Williams and it was GREAT! I never had sen the last Stan Musial AB. Terrific!!!

[@TheBatugan77]

Stan's strikeouts totals...or lack thereof...are amazing. It took him FIVE years to accumulate his first 100 whiffs!

[@MrCctvtech]

That is an amazing stat. I didn't know that.

[@angelcruise3329]

I saw Musial-Play in St. Louis in the Early-60's.

[@Kdmoo]

You will be missed Stan. RIP.

[@benmiddleton9984]

just remember that Mickey Mantle grew up watching Stan Musial play baseball in 1941. Stan Musial was signed to the Cardinals in 41 and mantle was signed to the Yankees Ten Years Later in 51

[@rsd22123]

What a great talent.

[@StevieB821]

Funny to listen to the talk of Musial and Rose - 2 guys who could not have been more different.

[@deiradinn]

Lifelong Cardinals fan here, he'll be missed on opening day, it's going to be a mixed feeling kind of day.

[@Floho25]

It's rare but it is still done to this day.

[@TheBatugan77]

Believe it or not, Stan and Junior Griffey shared the same birthday, and the same birthplace. Donora, Pa.

[@Amick44]

Wow

[@josephdovi1565]

Great always over looked

[@KingOfKingz819]

RIP Stan The Man.

[@2012myles]

Very cool.

[@oldhippiefromthe60s]

THE "GREATEST BASEBALL PLAYER OF ALL TIME" ON AND OFF THE FIELD. GOD BLESS STAN THE MAN AND HOLD HIM CLOSE. NUFF SAID!

[@Geotubest]

RIP Stan the Man.

[@edwardrossman9448]

Thats an awesome anecdote about pete rose presenting Stan with 3000 hit ball

[@patrickmorgan4006]

It was the 3630 ball.

[@MickTheQuickk]

The video doesn't show Pete Rose coming over to first to give Stan the ball and shake hands with him.

[@darrylfox3616]

The Reds 2nd baseman was Pete Rose...

[@robertd.7060]

It's just a big shame , in a lot of his playing years , there were NO cards made of him ? Topps doesn't have that many , either , while he played , not till much later & when he's gone .

[@LarrySmades]

Thats my great uncle!

[@josephmirenda6645]

After this game Stan "The Man" retired as the National Leagues all-time hits leader with 3,630.....Both hits in this game were driven past a rookie second baseman named Pete Rose....Rose would eventually break Stan Musial's all-time National league hits record in 1981...... As Harry Carey would say, "Holy Cow!".....

[@aanganapatni915]

Earlier Saturday, baseball lost another Hall of Famer when longtime Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver died at age 82.

[@davidvanzant2019]

I love baseball

[@PaddyButton]

R.I.P.

[@TheBatugan77]

Tony Gwynn with power. Both amazing. Both beloved.

[@jonathanhanser5914]

If Fred Lynn had 22 more years like his Rookie and MVP season...he d be Stan the Man

[@olivercrangle7160]

Costas failed to point out that Rose was born in 1941.