He talked about how much of a privilege it was to be 'welcomed into the club by Bob Gibson Lou Brock and the great Stan Musial. Louis in 2006, he talked, almost with tears in his eyes, about what it meant to win a World Series in St. When Tony La Russa won the world championship in St. Musial finished his career with 903 more walks than strikeouts Reggie Jackson had 1,222 more strikeouts than walks. Musial never struck out 50 times in a season, finishing his 22-year career with only 696 strikeouts - Sammy Sosa had almost that many in a four-year span. 376 with 46 doubles, 18 triples, 39 home runs, 131 RBIs and 34 strikeouts. Musial's best season was 1948 when he batted. He won MVP Awards in 1943, '46 and '48 only Bonds has more MVPs in baseball history. He won seven batting titles, including three straight from 1950 to 1952 he might have won another had he not served his country in World War II in 1945.

Musial led the Cardinals to world championships in 1942, '44 and '46. 'He was the best hitter I ever faced,' Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn once told me. Only Henry Aaron and Barry Bonds had more extra-base hits than Musial. 331 with 475 home runs he, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig are the only players in history to hit that well with that many homers. He had the fourth-most hits in history, 3,630 - exactly half came at home, exactly half came on the road. Musial began his career as a pitcher but finished as arguably one of the five best players of all time. 'The only thing I liked that much was hitting.' 'I like to make people smile,' he once told me. Stan Musial had 3,630 career hits - 1,815 at home, 1,815 on the road. When he would play 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' on his harmonica to kick off the induction ceremony at the Hall of Fame, well, Cooperstown was never better than at that moment. He was a team player, a veteran of World War II and a great ambassador of the game. Musial was the greatest Cardinal ever, one of the greatest players ever and perhaps the most underrated player of all time.

His nickname was The Man, and he was in every way.

'Did you get the picture?' were the first words he said to me. Three days later, it arrived at my house. 376 with 103 extra-base hits and 34 strikeouts, he looked at me and asked if I would like an autographed picture. Halfway through lunch, after I'd asked the great Musial questions about such topics as his start as a pitcher and his 1948 season when he hit. Randomly, I was seated between the two nicest superstar players of all time, Brooks Robinson and Stan Musial. At a luncheon for Hall of Famers at the White House in 2003, I won the lottery.

Stan musial hall of fame