Stan Musial is celebrating his 92 birthday today. In my opinion, he is by far the greatest living player representing the game today. The game has had tremendous players who have dominated in all areas and it is fair to say Musial ranks amongst the best to ever play this game.
Musial finished his 22 year career (from 1941-1963, missed 1945 due to millitary service) with a .331 average, 475 career HRs and 1951 RBIs. His 3630 career hits ranks him 4th all time behind Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron. He managed 6134 total bases, for which in baseball history, only Aaron had more. His 1377 career extra base hits trail only Aaron and Barry Bonds. He also had 725 2Bs, where only Tris Speaker and Rose had more.
In addition to those all time stats, Musial managed 177 3Bs and scored 1949 runs, and finished with a .417 OBP and .559 SLG to total a .976 career OPS. His OPS ranks him 13th all time. He won the NL MVP 3 times (1943, 1946, 1948) and played for 3 World Series winning teams (1942, 1944, 1946). He was also part of the 1943 NL Pennant winning team that lost to the Yankees in the World Series. As expected, he was an All Star just about every season he played.
The hardest thing to do is quantify who the greatest player is to ever play this game. It is impossible to compare both hitters and pitchers; I am 100% in favor of splitting wins above replacement into batter and pitcher catagories. When you factor in the different eras of the game and different advantages and disadvantages players of different times had or have, many opinions will differ. However, few thought out opinions would be considered wrong. You also have to but into account what a fair judgement of players who used steroids (Bonds, Alex Rodriguez) and players who have been expelled from the game (Rose, Joe Jackson). I chose in my analysis to include all players, for the expection of current players, who have no completed their book yet.
The three players I initially said could be the greatest of all time were Babe Ruth, Cobb and Ted Williams. My secondary group consisted of Musial, Aaron, Willie Mays, Speaker, Honus Wagner and Bonds. I had stated that Ruth, Cobb and Williams could each make their own case of being the best player ever. Musial makes the best case in the second group because of what he accomplished all around.
Based on what Musial accomplished, I find it most amazing that he only got 93.2% of the Hall of Fame vote in 1969. I understand that writers did not vote for guys such as Ruth and Cobb in their first year of eligibility and Williams got 93.4% the vote. But, think about this. Since Musial and Williams, only Aaron and Mays have been eligible for the vote afterwards. Mays got 94.7% of the vote in 1979. Aaron, though, got 97.8% of the vote in 1982. In my opinion, Williams and Musial were better players than Mays and Aaron. I know we are comparing the greatest against the greatest, but Williams and Musial hit for a higher average (.331, .347 respectively). Perhaps a critic can state that Mays and Aaron hit more HRs, but like I said before, Musial only trailed Aaron when it came to total bases and just Aaron and Bonds in extra base hits. Let the discusion continue...
In addition to those all time stats, Musial managed 177 3Bs and scored 1949 runs, and finished with a .417 OBP and .559 SLG to total a .976 career OPS. His OPS ranks him 13th all time. He won the NL MVP 3 times (1943, 1946, 1948) and played for 3 World Series winning teams (1942, 1944, 1946). He was also part of the 1943 NL Pennant winning team that lost to the Yankees in the World Series. As expected, he was an All Star just about every season he played.
The hardest thing to do is quantify who the greatest player is to ever play this game. It is impossible to compare both hitters and pitchers; I am 100% in favor of splitting wins above replacement into batter and pitcher catagories. When you factor in the different eras of the game and different advantages and disadvantages players of different times had or have, many opinions will differ. However, few thought out opinions would be considered wrong. You also have to but into account what a fair judgement of players who used steroids (Bonds, Alex Rodriguez) and players who have been expelled from the game (Rose, Joe Jackson). I chose in my analysis to include all players, for the expection of current players, who have no completed their book yet.
The three players I initially said could be the greatest of all time were Babe Ruth, Cobb and Ted Williams. My secondary group consisted of Musial, Aaron, Willie Mays, Speaker, Honus Wagner and Bonds. I had stated that Ruth, Cobb and Williams could each make their own case of being the best player ever. Musial makes the best case in the second group because of what he accomplished all around.
Based on what Musial accomplished, I find it most amazing that he only got 93.2% of the Hall of Fame vote in 1969. I understand that writers did not vote for guys such as Ruth and Cobb in their first year of eligibility and Williams got 93.4% the vote. But, think about this. Since Musial and Williams, only Aaron and Mays have been eligible for the vote afterwards. Mays got 94.7% of the vote in 1979. Aaron, though, got 97.8% of the vote in 1982. In my opinion, Williams and Musial were better players than Mays and Aaron. I know we are comparing the greatest against the greatest, but Williams and Musial hit for a higher average (.331, .347 respectively). Perhaps a critic can state that Mays and Aaron hit more HRs, but like I said before, Musial only trailed Aaron when it came to total bases and just Aaron and Bonds in extra base hits. Let the discusion continue...
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