Stan Musial – R.I.P

All sorts of acronyms come to mind when thinking about Stan Musial: RBI, HR, OBP, BA.  On this day a different acronym surpasses all the others: R.I.P.

Last night Willie Mays said he never heard anyone say a bad word about Stan.  In the modern world of big money for big sports, athletes are rarely what they seem.  Stan seems like the rare gem who was even more than what he seemed.  Joe Posnanski describes that essence here.

Regardless of what one’s opinion is of steroid users in the baseball HOF, just ask yourself if you can ever imagine Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens or [fill in the blank] putting on a show for fans like the one in the below YouTube video, their love of the game and the fans oozing out of every pore. And then ponder why fans have grown so cynical of modern athletes and why modern athletes have grown so cynical of fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea5nAngOfqs