One of the common arguments I would get into while traveling up and down the East Coast broadcasting baseball was how great Stan Musial was. It was common, after all I worked in an area where the Yankees ruled, I worked with Yankee fans, and they are the team and only team for many people.
However, when I started dropping Musial stats on them, what he did in his career and how he is one of the greatest, maybe top 5 ball players of all time the ridicule began. People just don’t realize how great of a ball player this man was, how great of a Man he is and I thought the 2009 All-Star game was finally going to put that into perspective for everyone.
It didn’t.
Whoever is to blame, whether it’s MLB, Fox Broadcasting or even the Cardinals, they should feel ashamed and embarrassed for the disrespect of one of the greatest guys every to play the game, a true living legend.
This is a guy who played 22 seasons in the big leagues, all with the Cardinals. He was elected to 20 All-Star games, the only two he did not attend was his first two seasons in the league. He had a lifetime batting average of .331, 475 home runs, 3,630 hits, .417 on base percentage, three MVP awards and he missed a year of baseball to serve our country and fight in World War II.
The best we could do to honor this man is have him be the ball boy for the game?
Where is the video tribute?
Where are all the players at to congratulate him and pat him on the back?
Where is his moment to be recognized by the crowd for what he did and how much he meant to this city?
How about the five seconds of attention given to the other Cardinals Hall of Famers that were there?? Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Red Schoendienst and Lou Brock were introduced so quick and moved away so fast if you blinked you missed it.
For all the hype, all the build up of how this was going to be the day that Stan Musial returns to Busch Stadium and is honored by MLB, it sure fell flat and was a big disappointment and very disrespectful to the type of ball player that is an endangered species. They don’t make them like Musial anymore, and they probably never will.
Baseball fans don’t recognize how great this man is, hell, just look at how he was left off the All Century team. Bud Selig had to add him to correct the roster.
I never saw him play in person, but he is still one of my favorite ball players of all time because I have seen him play through the stories I hear from other people.
Stan, you still are The Man here in St. Louis and we all respect you and love you and know how great you are to this game.
For anyone that knows me, they know I am a very superstitious person when it comes to sports. I have been my whole life. I had my routine when I played baseball and soccer. I still have the same routine when I play on my soccer league now.
However, my superstitions carry over to watching sports as well. If I am doing something that is affecting my team, I pay attention. Which is why when I had a BBQ in 2002 to kick off Notre Dame’s football schedule and they won 22-0, I had a BBQ each week after, even if I was just cooking for myself. Notre Dame was 8-0 to start that season, however the curse of the green jersey far out weighted the mojo I had going with my BBQ and Notre Dame lost 14-7 in South Bend to Boston College. Ugh
When the St. Louis Cardinals advanced to the World Series in 2004, I kept the playoff beard going from the regular season through the third inning of Game 4 in the World Series. When Boston jumped up 3-0 in the third inning I shaved it off mid game but it was too late, the Red Sox were on their way to winning the World Series. Ugh
But no amount of superstition in my sports history goes as far as the Kurt Warner Gold Jersey.
I never owned one piece of St. Louis Rams paraphernalia until the Rams made it their second Super Bowl, its was Super Bowl 36 and the year was 2001. I was walking in the mall and spotted a Rams alternate Gold Warner Jersey and I bought it for the Big Game.
Little did I know I was about to take down one of the most beloved figures in sports history and doom a franchise.
I wore my jersey and the Rams lost 20-17, a game they should have easily won, they were favored to win and could have begun a long run of winning, much like the Patriots ended up doing. Unfortunately, the Rams did the opposite.
In 2002, I took out my Warner jersey and wore it for the first pre-season game, a loss for Warner and the Rams. I wore the jersey every start Warner had in the pre-season and Warner and the Rams went 0-for-4.
When the 2002 regular season started, I was convinced the jersey couldn’t be the reason and continued to wear it. Warner and the Rams went 0-for-4 to start the season.
So since I bought the jersey and wore it, Warner and the Rams were 0-for-9. Ouch.
Warner got benched and did not start again until Week 12 and 13 of the 2002 season and he lost both those games as well.
In Week 1 of the 2003 season, Warner started and lost. So to date, Warner and the Rams are 0-for-12 with me wearing the Gold Warner Jersey. Warner did not play again until Week 17 at Detroit and even though he didn’t start, the Rams still lost.
Warner began a new chapter in his life in 2004, playing in New York for the Giants. I decided to wear the jersey for his Giants debut and in Week 1, Warner started and lost to the Eagles 31-17. An 0-for-13 stretch, which incidentally is Warner’s number, 13.
I finally stopped wearing the jersey after that game and Warner won his next four straight starts and was 5-3 over his next eight starts before finally being replaced by Eli Manning.
The bad karma was so bad from my Gold Jersey fiasco, that I really do believe Warner did not rebound until the 2007 season culminating in 2008. I have yet to wear the Gold Jersey since Week 1 of 2004 and I have no intention of wearing it for this Super Bowl.
It has hung in the back of my closet on a hanger ever since, only being moved when I change places to live. My only hope is Warner can win and break the curse of the Gold Jersey. It might help not only Warner, but the Rams organization and myself as well.
However, when I started dropping Musial stats on them, what he did in his career and how he is one of the greatest, maybe top 5 ball players of all time the ridicule began. People just don’t realize how great of a ball player this man was, how great of a Man he is and I thought the 2009 All-Star game was finally going to put that into perspective for everyone.
