St. Louis Cardinals: Yadier Molina joins exclusive club
Stan Musial—3026 games with the Cardinals
Stan Musial is not only one of five players to appear in 1800 games with the Cardinals; he’s also one of only two players to appear in 2000 games with the Cardinals. In fact, he’s all by himself as the only player to appear in 3000 games with the Cardinals. He played in 3026 games in his career, tied with Eddie Murray for the sixth-most games played in the history of baseball.
Musial was “The Man” in St. Louis. He played 22 years in the major leagues, all with the Cardinals. Only once, in his final season when he was 42 years old, did he have a below average season on offense (98 wRC+). Even then, he was above replacement level (1.3 WAR).
More typical for Musial was the 16-season stretch from 1942 to 1958 (minus 1945 because of World War II) during which he averaged 7.4 WAR per season. In more than 2400 games in this period, Musial hit .340/.426/.578 with season averages of 150 games played, 107 runs scored, 25 homers, and 102 RBI. He was as consistent a hitter as you’d ever want to see.
Current baseball fans might not know that Musial was a pitcher before becoming a Hall of Fame hitter. Before reaching the major leagues, he spent his final full season in the minor leagues both pitching and hitting. On the mound, he was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA in 223 innings. With the bat, he hit .311 with a .410 slugging percentage in 405 at-bats. His pitching career ended after he made a diving catch while playing the outfield and injured his shoulder.
A dozen years later, Musial made one appearance on the pitching mound in the major leagues. On the final day of the 1952 season, he was brought in to face Frank Baumholtz, who was trailing him in the batting race. Musial threw one pitch and Baumholtz grounded to third, but third baseman Solly Hemus bobbled the ball and Baumholtz reached on an error. That was it for Musial’s major league pitching career: one pitch.
As good as he was on the field, Musial may have been even better as a person off the field. He was beloved all around baseball but especially in St. Louis. I’d argue he is the greatest first baseman who ever played the game. He was also one of the greatest people to ever play the game.