St. Louis Cardinals: Did you know this Stan Musial fact?

During his incredible 22-year playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Stan Musial not only earned himself a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but also a place in the heart of every Cardinals fan. However, as great as Musial’s playing career was, there was another moment in time where he deeply impacted the club and its fortunes from the front office.

Looking back at the 10-month span where Stan Musial was the vice president and general manager for the St. Louis Cardinals.

While Stan Musial had been a vice president with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1963 through 1966, he suddenly, on January 23, 1967, in a surprise move, was named as the general manager for the team. The announcement came one day after Bob Howsam, who had held the GM spot with the Cardinals since August of 1964, left the franchise to become the executive vice president and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

The transition from Howsam to Musial was one that was reportedly welcomed in the clubhouse. With his history as a Cardinals player, “Stan the Man” understood the importance of balancing a player’s performance on the field and his joy of actually playing the game and being a part of the team. Howsam was a general manager who reportedly tried to control how players dressed and acted, in the dugout and away from the field.

Bob Broeg, then the sports editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, wrote this when Musial took over as the franchise’s general manager…

"“Musial became general manager in an atmosphere of ridiculous distrust and mistrust, foolish front-office nitpicking and rising player dissatisfaction over contract terms and methods of salary negotiations.”"

With all of that in the background, Musial took over as GM and worked with players on deals that were friendly to them and the franchise as well. The atmosphere around the team changed and the Cardinals went on to win the 1967 World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. Part of that team was legendary home run hitter Roger Maris, who played his final two MLB seasons in a Cardinals uniform. While Howsam may have initiated the talks with Maris about playing in St. Louis, it was Musial who finalized the deal.

"“It should be good working with men like Musial and (Red) Schoendienst because they know all about the game,” Maris said after inking his deal."

Trivia time: Did you know that Musial was the first MLB general manager to win a world championship in his first season as a team’s GM?

While Howsam may be credited with building a majority of the roster that won the title, Musial was widely praised for bringing it together and truly building a team.

After helping the Cardinals win the 1967 title, just 10 months after he accepted the position, Musial stepped down as the St. Louis general manager to focus more time on his business interests.

And what about the man Musial replaced in St. Louis? Howsam would be a big part of constructing Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” which collected six division titles and two World Series rings during his tenure as the Reds general manager from 1967-77. He would also etch his name in pro football history, being one of the original founders of the Denver Broncos.