You love baseball. Tim Kurkjian loves baseball. So while we await its return, every day we'll provide you with a story or two tied to this date in baseball history.
ON THIS DATE IN 1958, Stan Musial recorded his 3,000th hit.
Thirty years later, a disgruntled teenager on a hotel escalator was complaining to his friend about being too late to get Pete Rose's autograph at a card show.
"I got a few, I got this guy, Stan Meeasl ... Moosil ... Misial,'' the teenager said. A disgruntled baseball writer, Dan Shaughnessy, said to the kid, "That's Stan Musial. You should know him. He got 3,600 hits.''
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He got 3,630 to be exact, and exactly as many at home, 1,815, as he had on the road. Musial won three MVPs and finished second four times. He has accrued the third-most MVP votes (prorated) of all time after Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. Musial won seven batting titles and is a lifetime .331 hitter with 475 homers: The only players with a higher average and that many homers are Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. I believe Musial is the most underrated superstar of all time. He is in the discussion as one of the five best players ever, he is the best to wear No. 6 and he is by far the greatest Cardinal of all time.
Musial played in 24 All-Star Games. In the 12th inning of the 1955 game in Milwaukee, he told National League teammates, "I'm going to end this thing right here.'' He went to the plate and told Yogi Berra, the American League catcher, "Yogi, I'm tired, it's time to go home.'' Musial hit a walk-off home run, one of the best moments in All-Star Game history.
I spent three hours sitting next to Stan Musial at a baseball luncheon at the White House in 2004. It was assigned seating, and I was assigned to sit between Musial and Brooks Robinson, the two nicest superstar players that I have ever met. It was a dream come true. Halfway through lunch, Stan the Man asked me if I'd like an autographed picture sent to me. I don't collect autographs -- I have, literally, none of them -- but when Stan Musial offers, you accept. Two days later, an autographed picture from Stan the Man arrived at my house.
I immediately wrote Stan a thank-you note. When I saw him the next time, which was two years later, he came up to me, shook my hand and said, "How did you like the picture?''
Oh my. One of the best days ever.
Other baseball notes for May 13
In 1923, Hall of Famer Joe Sewell, in his fourth major league season, struck out two times in a game for the first time in his career. He never had more than 20 strikeouts in a season. He had three strikeouts in 576 plate appearances in 1932. He struck out 114 times in his career: 103 players struck out 114 or more times in 2019.
In 1950, Bobby Valentine was born. Before he signed with the Dodgers, he was recruited by USC to play tailback, following O.J. Simpson.
In 2018, former Tigers second baseman Dick McAuliffe died. A vastly underrated player with the strangest batting stance you'll ever see, he holds the AL record for most at-bats in a season without grounding into a double play (570 in 1968).
In 2009, Ryan Zimmerman's 30-game hit streak ended. He faced 90 different pitchers during his streak. During Joe DiMaggio's 56-game streak, he faced 43 different pitchers.
In 1975, Mickey Callaway was born. His dad was a Yankees fan. Mickey's brother's name is Casey.