At about 5:00 a.m. on September 10, 1963, Stan “The Man” Musial and his wife Lillian got a call from Stan’s son Dick informing them that Stan “The Man” was now Stan “The Grandpa.”
Approximately 15 hours later, Stan Musial was on the field, playing left field for the Saint Louis Cardinals, facing the Chicago Cubs. Bob Gibson was on the mound for Saint Louis and, after giving up a single to Lou Brock to open the game, he retired the next three Cubs in order. In the bottom of the first, the Cubs’ Glen Hobbie fanned Cardinals’ lead off hitter 2B Julian Javier before giving up a single to SS Dick Groat. That brought the 42-year-old Musial to the plate – for his first at bat as a grandpa. He was apparently not the least bit phased by the new age marker – drilling the first pitch he ever saw as a grandpa over the right field wall for a two-run homer. (MLB’s first-ever homer by a grandfather. Yes, in baseball we track everything.)
The Cardinals won 8-0, and Musial went two-for-three with one run scored and three RBI. It was Musial’s final big league season and he finished the year at .255-12-58. Being a grandfather seemed to agree with him, as he played in 16 games after his first grandson’s birth, going .341-2-7.
Oh, for those who track such things, Musial played 22 MLB seasons, made 20 All Star teams, collected 3,630 hits (.331 average) and seven batting titles; hit 475 home runs; led the league in hits six times, doubles eight times, triples five times, runs scored five times and RBI twice; and was a three-time NL Most Valuable Player. Over his life, he also was a father four times; grandfather eleven times; and great grandfather 12 times.
Side note: In that September 10, 1963 game, Cardinals’ starting pitcher Bob Gibson not only threw a complete-game, six-hit shutout, but also popped a three-run home run. More #WhyIHateTheDH.
Primary Resource: Baseball-Reference.com
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“Musial played 22 MLB seasons, made 20 All Star teams, collected 3,630 hits (.331 average) and seven batting titles;” Of those 3,630 hits, 1,815 were at home and 1,815 were on the road.