<\/a>At about 5:00 a.m. on September 10, 1963, Stan \u201cThe Man\u201d Musial<\/strong><\/span> and his wife Lillian got a call from Stan\u2019s son Dick informing them that Stan \u201cThe Man\u201d was now Stan \u201cThe Grandpa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approximately 15 hours later, Stan Musial was on the field, playing left field for the Saint Louis Cardinals, facing the Chicago Cubs.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 In the bottom of the first, the Cubs\u2019 Glen Hobbie fanned Cardinals’ lead off hitter 2B Julian Javier before giving up a single to SS Dick Groat.\u00a0 That brought the 42-year-old Musial to the plate \u2013 for his first at bat as a grandpa.<\/strong> He was apparently not the least bit phased by the new age marker \u2013 drilling the first pitch he ever saw as a grandpa over the right field wall for a two-run homer.\u00a0 (MLB’s first-ever homer by a grandfather<\/em>.\u00a0 Yes, in baseball we track everything.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Being a grandfather seemed to agree with him, as he played in 16 games after his first grandson\u2019s birth, going .341-2-7.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Side note: In that September 10, 1963 game, Cardinals\u2019 starting pitcher Bob Gibson not only\u00a0 threw a complete-game, six-hit shutout, but also popped a three-run home run.\u00a0 More #WhyIHateTheDH.<\/em><\/p>\n

Primary Resource:\u00a0 Baseball-Reference.com<\/em><\/p>\n

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At about 5:00 a.m. on September 10, 1963, Stan \u201cThe Man\u201d Musial and his wife Lillian got a call from Stan\u2019s son Dick informing them that Stan \u201cThe Man\u201d was now Stan \u201cThe Grandpa.\u201d Approximately 15 hours later, Stan Musial was on the field, playing left field for the Saint Louis Cardinals, facing the Chicago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n