A tribute to Stan Musial and Earl Weaver

Baseball lost two of its great ambassadors with the passing of Stan Musial and Earl Weaver. Both men died on January 19, Musial at the age of 92 and Weaver at 82.

Stan Musial

Stan "The Man" Musial played the entirety of his 22-year career for the St. Louis Cardinals, first making the big league roster in 1941 and retiring in 1963. Musial was among the best in his profession for the duration of his career and his 24 All-Star selections are tied with Willie Mays for the most in MLB history. (Two All-Star games were played per season between 1959 and 1962.) Musial finished in the top 10 in National League MVP voting 14 times, earning the award in 1943, 1946 and 1948, while finishing runner-up another four occasions.

As a hitter, Musial was supreme, winning seven NL batting titles. The first occurred in 1943 when he claimed a .357 batting average at the age of 22. The last took place 14 years later, when Musial averaged .351 in 1957 as a 36-year-old.

The St. Louis Cardinals won 1,900 games during Musial’s tenure and made four trips to the Fall Classic, winning the World Series three times.

Earl Weaver

Like Musial, Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver spent the expanse of his Major League career with one franchise. He managed the Baltimore Orioles from 1968 to 1982 and returned for another stint in 1985-86. Weaver’s squads won the American League Pennant in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1979. The Orioles were World Series champions in 1970 when they defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Under Weaver’s leadership, the Orioles won more than 58 percent of the 2,540 games he managed. His teams topped 90 or more wins on 12 occasions and only suffered one losing season.

Weaver was known for his combativeness with umpires and was ejected from numerous games during his career. He was notorious for kicking dirt on umps and often turning his cap so that he could get closer during spats.

While on the Orioles’ bench, Weaver managed several future Hall of Fame players, including Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Reggie Jackson, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken, Jr.

SimMatchup

Simulate a matchup between Musial’s 1948 Cardinals, arguably his best statistical season, and Weaver’s 1970 World Champion Orioles:

Jake Westrich is the Digital Content Coordinator for WhatIfSports.com. He can be reached at jwestrich@whatifsports.com.