I have the choice of using either 51, 52, or 53 Musial and I'm struggling to decide which one to use. Salary isn't an issue. The team will be playing in Sportsman's Park which is +3 for doubles & +1 for RF HR.

51 - .355, .449, .614 32HR 5 2B# C/B+
52 - .336, .432, .538 21 HR 7 2B# B/B+
53 - .337, .437, .609 30 HR 9 2B# B/D+

52 normalizes a bit better and is better defensively but is significantly lower in slugging. For that reason, I'm leaning towards 51 or 53 but keep going back in forth on which one. I'm intrigued by the 53 version and the 9 2B#.

Interested in what some others think.

I would choose 1953. The doubles stand out to me. I wouldn't worry about the D+ range in the outfield. I don't find there is huge difference between D+ and B+ range.

'51 has better normalized #'s but it's due mostly to the fact that he'll hit more singles (22 to 18 1b/100 AB#). 1953 will hit more extra base hits which the park will help.

wow, how consistent was Stan the Man at this point in career? I looked this over for a few minutes and did several comparisons based on different searches (i.e. avg #, avg+, all the extra base numbers, hit and contact rate, etc...). Initially I was leaning towards the '51 iteration but felt I might be a bit prejudiced due to the significant salary differential. Further review based on the park you're playing in led me to finally choose the 1953. That doubles # is hard to pass up on.

Stan is most underrated legend in history of baseball

It has been said if Stan played in New York, you would have never heard of Joe Dimaggio.

Joe WHO

I would go with '53 probably.

Thanks guys. I was in the 53 camp too but I haven't used Musial much and good to get the sanity check.

Quotes About Stan Musial
"He could have hit .300 with a fountain pen." - Joe Garagiola

"How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away." - Vin Scully

"I've had pretty good success with Stan by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third." - Carl Erskine

"Once Musial timed your fastball, your infielders were in jeopardy." - Warren Spahn

"A couple years ago they told me I was too young to be president and you were too old to be playing baseball. But we fooled them." - President John F. Kennedy to Musial, at the 1962 All Star Game

I got these from thebaseballpage.com.....they rank Musial as the best LF ever, over Williams and Henderson.

Quote: Originally posted by winner77 on 2/21/2010Stan is most underrated legend in history of baseball

Posnanski reader. (Me too.)

51 is more expensive because he's a great 1B. if you're playing him in the OF then I'd go with '53.

i'd take 51

Quote: Originally Posted By The_Creeper on 2/21/2010It has been said if Stan played in New York, you would have never heard of Joe Dimaggio

Well let's not go overboard here....Stan was probably better, and certainly played longer. He amassed some amazing stats that Joe did not, but to say we would never heard of Dimaggio is a little extreme.

Why wasn't Musial in the army? He played straight through WWII.

Why is Joe never on Trent? Take a breather there, Trent.