Stan Musial
An American Life
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Narrated by:
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Scott Brick
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By:
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George Vecsey
About this listen
When baseball fans voted on the top twenty-five players of the twentieth century in 1999, Stan Musial didn’t make the cut. This glaring omission—later rectified by a panel of experts—raised an important question: How could a first-ballot Hall of Famer, widely considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, still rank as the most underrated athlete of all time?
In Stan Musial, veteran sports journalist George Vecsey finally gives this twenty-time All-Star and St. Louis Cardinals icon the kind of prestigious biographical treatment previously afforded to his more celebrated contemporaries Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. More than just a chronological recounting of the events of Musial’s life, this is the definitive portrait of one of the game’s best-loved but most unappreciated legends, told through the remembrances of those who played beside, worked with, and covered “Stan the Man” over the course of his nearly seventy years in the national spotlight.
Stan Musial never married a starlet. He didn’t die young, live too hard, or squander his talent. There were no legendary displays of temper or moodiness. He was merely the most consistent superstar of his era, a scarily gifted batsman who compiled 3,630 career hits (1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road), won three World Series titles, and retired in 1963 in possession of seventeen major-league records. Away from the diamond, he proved a savvy businessman and a model of humility and graciousness toward his many fans in St. Louis and around the world. From Keith Hernandez’s boyhood memories of Musial leaving tickets for him when the Cardinals were in San Francisco to the little-known story of Musial’s friendship with novelist James Michener—and their mutual association with Pope John Paul II—Vecsey weaves an intimate oral history around one of the great gentlemen of baseball’s Greatest Generation. There may never be another Stan the Man, a fact that future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols—reluctantly nicknamed “El Hombre” in Musial’s honor—is quick to acknowledge. But thanks to this long-overdue reappraisal, even those who took his greatness for granted will learn to appreciate him all over again.
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- By Sher from Provo on 04-08-13
By: Dan Barry
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Ty Cobb
- A Terrible Beauty
- By: Charles Leerhsen
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don't tell half of Cobb's tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: "Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam," one columnist wrote.
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Two Cobb Books, One Review of a Maligned Legacy
- By Jonathan Love on 05-17-16
By: Charles Leerhsen
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Pull Up a Chair
- The Vin Scully Story
- By: Curt Smith
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Since 1950, the instantly recognizable voice of Vin Scully has invited listeners to “pull up a chair” for his peerless play-by-play sports reporting. Recruited and mentored by the legendary Red Barber, Scully has narrated NBC’s Game of the Week, twelve All-Star Games, eighteen no-hitters, and twenty-five World Series, describing players from Duke Snider to Orel Hershiser to Manny Ramirez, with hundreds in between.
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Almost perfect
- By steve finkelstein on 02-06-21
By: Curt Smith
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Opening Day
- The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Richard Allen
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Drawing on interviews with surviving players, sportswriters, and eyewitnesses, as well as newly discovered material from archives around the country, Jonathan Eig presents a fresh portrait of a ferocious competitor who embodied integration's promise and helped launch the modern civil-rights era. Full of new details and thrilling action, Opening Day brings to life baseball's ultimate story.
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Great book, not so great reading
- By Joe Baseball on 08-30-07
By: Jonathan Eig
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The Last Innocents
- The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers
- By: Michael Leahy
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Legendary Dodgers Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax, Wes Parker, Jeff Torborg, Dick Tracewski, and Tommy Davis encapsulated 1960s America: white and black, Jewish and Christian, wealthy and working class, pro-Vietnam and anti-war, golden boy and seasoned veteran. The Last Innocents is a thoughtful, technicolor portrait of these seven players - friends, mentors, confidants, rivals, and allies - and their storied team that offers an intriguing look at a sport and a nation in transition.
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Reliving my youth
- By PJ on 05-24-17
By: Michael Leahy
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The Boys of Summer
- The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What's Happened to Everybody Since
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to the team when their glory days were behind them.
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Classic book!
- By Christopher Arthur on 11-19-17
By: Roger Kahn
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The Captain
- The Journey of Derek Jeter
- By: Ian O'Connor
- Narrated by: Nick Pollifrone
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Every spring, Little Leaguers across the country mimic his stance and squabble over the right to wear his number, 2, the next number to be retired by the world’s most famous ball team. Derek Jeter is their hero. He walks in the footsteps of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle, and someday his shadow will loom just as large. Yet he has never been the best player in baseball. In fact, he hasn’t always been the best player on his team. But his intangible grace and Jordanesque ability to play big in the biggest of postseason moments make him the face of the modern Yankee dynasty, and of America’s game.
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Great book, terrible narrator.
- By Butter on 05-09-14
By: Ian O'Connor
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The Year of the Pitcher
- Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball’s Golden Age
- By: Sridhar Pappu
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Year of the Pitcher is the story of the remarkable 1968 baseball season, which culminated in one of the greatest World Series contests ever, with the Detroit Tigers coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals in Game Seven of the World Series. In 1968, two remarkable pitchers would dominate the game as well as the broadsheets. One was black, the other white. Bob Gibson, together with the St. Louis Cardinals, embodied an entire generation's hope for integration at a heated moment in American history. Denny McLain, his adversary, was a crass self-promoter.
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Misleading Title
- By Paul on 01-25-19
By: Sridhar Pappu
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Long Shot
- By: Mike Piazza, Lonnie Wheeler
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Mike Piazza
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Mike Piazza was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 baseball draft as a "courtesy pick". The Dodgers never expected him to play for them - or anyone else. Mike had other ideas. Overcoming his detractors, he became the National League Rookie of the Year in 1993, broke the record for season batting average by a catcher, holds the record for career home runs at his position, and was selected as an All Star 12 times. Mike was groomed for baseball success by his ambitious, self-made father in Pennsylvania, a classic father-son American-dream story.
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I only thought i knew the Mike Piazza story
- By James on 03-24-13
By: Mike Piazza, and others
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One Shot at Forever
- A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
- By: Chris Ballard
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1971, a small-town high school baseball team from rural Illinois playing with hand-me-down uniforms and peace signs on their hats defied convention and the odds. Led by an English teacher with no coaching experience, the Macon Ironmen emerged from a field of 370 teams to become the smallest school in Illinois history to make the state final, a distinction that still stands. There, sporting long hair, and warming up to "Jesus Christ Superstar", the Ironmen would play a dramatic game that would change their lives forever.
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Outstanding.
- By Cartman18 on 08-02-13
By: Chris Ballard
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The Chicago Cubs
- Story of a Curse
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series.
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just listen and it all happens again
- By Z. Kuhn on 10-28-17
By: Rich Cohen
What listeners say about Stan Musial
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SouthwestDude
- 09-18-18
Ugh - Stan deserved better
1. Mawkish, annoying, breathy narration
2. Mediocre and banal book
3. Spectacular and iconic player
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- Daniel Stromme
- 04-11-13
Vecsey is great... narrator, not so much
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I knew very little about Stan Musial before reading this book and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him through Vecsey's writing. Details that may have seemed mundane early in the book, created "ah, that's why he wrote about that moments" later on.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Stan the Man!
What didn’t you like about Scott Brick’s performance?
I've listened to a couple other books that Brick was OK with. Apparently biographies are not his strong suit as he over dramatizes the reading to the point that I had to set down my iPod and walk away. Listening to this book you would think Bricks, breathy, emotionally laden description of the best cuts of meat in Stanley's restaurant was akin to the death of a Pope! I will think twice before ever getting a book read by this narrator.
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2 people found this helpful
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- MD Figus
- 10-27-17
A life from afar.
I wish Stan could have taken part in the book's composition. His motivations are more speculative than illuminated.
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- Scott J. Sieleman
- 03-08-13
STAN
Where does Stan Musial rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
An absolutely great book, and inside into the man they called "STAN the MAN"
What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
GREAT INSIDE
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
NO
Any additional comments?
GREAT BOOK AND STORY
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- Ray R.
- 08-05-22
Overly detailed on what you don't care about
This is a book about Stan's life, and a little about the baseball he played. Stan was a hard guy to really know, 100% midwestern- don't talk about yourself, don't over think it, and mind yer business. And the author never cracks that image. After reading this book I know what food Stan liked and that he and long time friend Joe Garagiola had a falling out but never "Why?". And the book never answers that question of "Why?" on any question it decides to bring up. "Why is Stan still overlooked in baseball history when he is one of the top 5 hitters to play the game? " No answer. "Why didn't Stan speak out more about the overt racism in the game and in St. Louis". No reason. But I know everywhere Stan went on his visit to the Pope.
After reading this book, I know Stan the Man was a great hitter, devout Christian, faithful husband, and a decent guy all around, who for some reason continues to be over-looked when Baseball lists the greatest to play the game. But if you're reading this book you already knew that.
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- danny
- 04-13-18
An overlooked great baseball player.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. I learned an awfull lot about an American baseball great that is hardly mentioned when great hitters, great players, and great men of baseball are brought up. I'm sort of glad that Musial was in the Midwest. Who's to say that he'd have put up the same great numbers that he had with the Cards? A great man in the right place, at the right time. This is someone all of today's players should strive to be like. A bit more humble, gracious, and a bit more honest.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about a great ball player that is worthy of much more recognition and someone who deserves to have his name in brought up in every conversation with regards to being a memorable person and ball player.
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- Charles West
- 02-06-18
Good story about a great man
The tone and pace of the author at first seem a little slow. As you get into the story you recognize that it matches perfectly. A thorough history of Stan Musial.
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- Michael A. Fox
- 05-22-17
Argh.
This book, between the author and the narrator, is an ordeal to finish. I wanted to know about Stan Musial as a ball player. This book reads like a 12 hour People magazine article. It's about a celebrity, not about baseball. The narrator adds a sing-song reading to the book, which makes it seem as if it's going to go on for ever. I am so disappointed. If Stan Musial was alive, he wouldn't say to the author, "What do you say? What do you say? What do you say?" He'd say, "Enough. Enough. Enough!"
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michelle Isler, Godmother
- 04-08-24
disappointing
I was looking forward to learning more about Stan the Man. instead the book turned out to be the rumblings of a gripey old author. Too many words on race, politics and steroids and not enough about Musials exploits during his playing career.
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