page_title: Stan Musial
section_title: Major leagues (1941–1944)
hierarchical_section_title: Stan Musial / Professional baseball career / Major leagues (1941–1944)
context_page_description: Stanley Frank Musial, nicknamed Stan the Man, was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. He spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1941-44 and 1946-63. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent hitters in baseball history, Musial was a first-ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969, and was also selected to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2014.
  Musial batted .331 over the course of his career and set National League records for career hits, runs batted in, games played, at bats, runs scored and doubles. His 475 career home runs then ranked second in NL history behind Mel Ott's total of 511. His 6,134 total bases remained a major league record until surpassed by Hank Aaron, and his hit total still ranks fourth all-time, and is the highest by any player who spent his career with only one team. A seven-time batting champion with identical totals of 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 hits on the road, he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player three times and led St. Louis to three World Series championships.
context_section_description: Musial made his major league debut during the second game of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park on September 17, 1941. The Cardinals were in the midst of a pennant race with the Brooklyn Dodgers; in 12 games, Musial collected 20 hits for a .426 batting average. Despite Musial's late contributions, the Cardinals finished two and one-half games behind the 100-game-winning Dodgers.
  Cardinals manager Billy Southworth used Musial as a left fielder to begin 1942, sometimes lifting him for a pinch-hitter against left-handed pitching. Musial was hitting .315 by late June, as the Cardinals resumed battling the Dodgers for first place in the National League (NL). The Cardinals took sole possession of first place on September 13, and when Musial caught a fly ball to end the first game of a doubleheader on September 27 they clinched the pennant with their 105th win. He finished the season with a .315 batting average and 72 runs batted in (RBI) in 140 games. Musial received national publicity when he was named by St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor J. Roy Stockton as his choice for Rookie of the Year in a Saturday Evening Post article.
  The Cardinals played the American League champion New York Yankees in the 1942 World Series. Representing the winning run at home plate in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 at Sportsman's Park, Musial grounded out with the bases loaded to end the game . Musial's first hit of the Series was an RBI single that provided the margin of victory in Game 2, allowing the Cardinals to tie the Series. Over the next three games at Yankee Stadium, Musial had three more hits as the Cardinals defeated the Yankees in the Series four games to one. Musial batted .222 for the Series, with two runs scored.
  Musial's 1943 season started with a brief contract holdout in spring training. He made the National League All-Star team for the first time as a starting left fielder and got a double in the All-Star Game on July 13. He finished the season leading the major leagues in hitting with a .357 batting average and led the NL in hits (220), doubles (48), triples (20), total bases (347), on-base percentage (.425), and slugging percentage (.562). This performance earned him his first NL Most Valuable Player Award, ahead of teammate and catcher Walker Cooper (.318 batting average). After romping to another NL pennant by 18 games, the Cardinals again faced the Yankees in the 1943 World Series. Musial had a single in the Cardinals' Game 1 loss, and scored a run in a Game 2 win. The Cardinals did not win another game in the Series, but the loser's bonus share paid to each Cardinals player ($4,321.99, equivalent to $63,900 in 2019) still amounted to nearly two-thirds of Musial's regular season salary.
  United States involvement in World War II began to impinge on Musial's baseball career in 1944, as he underwent a physical examination in prelude to possible service in the armed forces. He ultimately remained with the Cardinals for the entire season, posting a .347 batting average with 197 hits. The Cardinals claimed the NL pennant for the third consecutive season, and faced St. Louis's other major league team, the Browns, in the 1944 World Series. The Browns took a 2–1 lead, while Musial hit .250 with no RBI. He broke out in Game 4 with a two-run home run, single, double, and a walk as part of a 5–1 Cardinals win. The Cardinals went on to defeat the Browns in six games, and Musial posted a .304 batting average for the Series.
caption: Musial's statue outside of Busch Stadium captures his signature batting stance.
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