Stan Musial at Shibe Park, 1946
Source: AP Photo/Warren M. Winterbottom, File
Photo Subject: May 22, 1946, St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial bats against the Philadelphia Phillies during a baseball game at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
Fun Fact: Stan the Man - the nickname has its origins in Brooklyn where the Ebbets Field locals would chant “Here comes the man”. He would then come to bat and methodically destroy their pitchers. Dodger pitcher Schoolboy Rowe, when asked how to pitch to Musial said his best luck was giving him four wide ones and then try to pick him off first base.
He earned this respect by compiling impressive numbers: three World Series rings, three NL Most Valuable Player awards, seven batting titles, twenty-four All-Star selections and seventeen major league records.
While these numbers are impressive he also compiled a couple of statistics that are freakishly symmetric. In his 22-year career with the Cardinals, he compiled 3,630 hits, 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road. He also scored 1,949 runs and batted in 1,951 runs. Albert Pujols, Musial's heir apparent in St. Louis until he moved on to the Los Angeles Angels, wondered if Musial had accomplished this home-road split on purpose. There seemed to be no better explanation for it.
Painting Detail: Printed on 13” x 19” canvas and painted using Schmincke Mussini and Marshall’s oil paints. Finer details were made using Prismacolor pencils.
Acknowledgement: Luke Epplin, The Atlantic