STAN “THE MAN” MUSIAL

A TRUE STORY

AROUND 1988-89

     My folks were big supporters of Kansas State Football at one time. During that time, they became friends with Whitey Herzog, also a huge K-State fan when he coached the Kansas City Royals. Whitey eventually went to St. Louis to coach the Cardinals but he remained friends with my folks as well as the Renick’s in Ingalls. In 1988 or 1989 Whitey along with two St. Louis Baseball legends Stan “The Man” Musial and Red Schoendienst came to Western Kansas to sign autographs in Garden City.  I was not aware that this was happening but it did lead to a very interesting weekend.

      One day after work, as I often did, I stopped by my folks, Charles and Betty Thomas’s home to see mom. I worked daily with dad so I always tried to stop in just to say Hi to mom as I did not get to see her as often as dad. As I walked back to the Grand-Room I saw mom setting with a lady I did not recall ever meeting. Mom said “here is my Catholic son. He can tell you about church around here”. She introduced me to the lady and it was Stan Musial’s wife, Lillian. They were staying at my folk’s house for the weekend. I later found out that Red Schoendienst was also staying with them and that Whitey was staying in Charleston with the Renick’s.

      Lillian was an everyday grandma looking lady with grey hair, and very friendly. She asked me where we went to church? I told her we went to a little church west of here in Ingalls called St. Stanislaus. Her ears perked up and said St. Stanislaus? I said yes. She said that is Stan’s patron Saint. She added that she never misses mass, but when they travel, Stan rarely goes. She added however that they would both be going this time and asked if they could ride with us as it was on their way to Garden City. Of course, we were fine with that.

     We were invited to the folks that night to meet Stan who was a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame as well as Whitey Herzog and Red Schoendienst, both future hall of famers. Red was going to be inducted later that year and everyone knew Whitey was going to be one day. Whitey I had met before, but was excited about meeting Stan and Red. Also invited were many others including my brother and sisters and their families, along with neighbors and their kids. It became quite a party as time went on. Stan was the star of the party however. I told my kids not to bother these three as they were very famous and I figured they got tired of being fawned over. But not Stan; he loved the kids. He gave everyone autographs and told stories and did tricks to entertain them. He was the hit of the party.

     After a bit he had my youngest, Tim, sit on his lap. Tim was around six at the time as near as I recall. Stan would take a potato and a plastic straw and “throw” it into the potato making it come out the other side. He also had a trick where he threaded a banana with a needle and thread in a certain way and when peeled it was precut into pieces. He talked about his bat that he used. It was a very thin handled bat as his hands were thin. His fingers were long but he liked the way small bat handles fit his hands. He was carrying a harmonica and played it for us and was really quite good. I later learned that he was famous for his harmonica playing. The highlight for Tim was when Stan took a liking to a hand puppet he had made in Kindergarten. Stan offered a team signed baseball for the puppet. It took a few moments of thinking but Tim made the trade.

     The next day we loaded up for church and picked up Stan and Lillian. I had timed things so we would be going into church just before the priest, Father Tighe. I knew that Father Tighe was a huge baseball fan and I thought it would be a good time to introduce him to Stan and we could avoid Stan being bothered by going in too early. Father, was really amazed at getting to meet Stan. Father pumped Stan’s hand for what seemed like minutes. We went in and sat in our usual place and you could hear murmurs as we sat down. I hadn't realized it but Father had made a bit of noise when meeting Stan. At communion time Father had always given communion on the opposite side of where we sat. This time however, he crossed over in front of the communion minister and almost made him fall. Father obviously wanted to give communion to Stan. From that Sunday on until Father left, he always gave communion on our side.

     It had been a good weekend. A couple of weeks later I received a bill from the Garden City Recreation Commission for $2,000.00. Dad came in from the farm and I asked him what the heck it was for. He said that it was our share of having Stan, Whitey and Red come to Garden City to sign autographs. I was very upset as that kind of money in those days was really a lot and I had been so careful that our kids didn’t bother them at the party. I told dad that I wished I had known about the money as I wouldn’t have held my kids back. He said that he didn’t tell me because I wouldn’t have agreed to it. He was probably right. But looking back at it now, it was a very small price to pay for such a great weekend of good times and great memories.

Pete Thomas.

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