It's in the Cards

IT’S in the CARDS

Who is your hero?  Growing up, I remember my dad always talking about his favorite player, Stan Musial.  He played for the St. Louis Cardinals and was known as “Stan the Man” because of his character on and off the field.  My dad told us stories of growing up in Richmond, Virginia and listening to the Cards on the radio so that he could hear his favorite team’s games and know how his favorite player was doing. He said that he could picture each play in his head perfectly.  That probably explains why he is still such a great listener when we chat.  If you were to ask my dad today, who his hero was when he was a child, he wouldn’t hesitate to tell you that his hero was Stan Musial.  He admired him for his talent and the gentlemanly way that he handled himself on and off the baseball field.  He never said much but his actions spoke volumes.

Several years ago, we learned that Mr. Musial was going to be coming to a card show near our hometown.  This was an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up so we bought tickets for our family and of course we bought a ticket for my dad.  Probably one of the best days of my life was getting to see my dad meet his childhood hero, Stan “the Man” Musial.  We have a picture of them together from that day and I remember my dad telling him how much he admired him when he was growing up.  Mr. Musial didn’t say a lot but he smiled and was appreciative of my dad’s compliments that day.  I can remember walking away thinking about the excitement that my dad must have been experiencing when he met his hero.

Recently, my dad and I were talking about the day that he met Mr. Musial.  I was telling him how I felt when I watched them meet and shake hands.  My dad shared that while he was excited, he had been a little disappointed because Mr. Musial didn’t talk very much and he had hoped that he would talk a little more when they met.  My dad went on to tell me that he later read that his childhood hero had a speech impairment, stuttering.  Speaking in public was something that made him very uncomfortable but because of his character and his desire to be a good role model for young children, he would do it when it was necessary because that was part of the job.  Mr. Musial took his job very seriously even after he retired from the MLB.  He continued to represent the St. Louis Cardinals in a positive manner, owning a restaurant in St. Louis, staying in the area for the remainder of his life.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.  For most young children, they tend to be professional athletes and that was the case for my dad.  I will always be grateful for those few moments that we had together at a card show in Virginia.  I grew up imagining what my dad must have been like as a child and I learned a lot about him through stories from family members.  On the day that he met his childhood hero, I got to see for a few brief moments, what my dad was like as a child and as soon as I met Mr. Musial, I knew why he was “The Man.”