[.ca] Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man (ISBN 0826217354)

An Objective Look At Stan The Man:
Author James Giglio did not receive the blessings from Stan Musial to write this book, and Stan apparently discouraged others, at least according to the author, from aiding in this book as well. I found the book to be enjoyable and portrays Stan as both the baseball icon he so deservedly is along with frailities that make him human like the rest of us. I found it to be disappointing that he and Joe Garagiola, who are godfathers to each other's children, had a falling out that has apparently ended their friendship over problems involving their Redbird Lanes bowling alley partnership. According to Gigllio, Garagiola has tried to mend the friendship, but Stan wanted no part of it. Stan is not one to get involved in controversial matters such as race relations and the reserve clause which bound players to one team. Musial, while not against integration, did not use his superstar status to speak in support of it. In like manner when Bob Feller wanted him to support revisions to the reserve clause, Musial backpeddled when he (Musial) had suggested free agency after ten years of service and then stated he was satisfied with the status quo. He was in his element when he was in a relaxed atmosphere among people, but controversy made him back off. I did find a few errors in the book, primarily with first names of former players. Hall of Fame Cincinnati manager Bill McKechnie is referred to as "Joe". Former Chicago Cubs catcher Elvin Tappe is referred to as "Ted". Former Brooklyn Dodgers pitchers Chris Van Cuyk and Ben Wade are referred to as "Johnny" and "Jake" respectively. One additional error I found takes place during Stan's retirement party sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Ernie Banks spoke and pretended to read a telegram from the NAACP which he said stood for "the National Association for Advancement of Colored Pitchers." Banks actually said, the "National Association for the Advancement of Cubs' Pitching." I have a copy of the highlights of the St. Louis BBWAA on a phonograph record and this portion of the speech is on it. These are errors I caught in the book that I felt should not be there. Four well known players of the time period should have their first names listed correctly, in addition to the error in the speech by Banks. There are probably others, but these are the ones I found. In any case I enjoyed the book, and it was worth my time.

One of The Best Baseball Bios:
The book covers all phases of Musial's life, including his personal life and post-baseball life. Unlike many baseball bios, it covers some weaknesses in the personal characteristics of this great star, although there were very few in Musial. What I especially liked about the book is that the author contacted and obtained interesting information from numerous former major league players and others who knew Musial. The author had apparently written letters to more than 500 former major leaguers. I couldn't put the book down. I'd rate it even better than the recent book I read about Ted Willimas, which I rated as the best baseball bio I had ever read. Stan Musial was my favorite ball player wehn I was growing up in the 1950s, and I wasn't disappointed. If anything, I would have liked to hear even more about Musial's post baseball life, although there's a lot in the book. However, I understand Stan did not cooperate with the author.

Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man:
I have read every book written about Stan Musial. I felt when I read this one the author was only interested in finding all the dirt he could find on this most wonderful person. I grew up watching this man play baseball. But most of all, I grew up watching a top rated human being. I really don't care about his personal life since I have met him many times and I don't have to have a book to tell the kind of person Stan Musial was or is. If you want to read dirt, than read Ball Four. That will keep you busy. If you want to read about a true baseball hero, I would suggest you read one of the other books about Stan Musial. They are what you could call real baseball books, ones by people know or knew the game.

Good book on Musial- just short of greatness:
This is a wonderful book on probably the most underrated player in baseball history. I was astounded by some of the numbers Musial put up year in and year out- I knew he was good, but this book really did a good job of presenting his accompishments and his persona in an objective way. This book would have been a 5-star except that the author was unable to collaborate with Musial (for some reason, Musial declined to meet with the author) which left me aspiring for something from Stan the Man himself. However, even without Musial's cooperation, this book stands on its own. It does Musial justice in that it portrays him as one of the nicest and most genuine players in the history of the game. I do not think it tried to dig up dirt on Stan at all (as one previous reviewer stated); in fact, I don't think it could have been more complementary of Stan! Though this book isn't one of the best baseball books I have ever read, I certainly think that it is a noteworthy accomplishment of a man who did not and maybe has still yet to receive his due. He is without question one of the top five greatest players in the history of the game, something which he is not always recognized for. I think baseball fans would enjoy this book on Stan Musial.

Excellent Biography of Musial:
Giglio, a professional historian, spent many years researching his subject and produced, in my view, the first serious examination of Musial's life. Given Musial's well-desrved reputation as a perfect gentleman and role model, many biographical accounts of his life slip into hagiography, but Giglio carefully avoids this trap. He cuts through much of the Musial mythology, and assesses the facts (laboriously compiled from archival research and interviews with many of Musial's contemporaries) in order to present Musial as a real human being. You wont find much dirt in this book--Musial really was a good guy for the most part. About the only blemish Giglio uncovered from Musial's personal life was that he impregnated his wife 6 months before they were married--a mere peccadillo by contemporary standards, especially considering that Stan and Lil Musial have remained happily married for over 60 years. Musial's only serious character flaw, according to Giglio, was an unwillingness to take provocative and controversial positions publicly on important issues of his time. For example, although Musial personally detested racism and bigotry, he never publicly condemned racist teammates like Enos Slaughter. According to at least one second-hand account, Musial and Slaughter once came to blows over the matter in private, but Giglio couldn't substantiate this, and publicly Musial has always denied that he and Slaughter, who died just a few weeks ago (12 August 2002), fought over the issue. The only criticism I have of Giglio's book is his embarrassingly amateurish statistical analysis. In comparing Musial to the other greats of his era (Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle), Giglio uses a simplistic ranking methodology incorporating some common statistics like batting average, home runs and RBIs among others, but he ignores walks and on-base percentage completely, and he doesn't even attempt to account for fielding statistics or ballpark affects. Anyone familiar with serious scientific analysis of baseball (e.g. the work of Pete Palmer, Bill James or the gang at Baseball Prospectus) will laugh out loud at obvious lack of sophistication in Giglio's analysis. Mercifully, Giglio's statistical analysis only takes up a few pages. Overall though, I give Giglio high marks for producing an excellent biography of Musial. I feel I know Musial much better than I did before, and ultimately that's the best test of any biography.