His Simple Nickname Speaks Volumes About His Abilities

It was 50 years ago that Stan (the Man) Musial played in his first full major league season for the St. Louis Cardinals.

How did he get his nickname? He had some of his best games against the Dodgers in Brooklyn and fans there murmured “Here comes that man again” every time he came to the plate, according to the Allegheny (Pa.) Bulletin.

That man. Stan the Man.

Add Musial: Red Schoendienst, a Hall of Fame second baseman with the Cardinals, was Musial’s roommate. He recalled that Musial never turned anyone down.

“We were in New York in the early ‘50s,” Schoendienst said. “This panhandler comes up to him and asks him if he can give him something. Stan gives him a $5 bill. He looks at it and starts crying, ‘Is that all you can spare?’ he asks and he starts telling Stan how hard things have been for him. Before we walked a block, Stan is crying along with him and gives him a 20.”

Trivia time: When was the last time USC beat UCLA and Notre Dame when the football games were played consecutively?

Surf’s up: A massive “paddleout” is planned Sunday at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach, a protest by surfers in opposition to the proposed construction of two jetties and a tidal channel. It’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 surfers will paddle their boards 650 feet out to sea, creating a human outline of the proposed jetties.

If it were a movie, Esther Williams would star in it.

Throwback: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune, on the 13-13 tie between Michigan and Ohio State: “A game for the ages. Stone, I think.”

Stay clear: Thoroughbred trainer Sandy Shulman is preparing to race a 2-year-old colt at Santa Anita Park next month. He acquired the colt in England.

“He was a vicious yearling and bit somebody over there,” Shulman said. “We’re going to turn him loose and hope he can grind out some victories here.”

The colt’s name is Dr. Lecter.

Sack master: After some exhaustive research, a CBS production team identified former Ram defensive end Deacon Jones as the NFL’s all-time sack leader with 180.5 from 1962-74. However, his name isn’t in the NFL record books because sacks were not recorded in NFL statistics until 1982.

Add sacks: CBS television analyst Dan Fouts told Terry Blount of Pro Football Weekly that Jones, a member of the Hall of Fame, coined the term sack. “He meant that he wanted not only to put the quarterback in a bag, he wanted to take the entire offensive line and put them in a bag. Back in those days they called sacks ‘smears,’ until Deacon changed the term.”

Trivia answer: 1978.

Quotebook: Seattle SuperSonic Coach George Karl, in trying to explain why guard Gary Payton had the two highest-scoring games of his NBA career back to back recently: “Gary’s body language is more positive.”