RetroSimba

(Updated July 20, 2020)

Stan Musial, the greatest Cardinals player, rates Bob Feller as the greatest pitcher of his time.

In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said of Feller, “I hit against Feller only in exhibition games, but I’d say he probably was the greatest pitcher of our era. He had blinding speed, later developed a great curveball and finally a good slider. Feller took baseball most seriously and was one of the first players I knew who punished himself physically with exercises, recognizing the need for prime conditioning.”

Feller began his Hall of Fame career with the Indians in 1936, pitched until 1941, served in World War II, resumed his playing career in 1945 and retired after the 1956 season.

Musial began his Hall of Fame career with the Cardinals in 1941, played through 1944, served in the Navy in 1945, resumed his playing career in 1946 and retired after the 1963 season.

Fact vs. myth

Before big-league baseball integrated in 1947, barnstorming clubs of major leaguers would play stars from the Negro League during the off-season in the 1930s and 1940s.

On Sunday afternoon Oct. 5, 1941, an all-star team named for Cardinals coach Mike Gonzalez and led by Feller played an exhibition against the Kansas City Monarchs, champions of the Negro National League, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

Musial, who had made his major-league debut a few weeks before, on Sept. 17, 1941, against the visiting Boston Braves, is said to have played in that exhibition. According to the book “Musial, From Stash to Stan the Man” by James Giglio, Musial hit a home run off Satchel Paige in the exhibition. Giglio cites as his source the book “Don’t Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball.”

However, an account of the exhibition in the Oct. 9, 1941, edition of The Sporting News makes no mention of a home run by Musial. Game reports in the three St. Louis newspapers _ Globe-Democrat, Post-Dispatch and Star-Times _ don’t mention Musial either. In the book “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert,” author Timothy M. Gay states, “Despite persistent claims to the contrary in books and articles over the years, Cardinals rookie Stan Musial did not play that afternoon.”

(Based on my research, I see no evidence Musial played in the game. I’m certain he didn’t. The Globe-Democrat published a boxscore of the game and Musial isn’t listed).

According to the Globe-Democrat, three Cardinals played for the all-stars: Johnny Hopp, Frank “Creepy” Crespi and Walker Cooper.

Johnny Lucadello and Johnny Wyrostek each drove two runs for the all-stars in a 4-1 victory over the Monarchs, the Globe-Democrat reported.

Feller and Paige were the starting pitchers. Feller struck out three, walked three and yielded a run on two hits in five innings. Paige, described by the Star-Times as “the Negro Dizzy Dean,” struck out four, walked two and yielded four runs on five hits in four innings.

“The magnet of a duel between Bob Feller, Cleveland fireball mound ace, vs. Satchel Paige, king of all Negro pitchers, attracted a paid crowd of 10,124 to Sportman’s Park,” The Sporting News reported. According to the “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert” book, “several thousand African-American fans sat in the segregated right-field bleachers.”

Musial joins tour

Musial did play for the Bob Feller All-Stars when Feller organized a barnstorming tour in 1946. Feller and Paige were the main pitching attractions.

It was quite a boost to the tour when Feller got Musial to agree to play. Musial was the National League batting champion in 1946.

The book “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert” confirms Musial joined Feller’s barnstorming squad after the 1946 World Series. Eight future Hall of Famers played on the tour. Besides Feller, Musial and Paige, the others were Bob Lemon, Phil Rizzuto, Hilton Smith, Monte Irvin and Willard Brown.

On Oct. 16, 1946, the day after the Cardinals won Game 7 of the 1946 World Series at St. Louis, Musial joined the Feller All-Stars in Los Angeles and played in the game that night. He went hitless, including 0-for-2 versus Paige, and drew a walk, according to the “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert” book.

Musial stayed with the tour as it barnstormed up and down the West Coast and finished in Hawaii.