Daddy and Stan Musial

The news hit big time last night about the death of Stan Musial at age 92, one of baseball's greatest hitters and the foremost Cardinal! I had met him on several occasions and had even heard him play "Wabash Cannonball" on his harmonica at times but this was not the part which compelled me in my assessment!

I thought of my Daddy and the fun hours he spent listening to the radio and never missing a game.  He would rush from preaching at a revival meeting, get to the car, and whip that radio on, and we had to sit like hushed up rabbits in the back seat so he could hear.  His bedroom was next to mine and that radio blared into the night with overtimes, and late games.  My mother said to me that she often wished that the electricity would be hit by lightning so she could go to sleep, one night, without the blare of that game.  (which she cared nothing about!)

We got our first television in 1954, when I was a sophomore in high school.  Karen Ellis already had one but it was snow until KFVS became a satellite.  People have no idea (post-television people) how we lived by the radio and knew every program and when it came on.   While that may not seem much of a diversion to you, it was a big diversion to us growing up and people who were finding ways to cope with their lives and wanting a little excitement.

Daddy loved the Cardinals and he loved Stan the Man!   He knew all their statistics and they became a part of his everyday life.   Radio allowed him to be a vital part of that game-playing schedule even when he was going about his life-business in Charleston, Missouri.  For that, I am most grateful.

RIP, Stan the Man