- Max
- Colby Rasmus
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- Registered: 9/07/2010
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Re: Stan to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
and I too am to blame, more than anyone else, for not being able to let what I saw as a transgression pass without comment.
- APIAD
- Administrator
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- Registered: 9/07/2010
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Re: Stan to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
- forsberg_us
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- Registered: 9/08/2010
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Re: Stan to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
It sounds like the day, in many ways encapsulated Musial's life.
Surrounded by a variety of dignataries, Stan was the same, unassuming man he's been for 90 years, whips out his harmonica and puts on an impromptu concert before the ceremony.
During the ceremony, the man who has become synonomous with the term under-appreciated, endures having some idiot member of the White House staff mispronounce his name (twice) during the introductory comments (seriously, they found some kid who had never heard of Stan Musial and apparently couldn't be bothered to confirm the correct pronunciation?) and then continues to relish the moment by performing a harmonica encore after the ceremony.
In one of the stories I read, it mentioned that the other medal recipients removed their medal shortly after presentation to put them in a safe place. There are pictures on the P-D website of Stan still wearing his medal on the plane back to St. Louis.
Good for you Stan. Good for you.
- •
Thread Starter- alz
- Larry Walker
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- Registered: 9/23/2010
- Posts: 2,396
Re: Stan to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Not to dissuade from the fascinating 
political jaunter that has gotten on this board. Riveting as it is (snooze), I'm going to post back to topic.
Stan Musial has been a humble, kind, and generous soul for 90 years. Without the baseball career, which honestly may be his 3rd greatest accomplishment, he is fully deserving of this medal. His character has been untouchable, and it's geniune from all reports from those who know him. He's just a geniune good man. In addition to this spirit of kindness, he gave up baseball for a potentially fatal war career to support the US in WWII. On top of that he had a hall of fame baseball career in which he was a 3 time World Series champion and MVP, and a 24 time All-Star selection.
There's not been a single day of my short 35 years on this planet where Stan Musial did not exist and provide an example for how to be a decent human and American. If a handful of people care about me the way a million people care about Stan, then I will consider my life a success.