LIl Musial Passes Away Peacefully at 6

When I was a kid, all I could think about was the Cardinals No. 6--Stan The Man Musial. He was my idol, my guiding light. He was the personification of everything I loved about the St. Louis Cardinals.

My mother never had a drivers license. So when we went shopping downtown (that’s what you did in those days), we rode the bus all the way to Famous-Barr near the riverfront.

My most special gift was my wool No. 6 Stan The Man Musial uniform. I clutched that box tightly all the way home.

It is with very sad news that Cardinal Nation work up Friday to the report the beloved wife of the Man was dead at age 91. Lilian (they simply called her Lil) was in failing health and passed peacefully in Ladue with many of her family members by her bedside.  She died exactly at 6 o’clock in the evening--Stan’s number. How fitting.

Cardinal Nation has mourned the loss of so many family members the past 10 years. First there was the untimely death of pitcher Darryl Kile. Then, almost immediately after that, Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck passed away. Recently, team owner Drew Baur died at a fairly young age.

All Cardinal fans mourn these loses deeply.

There are so many Stan and Lil stories to tell.

KSDK’s Frank Cusumano conjured up a dandy: Restauranteur Charlie Gitto recalled this incident vividly.

Stan was at his restaurant on Oakland Avenue, and Lil had him on the phone. She was barking out orders like an Army drill sergeant. Gitto could hear through the office walls. All Gitto could hear was “yes, ma m, yes, ma m, yes ma m.”

Stan bounced out of the office and told Gitto: “Just got off the phone with Lil, boy did I tell her.”

My son Andrew, about 16 at the time was a super scooper for Baskin Robbins at the Ladue Center on Clayton Road.

Everybody who was anybody used to shop the store. Like Al Hraboski and Joe Buck and Carol and Julie Buck and their children and Bob Costas and other Ladue luminaries.

As was often the case, in late afternoons, Lil would park her Cadillac out front and order her favorite flavor. One time she came in and placed her order and told my son: “I forgot my purse, I don’t have any money with me. Will you take this instead?, sliding a Stan The Man Musial baseball card over the counter.

So what’s a young pup to do? He took the card in lieu of cash. The next time that happened he gave the card to his boss and the next time...

Lil ruled the roost. Her job was raising a bunch of kids while Stan was on the road playinf ball, something he did for 23 glorious years.

The Musial children attended nearby parochial schools. The girls went to Villa Duchesne, and their son Dick went to CBC.

I remember Dick as an outstanding athlete. He played football and ran track for the Cadets, then at the old complex on Clayton Road, but never ever touched a baseball bat like his dad.

Lilian Musial was as much a Cardinals as her Hall of Fame husband. Red Schoendienst, himself up in years is grieving too. He lost his wife Mary several years back.

Cardinal Nation, say a prayer for Lil and another one for Stan. He will always be the greatest Cardinal to ever play the game.