Bishop Richard F. Stika, the spiritual leader of East Tennessee Catholics and head of the faith’s Diocese of Knoxville, delivered the homily at the funeral last weekend for Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial.
The bishop was the pastor for Musial and his wife, Lil, at the Church of the Annunziata, his last assignment in St. Louis before being named a bishop in Tennessee.
“With a twinkle in his eye, with the sounds of his harmonica and with his kind smile, Stan truly lived out his faith, Bishop Stika, a rabid St. Louis Cardinals fan, said in the homily. “He was grateful for what he was blessed with and had a strong desire to share his gifts with others.”
The average baseball fan may know only a little about Musial, who, after all, retired 50 years ago in 1963. He won seven batting titles, earned three Most Valuable Player awards, had a lifetime batting average of .331, stroked 3,630 hits, and belted 475 home runs.
When Stan the Man — a nickname given him by then-Brooklyn Dodger fans which followed him the rest of his life — died recently, a friend of mine posted his passing on Facebook. He posted that Musial had 1,815 hits in home games and 1,815 hits in road games, a model of consistency.