NFL LOST LEGEND: Sportscaster Pat Summerall (1930-2013)
Pat Summerall died Tuesday. He was 82.
That’s how Summerall, almost a decade ago, said he would craft the first sentences of his obituary — short and to the point.
The legendary sports broadcaster died in his hospital room at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, where he was recovering from surgery for a broken hip, a family friend said.
Summerall’s comment about his obituary was made at his Southlake home after a 2004 liver transplant that saved his life. He was serious.
Typical … succinct … vintage Summerall.
His minimalist staccato style coupled with a deep, authoritative voice was his trademark as the pre-eminent NFL voice for a generation of television viewers.
Summerall worked 16 Super Bowls in a network career that began at CBS in 1962 and ended at Fox in 2002.
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LOST LEGEND: Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals great, dies at 92
In this June, 1949 photo, St. Louis Cardinals player Stan Musial kissed his wife, Lillian, at the ballpark in St. Louis. The Cardinals said Lillian Musial died on Thursday, May 3, 2012. She was 91.
Editors Note: Occasionally The Boys Are Back blog will feature a special post not directly related to the Dallas Cowboys. Stan Musial was an unusual personality in the sports world. His passing marks an end to a truly remarkable era. Mr. Musial was a class act, on and off the field.
Courtesy: Mark Feeney | Boston Globe | January 19, 2013
Stan Musial, “Stan the Man,” who was the National League’s preeminent player in the decade after World War II and whose 22 seasons playing the outfield and first base for the St. Louis Cardinals earned him a place in baseball’s Hall of Fame, died at his home in Ladue, Mo., at the age of 92, according to the Cardinals.
“We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family,” said William DeWitt Jr., chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals in a statement posted on the team’s website. “Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball.”
In a 1952 article, the legendary Hall of Fame outfielder Ty Cobb wrote, “No man has ever been a perfect ballplayer. Stan Musial, however, is the closest to being perfect in the game today.”
For all that Mr. Musial may have approached perfection, he never had a mystique, the way his slightly older counterparts Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams did, or the somewhat younger Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Mr. Musial played far from the New York media spotlight. He had no hallowed statistic attached to his name, like DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak or Williams’ .406 batting average in 1941.
Mr. Musial, the sportswriter Jimmy Cannon said, “plays ball with a methodical gaiety and does not surrender to the moods which govern the other great ball players.” Among those alien moods was anxiety. An enthusiastic harmonica player, Mr. Musial performed the national anthem at opening day in St. Louis in 1994 with the conductor of the St. Louis Symphony’s pops concerts. Mr. Musial confided to him it was the first time he had ever felt “nervous on the field.”
The most distinctive thing about Mr. Musial was his batting stance, a coiled crouch once compared to “a man peeking around the corner.” What made Mr. Musial extraordinary was what he did, not who he was. There was nothing flamboyant or colorful about him, either on the field or off. It was no small irony that “Stan the Man” inspired one of the most memorable baseball nicknames of the 1970s when a teammate dubbed the notably eccentric relief pitcher Don Stanhouse “Stan the Man Unusual.”
St. Louis Cardinals win World Series, beat Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7
The St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series in Game 7
A day after an epic Game 6 that saw them twice within one strike of elimination, the St. Louis Cardinals captured their 11th World Series crown. After a whole fall on the edge, Tony La Russa’s team didn’t dare mess with Texas, or any more drama.
Freese’s two-run double tied it in the first inning against loser Matt Harrison and Allen Craig hit a go-ahead homer in the third.
Pitching on short rest, Carpenter improved to 2-0 in the Series and 4-0 in the postseason. St. Louis Cardinals coach La Russa won his third Series title.
DALLAS COWBOY LIVING LEGEND: Roger Staubach shares who would be on his Dallas-area Mount Rushmore of sports
Roger Staubach - First pitch - World Series 2011 - Texas Rangers vs St. Louis Cardinals
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ARLINGTON — After throwing out the first pitch before Game 5 of the World Series on Monday night, Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach chatted with media members about several topics, including who would be on his Dallas area Mount Rushmore of sports figures.
One criteria, he could not name himself.
The Dallas Cowboys legend stayed with his former team for his first answer, naming fellow former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.
“You’ve got Troy up there, you’ve got to have Dirk Nowitzki up there, and if you’re a hockey fan you’ve got [Mike] Modano,” Staubach said. “Nolan Ryan is up there, and Kenny Rogers [who caught Staubach’s pitch before the game] pitched his perfect game here with us. There’s a good list. There’s only four people up there on Mount Rushmore, isn’t there?”
Not a bad list.
Roger ‘The Dodger’ Staubach said it was a thrill to be asked to throw out the first pitch. He was in Washington D.C. for a Naval Academy Foundation meeting when he got the invite from Nolan Ryan.
Staubach, who has never thrown out a first pitch before a World Series game, responded to Ryan by saying: “Gee, yeah, that would be great.”
And of course, before Roger Staubach exited the interview room at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, he fielded a question about the Dallas Cowboys.
Staubach was asked if rookie running back DeMarco Murray, who rushed for 253 yards on Sunday, could possibly be the missing piece for the current Dallas Cowboys team.
“I think Tony [Romo] has got the receivers. They do need a running game, and I’m hoping that this is a good sign,” he said. “They’ve got a young offensive line, but they need a running game. And there’s definitely hope that they have it now.”
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WORLD SERIES: Rangers beat Cardinals in Game 5, one win from title
- Texas Rangers lead series 3-2
(Reuters) – The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday to move within one win of claiming their first World Series title since the franchise was born in 1961.
The victory gave Texas a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
A two-run double by Mike Napoli in the bottom of the eighth inning snapped a 2-2 tie to lift the Rangers over a Cardinals team that squandered a multitude of chances, leaving 12 men on base while hitting 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
The series shifts to St. Louis for Game Six on Wednesday, with the Rangers starting Colby Lewis against Jaime Garcia.
RELATED: Napoli, Rangers move 1 win from World Series crown
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A long drive by Mike Napoli, a lucky bounce near the mound and suddenly the Texas Rangers were on the brink of their first World Series championship.
Napoli delivered the biggest hit of his charmed season, lining a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning that sent the Rangers past the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night for a 3-2 edge.
The slugging catcher then capped off his night of double duty, throwing out a would-be base stealer in the ninth as Albert Pujols struck out.
“Pujols is going to put it in play, he’s a good contact hitter,” Napoli said, “and they were just starting the runner, 3-2. As soon as I got it, I just got rid of it and put it on the bag.”
Texas will try to wrap it up in Game 6 on Wednesday night in St. Louis.
If the Rangers eventually do win that elusive crown, the Texas fans who stood and chanted Napoli’s name may forever remember his two-run hit.
“Just trying to get something to the outfield, you know, get a sac fly, get that run across the board,” Napoli said. “I was trying to stay short and I got a pitch I could handle over the middle of the plate and put it in the gap.”
If the Cardinals lose, there’s no doubt which play will stick with manager Tony La Russa for a long, long time.
It was 2-all when Texas put runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, and reliever Marc Rzepczynski was summoned. David Murphy followed with a bouncer back to the mound, a possible inning-ending double play in the making.
But the ball appeared to glance off Rzepczynski’s knee and trickled harmlessly away for a single that loaded the bases. In the dugout, La Russa immediately threw his hands to his head, a true “Oh, no!” moment.
Napoli, who came close to a three-run homer in his previous at-bat, sent a drive up the alley against the pitcher with the nickname “Scrabble.” The double off Rzepczynski sure spelled good things for Texas, with excitable manager Ron Washington waving the runners around from the dugout.
Darren Oliver earned the win and Neftali Feliz closed for his second save of the Series and sixth of the postseason.
After a travel day, the Series will resume at Busch Stadium with Colby Lewis facing Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia. The weather forecast in St. Louis is daunting, calling for rain and temperatures around 50.
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Rival Newspaper: Fans from Cardinal Nation find themselves in football country
Nick Benbrook (left), a Cardinals fan, and Will Head, a Rangers fan, keep an eye on the Rams game while watching batting practice before Game 4 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers Sunday, October 23, 2011 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Photo by Laurie Skrivan
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ARLINGTON, Texas • The hulking Cowboys Stadium casts a Texas-sized shadow over Rangers Ballpark.
As the lesser-known brick-face ballpark next door prepared to host the Cardinals in the World Series on Sunday, Cowboys Stadium welcomed the St. Louis Rams.
St. Louis fans in town on Sunday clamored to get tickets to see both of their hometown teams collide in the same city, but the reaction here to the coincidental contests punctuated what everyone already knows: This is football country.
Star outfielders Lance Berkman of the Cardinals and Josh Hamilton of the Rangers were on the football field as guests for the ceremonial coin-toss. They represented cities who are as different as the two sides of the coin: Dallas loves the Cowboys like St. Louis loves the Cardinals.
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