There are a few legends of Baseball that go beyond belonging to just their team's fans. Babe Ruth and Lou Gherig. Cool Papa Bell and Jackie Robinson. And Stan Musial.
After his death a local newspaper reported about the memories of Evansville locals who met Stan the Man. For three or four summers in a row in the early 1980s, he and Whitey Herzog got on a boat belonging to friends of Herzog's in New Athens and cruised down the Kaskaskia River. They would have a few beers and some laughs. Stan would play his famous harmonica. Others who came down with them on the boat included Red Schoendienst and St. Louis auto dealer Bo Boeckman.
About this series - I grew up bleeding blue (and I don't mean for the St. Louis hockey club, though I do that now too.) And so seeing the "Go Crazy, folks! Go crazy!" homerun is one of my least favorite things since it was against my Dodgers. Ever since I arrived in Southern Illinois in 2000, I've gone to Dodger games at Busch Stadium. But I have come to appreciate the Cardinals. They have a well-run organization from top to bottom, and I respect Redbird Nation fans as very knowledgeable about the game. So much so that after the Dodgers, the Cardinals have become my second favorite team. This series of caches [ADiRN, A Dodger in Redbird Nation] is dedicated to those who have been both Dodgers and Cardinals.