By Alanna Dent, Staff Writer
Susquehanna’s for Lifelong Learning and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts brought The New York Times columnist turned author George Vecsey back to campus for the third time on Oct. 4. Vecsey is a seasoned writer who has covered events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, and has even interviewed the Dalai Lama.
His speech on Oct. 4th was focused on his books, and in particular “Stan Musial: An American Life” which was published in 2011. The book is Vecsey’s biography on St. Louis Cardinals player Stan Musial.
Vecsey stated that the publisher wanted this book to be written and then asked him to be the one to do it given his extensive experience in sports writ- ing. Vecsey agreed, explaining that many players of the time had great books written about them that would immortalize their careers. He wanted Musial to be one of those players.
Shortly after agreeing to write the book, Vecsey faced his first obstacle. Stan Musial refused to be interviewed after reading a previous book about himself that he found unsatisfactory.
Vecsey said the result of this was that, “He put out the word to his friends, and a lot of his ex-teammates, and people he was really close to and his family ‘Don’t talk to the press. Don’t talk about me, don’t do this or that.’”
Vecsey described just how seriously people took Musial’s request, detailing a breakfast where he was promoting a book written by other players Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson.
Vescey decided to try his luck and ask if Bob Gibson would answer one question about Stan Musial, “He looked at me with that glower and he said, ‘absolutely not.’”
Vecsey then described his process of learning to use what you can. He discusses his process in this specific case, watching old films and reading past newspaper clippings about Musial. He even went to Musial’s hometown, Donora, Pennsylvania, to try to get a feel for what kind of man he was.
Vecsey went into some of the specifics of the book, in- cluding Musial’s acceptance.
According to Vecsey, Musial was a progressive man for the time period, especially when it came to racial diversity. Musial was the son of a Polish immigrant, and grew up in an area with people of all colors and races. This was not so for many of the other Cardinal’s players at the time.
Vecsey said: “… then came 1947 and the Brooklyn Dodgers brought in Jackie Robinson, this college educated army officer [who] had already learned to speak his mind up in the military…no back of the bus for him. The Dodgers signed him because he would be able to take it. He’d be a pioneer, and if he failed it could set things back.”
Vecsey went on to tell the audience that in May of that year there were meetings between the Dodgers and the Cardinals.
“Some of the cardinals, and not all of them from the deep South, had decided that they were not going to play. They were just going to boycott ‘no black players’…People who knew him best said Musial harkened back to his life in Donora…because of the steel workers, there were black kids in the town. And two of them were on the basketball team, Musial was a great basketball player…”
Vecsey described experiences Musial had playing with black children and his early activism. It was from these experiences that Musial was willing to play the game with Jackie Robinson. According to Vescey, at the time he told his close friends, “I grew up with them.”
Because of his early life and the diversity in his hometown, Vecsey was able to detail a few instances where Musial had stood up for minorities during his professional career. He even was able to meet Barack Obama in 2011, where he received The Presidential Medal of Freedom. Musial died in 2013, but Vecsey was able to keep his word by publishing a book that would immortalize the player forever.
