YEAR: 1963
SIGNIFICANCE: Hall of Fame OF Stan Musial officially announced his retirement, effective at the end of the ’63 campaign
Stan Musial, regarded as one of the greatest hitters of all-time, announced that the 1963 season was going to be his last. Musial is fourth all-time in career hits with 3,630 and eighth in RBIs with 1,951. He’s a career .331/.417/.976 hitter and accumulated a 128.3 career bWAR, the eighth-highest of all time. A 3x MVP, 24x All-Star, 7x Batting Champion, and 3x World Champion, “Stan the Man” was considered the greatest Cardinal ever, at least until Albert Pujols burst onto the scene in 2001. In Musial’s last season, his age-42 season, he still managed to hit .255/.325/.728.