Stan "The Man" Musial was a lifelong Cardinal, coming up with the team on Sept. 17, 1941, and retiring on Sept. 29, 1963. He was a 24-time All-Star, three-time World Series Champion and three-time NL MVP. In addition, he won seven NL batting titles. He was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1969. He is a fixture at Cards' Opening Day ceremonies, including in 2012, and his statue stands outside Busch Stadium. Musial died Saturday at the age of 92.

Musial was called Stan The Man Unusual because of his corkscrew stance in which his back faced the pitcher, but the stance didn’t matter and Joe Garagiola once said, “Musial could hit .300 with a fountain pen.”

Musial missed the 1945 season while serving in the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to noncombat duty at the Naval Training Station in Bainbridge, Md. Later he was on ship repair duty at Pearl Harbor, where he participated in the naval base's eight-team league.

During his 22-year career with the Cardinals, Musial made the All-Star team 24 times (they had two All-Star games a year for two years). He finished with a .331 career average, won seven batting titles, hit 475 home runs and batted .310 or better for the first 16 years of his career.

Musial is shown kissing his wife, Lillian, at the ballpark in St. Louis in June 1949. The couple met when she was 14 and he was 15. She attended a Donora (Pa.) Zincs game with her father in 1934 and saw her future husband pitch for the semi-professional team. She liked his curly brown hair. They married six years later.

Stan Musial was cheered on by wife Lillian looks in 1951. The Musials raised four kids. They had 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Stan Musial approached home plate to a rousing reception after hitting the game winning home run in the bottom of the 12th inning of the 1955 All-Star Game, played in Milwaukee's County Stadium on July 12.

Musial was joined by Lillian in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1958. Lillian was a rock for Musial, who became baseball's “perfect warrior” and “perfect knight,” terms coined by then-Major League Baseball commissioner Ford Frick at Stan’s retirement ceremony on Sept. 29, 1963.

Stan Musial and his wife Lillian acknowledged the Busch Stadium crowd on Sept. 14, 2005.

On Sept. 14, 2005, Stan Musial and his wife Lillian were taken around the field at a baseball game between the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The couple was married for 71 years, until Lillian's death on May 3, 2012, at age 91.

President Barack Obama met with Stan Musial before the 2009 All-Star Game on July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Former St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols shook hands with Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial before a game against the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium on Oct. 2, 2010. When the media and fans began calling Pujols “El Hombre,” Spanish for "The Man," he asked them to stop, saying: “There is only one ‘The Man’ in St. Louis and that’s Stan 'The Man' Musial."

Musial greeted members of the St. Louis Cardinals in between innings of a game against the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium on Oct. 2, 2010.
 

Fans showed their support for former St. Louis Cardinals player Stan Musial in between innings as the St. Louis Cardinals play against the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium on Oct. 2, 2010, in St. Louis. Musial was being honored as part of the Cardinals' campaign to convince President Obama to award the legendary Cardinals slugger the Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of service and achievement.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa held up cartoon cutouts of Cards legend Stan Musial during the game against the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium.

A statue of Stan Musial stands at the entrance of the St. Louis Cardinals' Busch Stadium.

President Barack Obama presented Musial a 2010 Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Feb. 15, 2011. At right is Boston Celtics basketball great Bill Russell, who also received a medal. The Medal of Freedom is the country's highest civilian honor.
 

Musial made his final Opening Day appearance at Busch Stadium on April 13, 2012.