Albert Pujols is the man of the moment in St. Louis baseball. He is properly acclaimed as the best player in the game.

But he is not The Man.

In St. Louis, there is only one "The Man." There will always only be one "The Man." Albert Pujols is slugging and fielding his way to the Hall of Fame, but the best he can hope for in St. Louis is to be included in the conversation with the player who will always remain the greatest of all Cardinals, and that, of course, is Stan "The Man" Musial.

He came by that nickname in Brooklyn, either in '47 or '48. The way the story goes is that he was wearing out the Dodgers yet another time, and as he came to bat in Ebbets Field one exasperated Dodger fan said to another, "Here comes that Man again."

The great thing for us is that Stan The Man is still among us. The three great Elder Statesmen of the game left are 90-year old Bob Feller, 88-year old Stan Musial, and 85-year old Yogi Berra. Joe DiMaggio clung to the title of "Greatest Living Ballplayer" to his grave, insisting he be introduced as such at affairs and events including the Yankee Stadium Old-Timers Day. Now that he and Ted Williams have both passed, there is no doubt who deserves that designation. It is Stanley Frank Musial.

During the 40's and 50's, the Big Three were indeed DiMag, The Thumper, and The Man. DiMaggio had the shortest career (1936-51). Williams went from 1939-1960. Musial went from 1941-63. So there were various periods of overlap, and, therefore, countless discussions and comparisons. DiMaggio and Williams have auras and mystiques extending beyond the playing field. Stan The Man never had that. But he was every bit their equal as an all-around ballplayer.

Start with essential career numbers. BA --- .331 HR --- 475 2B --- 725. 3B --- 177 RBI --- 1951 TB --- 6134 Batting Titles --- 6 MVP --- 3.

Good start, huh?

Oh, it gets better. Let's start with Stan The Man in 1948, age 27 and at the peak of his powers.

BA --- .376 HR --- 39 RBI --- 131 2B -- 46 3B --- 18 TB -- 429 XBH --- 103 OPS --- 1.152

Impressed yet?

Here's more. In addition to the three MVP's Musial finished second four times, fourth once and fifth once. He was Top Ten 13 times. In addition to his six batting titles he finished second twice and third five times. He was in the Top Five 16 times! No one knew what OPS was in those days, but he led the league in that category seven times. He also led the league in doubles eight times, triples five times, and extra base hits (XBH) seven times.

Take note of those triples. He twice hit 20 triples. So he could run a little.

In 1962, at age 41 he hit .330 with 19 homers and 82 ribbies.

Oh, and check this out: career SO --- 696 career BB --- 1599. Season high SO --- 46 (You read that correctly).

One more Stan The Man tidbit: He had 3,630 career hits, 1815 at home, 1,815 on the road.

Actually, he really does have something of a mystique. He had that famous batting stance, which is only the most famous coiled crouch in baseball history. His lefthanded stance was described in many ways, most notably as "a kid peeking around the corner to see if the cops were coming."

And he is the only Hall of Famer, past or present, who can whip out his harmonica and give you a tune.

What he's most known for, however, is being a truly great and gracious man. There was never a hint of scandal attached to him. He was an admired ballplayer and he remains an admired man. DiMaggio was aloof. Ted was often prickly. But everybody loves Stan The Man.

The inscription on his statue in front of Busch Stadium starts off "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight.." And goes from there.

Albert's great. But he's never going to top that.