Cardinals' drive pays off for Musial

By foxsports
Published

Getting Stan Musial on the list of honorees for the Presidential Medal Freedom was a season-long effort by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The team began a ''Stand for Stan'' campaign in May, aiming to inspire President Barack Obama to honor the Cardinals Hall of Famer who will be 90 next week. The team used social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and started a website to get fans involved.

The team also distributed cardboard Musial cutouts to fans, depicting a cartoonish slugger wearing a big grin and brandishing a self-autographed bat.

Musial got a congratulatory call Wednesday from baseball commissioner Bud Selig. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said Musial was the ''greatest Cardinal ever.''