From Donora to Cooperstown
Two of Donora’s finest — Ken Griffey Jr. and Stan Musial
Happy birthday today to not one, but two Hall of Famers from Donora, Pa. – the late Stan Musial, who would be 103 if he were still with us, and Ken Griffey Jr., who in comparison is a mere child at 54.
Now, what are the odds of that, of two Hall of Famers come from the same town that is located 27 miles south of Pittsburgh with a dwindling population now of 4,500?
Stan Musial
Add to that the factoid is that two Hall of Famers come from tiny Donora, while Pennsylvania’s two largest cities with a total population of close to 1.9 million each has produced just one Hall of Famer with catcher Roy Campanella born in Philadelphia in 1921 and early 1900s shortstop Bobby Wallace in Pittsburgh in 1873.
As an aside, another of Donora’s baseball players – Musial’s younger brother, Ed – spends time on Harrisburg's historic City Island in 1948, batting .219 in 44 games for the old Senators. That average, though, is an anomaly for the younger Musial, who is a .304 lifetime hitter in the minors.
Of course, older brother Stan is a .331 hitter in the majors for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-63.
The Griffeys, Jr. and Sr.
Griffey also enjoys a fairly decent stay in the majors, hitting 630 homers in a 22-year career that ends in 2010.
Griffey’s father, Ken Sr., does quite well, too, enjoying a 19-year career over which he is a three-time All-Star in Cincinnati and two-time World Series winner with the Reds.
While the Musial brothers never play together professionally, the Griffeys spend two seasons – 1990 and ’91 – as teammates in Seattle.
No other fathers and sons play together in major league history.
As for the patriarch of the Griffey family – Buddy – well, the father of Ken and the grandfather of Junior is a high school teammate in the late 1930s of, naturally, Stan Musial.
Donora High baseball, 1939, with Stan Musial (top row, second from left) and Buddy Griffey (bottom row, on left)