Dean Martin crooned for Stan Musial

Hey pallies, likes fab-u-lous facts of the life, times, and teachin's of our Dino continue to simply flows in from all over the 'net. Today ilovedinomartin is so so psyched to takes you to yet 'nother new-to-ilovedinomartin-blog pad where we share a great great moment in all of Dino-history!  From the baseball blog pad, "RetroSimba - Cardinals history beyond the box score," comes news scribed by Mr.  Mark Tomasik, self proclaimed "Lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan," of how our most beloved Dino and his pallie Frank Sinatra had the amazin' opportunity to croon for "Cardinals standout" Stan "the man" Musial.

The date was November 10, 1964 and the event was a Friars Club Roast of Mr. Musial.  Mr. Tomasik shares all the delightful details below, and likes so we won't go into 'em, but we woulda likes to simply accents Mark's remarks 'bout our Dino in the pix below...."Martin (the latter in a classic pose, with cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other)."  Indeed likes gotta 'fess up pallies that likes all youse Dino-philes simply simply haves to 'gree that our Dino is the stand-out in the pix with his ever-present cigarette and drink in hand!

ilovedinomartin is so so delighted to have come 'cross this great Dino-devotion likes 'specially 'cause our Dino is such a huge huge fan of B-Ball himself!  And, likes we salute Mr. Mark Tomasik and his beau-ti-ful B-ball blog, "RetroSimba" for sharin' this great moment in Dino-history.  To checks this out in it's original format, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-report.   Dino-learnin' and Dino-growin', DMP

How Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin crooned for Stan Musial

January 22, 2014 by retrosimba

Imagine a gathering of 1960s icons that included Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

When a recent Twitter post by Just Baseball Photos @Baseball_Photos displayed a picture of those athletes and entertainers together at a 1964 Friars Club roast, I wanted to research it and share what I learned in this blog post.

The black-and-white photo, reproduced here, shows (from left to right) Dodgers publicist Danny Goodman, Musial, Mays, Sinatra, Koufax and Martin (the latter in a classic pose, with cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other).

They were among a bevy of baseball and entertainment celebrities gathered at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills on Nov. 10, 1964, for a testimonial dinner in honor of Musial, the Cardinals standout who had retired as a player a year earlier. Less than a month before the gala, the Cardinals, with Musial in the front office as an executive, had clinched the 1964 World Series championship against the Yankees.

The Friars Club, founded in 1904 in New York City, primarily attracted comedians and entertainers as its members and became best known for its bawdy celebrity roasts. A Beverly Hills branch of the club opened in 1947.

The dinner for Musial attracted a stellar group from the baseball and entertainment worlds.

Among the baseball celebrities joining Koufax and Mays in honoring Musial were Don Drysdale, Leo Durocher, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, Vin Scully and Duke Snider.

Sinatra and Martin were joined by personalities such as Gene Autry, Milton Berle, Arthur Godfrey and master of ceremonies George Jessel.

Following the standard Friars Club format, several of the entertainers took turns on the dais poking fun at the honored guest.

(An example of the cutting humor was this line from Godfrey about Musial’s restaurant in St. Louis: “After eating there, I can understand why Stan came all the way to Los Angeles for a meal.”)

The highlight of the evening came when Sinatra and Martin “ran through a half-dozen song parodies filled with jabs at Musial,” The Sporting News reported. The Rat Pack duo’s special lyrics to popular tunes were so risqué that none “is in danger of ever being published,” wrote Sporting News correspondent Bob Hunter.

Sinatra and Martin ended on a high note with a duet to the tune of the song “The Lady is a Tramp.” Changing the lyrics to salute Stan the Man, Sinatra and Martin made the signature line, “Mr. Musial, you’re a champ.”

The Sporting News observed, “Musial received several standing ovations, the final one lasting for a lengthy period after he had responded to the barbs and roasts with a witty, humble speech of thanks.”

In opening his remarks, Musial said to the celebrity club members, “It’s been a great evening and it’s great to be with such famous and good friends _ even if they don’t know a darn thing about baseball.”