“The love is important, but let’s not pretend”

By David Murray, Editor, Vital Speeches of the Day

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Stan Musial died last week. He had the right idea about hitting (and writing) for money. 

“Maybe the reason I’m so cheerful is that for more than 20 years I’ve had an unbelievable combination going for me—getting paid, often a lot, to do the thing I love the most,” he told Sports Illustrated on the eve of his retirement in 1963. “The love is important, but let’s not pretend; so is the money. My old Cardinals coach, Mike Gonzalez, used to say to me, ‘Musial, if I could hit like you, I’d play for nothing.’ Not me. But I wouldn’t play for the money without the fun.”