Stan was “The Man,” but he may not look whole on a bridge that crosses the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois.
The Missouri state legislature has introduced legislation to name their portion of the New Mississippi River Bridge after St. Louis Hall of Famer Stan Musial. However, those on the Illinois side recently passed legislation to name the span the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge. Missouri was holding on to introducing anything in the hopes of Illinois agreeing to just one name, but gave up on the idea when Illinois moved forward with its plan.
“Our hope is that Illinois will follow suit,” Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt said on the Musial name. “But at this point, we weren’t sure. So at the minimum, we have the Missouri side. I think it’s important we honor a man who built bridges in his life.”
Four senators from both Missouri and Illinois agree that naming the bridge after Stan Musial was the right thing to do, but the majority of the politicians east of the Mississippi River thought otherwise.
“I think Illinois will eventually rescind their opposition,” said Missouri Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst. “There are a lot of Cardinals fans in Illinois.”
Unfortunately, there are more Chicago Cubs fans. Perhaps the Cardinals and Cubs could play a best-of-three series to determine the name of the bridge every year. Or maybe they could just name it the Hall of Fame Bridge, honoring Musial and other Cardinals greats along with Cubs legends, like Ernie Banks and Billy Williams.
