The Stan Musial field remains, but on this June day, it doesn't look like anyone has played here in years. It's located on the edge of town in Palmer Park, where the Ken Griffey ball field used to be until it was relocated to make room for a park pavilion. I begin by driving across the Stan Musial Bridge, which leads into Donora, then head to the Stan Musial Baseball Field. Welcome to Donora, which is nestled in a meander on the Monongahela River, 27 miles south of Pittsburgh. The Past Stan Musial never forgot his roots in Donora, but the field that bears his name is in need of repair and attention. 'You can take everything away but you're not taking that birthplace away.' They're from here,'' Donora resident Colby Perrotta says. 'For everything that we lose, we will always say, 'Those are our guys. But Donora will forever be the birthplace of The Man and The Kid. I guess it was a good month in Donora.'ĭonora has declined since Junior was born, with the mills shutting down in the late '60s and the population dropping to less than 5,000. Junior laughs and says he had nothing to do with that. Yes, two Hall of Famers born on the same day in the same little town in western Pennsylvania. 21 in 1969, the same year Musial was inducted into Cooperstown. How amazing, and coincidental, is the Donora DNA? Not only is it the home of two Hall of Famers (and three All-Stars), Musial was born here on Nov. And everybody just believed it and you went with it.' 'It was one of the luckiest things in my life to have grown up in a town that has a true sense of community pride in athletics,' Payne says. Another native is federal court judge Reggie Walton, who ruled in the Roger Clemens PED case. Ulice Payne Jr., who played for the 1977 NCAA champion Marquette basketball team, grew up here and became the first African-American major league CEO when he ran the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002. Bob Coulson played in the big leagues from 1908-11, giving Donora four major leaguers. Yes, Stan the Man.īut Donora's baseball heritage is not just limited to the Griffeys and Musial, nor is its connection strictly on the field. As was Junior's grandfather, Buddy Griffey, who was a teammate there with. Not only was Junior born here, so was his father, Ken Griffey Sr., who was a star athlete at Donora High School. But there are things to see and know about this former steel town nicknamed 'The Home of Champions.' Granted, Donora isn't San Francisco or Paris, nor as pretty as Junior's swing. what I should go see in Donora, Pennsylania. While planning a visit to his birthplace in preparation for the upcoming Hall of Fame induction, I ask Ken Griffey Jr.

Stan musial hall of fame