ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - It is time for the 2024 Musial Awards. The Awards Show will take place this Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Stifel Theatre.
Among those who will be honored Saturday night include legendary Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who will receive Musial Award for Extraordinary Character, Kansas City Royals Catcher Salvador Perez, and longtime sportscaster and KMOX alum Bob Costas, who will receive Stan Musial Lifetime Achievement Award for Sportsmanship.
Costas joined KMOX's 'Total Information A.M.' Tuesday to discuss the Musial Awards and being set to receive the Stan Musial Lifetime Achievement Award for Sportsmanship.
"It's especially meaningful to (receive the award named after Stan Musial) not just because of Stan's greatness as a player, but anyone who knows anything about Stan and his relationship to St. Louis knows it was more than all those batting titles," said Costas. "It was about his decency, his buoyant personality, his kindness, his willingness to have a moment for everybody."
"He had so many qualities that a kid who dreams of playing in the major leagues and can never do it could still emulate as a person and still try to emulate."
Costas says Saturday for him at the Musial Awards will be fun and exciting and he says out of all the wards he has received over the years, there are two awards that stand out the most to him, with one of the them being the Lifetime Achievement Award he will receive on Saturday.
"This, among all the nice things that have happened in terms of awards, and being inducted to the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame, are the two that mean the most to me," said Costas.
When Costas receives the Lifetime Achievement Award, he will stand on the stage next to Musial Awards host Billy Crystal, who Costas has known since Crystal was still a part of Saturday Night Live back in the early 80s and Costas was working to break in.
"He was such a huge baseball fan and it turns out we had so much in common. We both grew up on Long Island, roughly the same age, we both idolized Mickey Mantle and rooted for the Yankees growing up cause that's what you did in that era of late-1950s, early-1960s." said Costas.
The Musial Awards takes place on Saturday, Nov. 23, with the broadcast version of the awards will air on CBS on Sunday, Dec. 29. There's still a limited number of tickets available for purchase through Ticketmaster.
Click on the player above to listen to Costas' full conversation with Tom Ackerman and Debbie Monterrey on 'Total Information A.M.' about the Musial Awards and Costas shares a story about Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial.