RetroSimba

(Updated April 12, 2015)

Seven Cardinals have hit home runs from each side of the plate in a game.

The seven who achieved the feat:

RED SCHOENDIENST

Schoendienst may have been an unlikely candidate to become the first Cardinal to hit homers from the left and right sides in the same game.

The infielder hadn’t hit a homer in the first 56 games he played in 1951.

Then, in the sixth inning of Game 2 of a July 8 doubleheader against the Pirates at Pittsburgh, Schoendienst, batting left-handed, hit a solo homer against Ted Wilks, a former teammate.

An inning later, facing rookie Paul LaPalme, Schoendienst switched to the right side and slugged a two-run homer, helping St. Louis to a 9-8 victory. Boxscore

TED SIMMONS

Simmons twice hit homers from each side of the plate in games for the Cardinals.

On April 17, 1975, after the Mets scored six runs in the first against Lynn McGlothen at Busch Stadium, Simmons, batting right-handed, hit a three-run homer off Jerry Koosman in the bottom of the inning.

In the fifth, Simmons, batting left-handed against Rick Baldwin, launched a solo shot, becoming the first National League player to hit homers from each side of the plate in a game since Pete Rose of the Reds in 1967. Despite Simmons’ efforts, the Mets won, 14-7. Boxscore

Simmons did it again on June 11, 1979, at Los Angeles, hitting a grand slam right-handed against former teammate Jerry Reuss in the third, and snapping a 7-7 tie with a two-run shot in the ninth while batting left-handed against another ex-Cardinal, Lerrin LaGrow, giving St. Louis a 9-7 victory. Boxscore

REGGIE SMITH

Like Simmons, Smith twice hit homers from each side of the plate as a Cardinal. Unlike Simmons, his second effort yielded three home runs.

On May 4, 1975, at St. Louis, Smith went 5-for-5, including two solo homers _ a fourth-inning shot, batting right-handed, against Geoff Zahn of the Cubs, and a fifth-inning shot, batting left-handed, against Oscar Zamora. But the Cardinals blew a 4-2 lead after six innings and lost, 8-6. Boxscore

Smith hit two homers right-handed and another left-handed in lifting the Cardinals to a 7-6 victory at Philadelphia on May 22, 1976. He hit a three-run homer against left-hander Jim Kaat in the fifth. His solo shot off right-hander Ron Reed in the seventh tied the score, 6-6. In the ninth, his two-out homer against left-hander Tug McGraw was the game-winner. Three weeks later, Smith was traded to the Dodgers. Boxscore

MARK WHITEN

One week after he blasted four home runs left-handed in a game at Cincinnati, Whiten hit a seventh-inning solo shot off the Expos’ Kirk Rueter while batting right-handed, and followed with an eighth-inning, three-run shot off Mel Rojas while batting left-handed on Sept. 14, 1993, at St. Louis. Despite Whiten’s efforts, Montreal won, 12-9. Boxscore

GERONIMO PENA

Pena, who hit 30 homers in his big-league career, hit his first two of 1994 in a game at St. Louis against the Padres on April 17 _ 19 years to the day that Ted Simmons first hit homers from each side of the plate.

A second baseman batting second in the order, Pena hit a solo shot from the left side against Andy Ashby in the third, and added another from the right side against Mark Davis in the seventh, leading St. Louis to a 5-0 victory. Boxscore

LANCE BERKMAN

Culminating his return to Houston for the first time since the Astros traded him to the Yankees in July 2010, Berkman hit a three-run homer against Fernando Abad while batting right-handed in the sixth, and lofted a solo homer while batting left-handed against Aneury Rodriguez in the ninth in the Cardinals’ 11-7 victory on April 28, 2011. Boxscore

Berkman repeated the feat on June 30, 2011, in a 9-6 Cardinals triumph over the Orioles at Baltimore. Batting right-handed, Berkman hit a two-run homer off starter Brian Matusz in the third. Leading off the seventh and batting left-handed, Berkman hit a solo homer off Alfredo Simon. Boxscore

CARLOS BELTRAN

Beltran achieved the feat three times with the Cardinals. The first time was on Sept. 30, 2012, in a 10-4 Cardinals victory over the Nationals at St. Louis.

Batting second in the order, Beltran hit a two-run homer from the right side off Ross Detwiler, a St. Louis native, in a five-run Cardinals second. Batting left-handed, Beltran hit another two-run shot in the fourth off Chien-Ming Wang. Boxscore

Beltran matched the feat twice in 2013.

On April 26, 2013, against the Pirates at St. Louis, Beltran hit a first-inning solo homer from the right side off Jonathan Sanchez. He hit a two-run shot from the left side off Jeanmar Gomez in the fifth, helping the Cardinals to a 9-1 triumph. Boxscore

Two months later, Beltran did it again. On June 15 at Miami, Beltran hit a pair of solo homers in a 13-7 Cardinals victory over the Marlins. Beltran hit one from the left side off Tom Koehler in the second and another from the right side against Edgar Olmos in the ninth. Boxscore