RetroSimba

(Updated July 8, 2020)

Stan Musial is the oldest player to hit three home runs in a major-league game.

Musial was 41 when he hit three home runs against the Mets on July 8, 1962, at the Polo Grounds in New York.

It capped a stretch of four home runs in four consecutive at-bats for Musial.

Power streak

On July 7, 1962, Musial snapped a 2-2 tie with a home run off former teammate Craig Anderson in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, lifting the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Mets. Boxscore

The next day, a Sunday afternoon, Musial hit home runs his first three times at-bat, giving him four in a row over two games (tying a major-league record) and helping the Cardinals to a 15-1 victory.

“Trouble with the Amazin’ Mets isn’t that they have old ballplayers; it’s that they don’t have any old ballplayers name Musial,” wrote Dick Young in the New York Daily News.

Musial hit a solo shot in the first inning and a two-run home run in the fourth, both off Jay Hook. The first home run against Hook came on a 2-and-0 changeup. “The ball probably would have been caught in St. Louis, but it found the range in the Polo Grounds, which has a fence only 257 feet from the plate at the foul line,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The second home run off Hook was hit into the upper deck on a 3-and-1 slider.

Musial led off the seventh with a home run against Willard Hunter on a 2-and-2 fastball, up and in. Musial “tomahawked that one viciously against the right field roof,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

In the book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “The pitch was too far inside. Hunter seemed surprised I didn’t take it, but I didn’t believe in letting an inside pitch get away at the Polo Grounds. I got out in front of the high, tight delivery.”

It was the second time in his big-league career Musial slugged three home runs in a game, and he was especially thrilled that his wife Lil and daughter Janet were in attendance to witness the feat.

Trying for another

In the eighth, facing former teammate Bob Miller with a chance for a fifth consecutive home run and No. 4 in the game, Musial admitted, “I was going for the fence.”

With the count 2-and-0, Musial watched a fastball cross the plate for a strike. Miller’s next pitch was a curve and Musial took “a wild, off-balance swing” and missed, the Daily News reported. Miller came back with another curve in the dirt. Musial tried to check his swing but couldn’t and struck out, but the ball eluded catcher Chris Cannizzaro and Musial reached first base safely. He was removed for a pinch-runner and received a roaring ovation from the New York crowd. Boxscore

Signing for kids

After the game, Musial posed for photographers with family and friends on the field. “An 11-year-old freckled red-haired boy named Kevin Charkowicz was brought down to the field, where he presented the ball” Musial hit for his third home run of the game, the Post-Dispatch reported. (See his comment in the response section below.)

According to the Post-Dispatch, Musial “stayed on the field to sign for youngsters who clustered around him.”

Among the group of kids cheering for Musial and getting autographs from him were Little League players in gray uniforms, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat noted.

Musial headed into the all-star break with a .333 batting average, .403 on-base percentage and .523 slugging percentage. Not bad for 41 years old.

Other sluggers at 40

Besides Musial, three others who reached 40 years of age hit three home runs in a game. The most recent was Jason Giambi, 40, who hit three home runs for the Rockies on May 19, 2011.

Babe Ruth (in 1935 for the Braves) and Reggie Jackson (in 1986 for the Angels) also hit three home runs in a game at age 40.

Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees was 39 when he hit three home runs in a game vs. the Twins on July 25, 2015 _ two days before his 40th birthday.