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Archive for May, 2011

Ken Boyer aided Willie Davis’ hitting streak

Posted in Games, Hitters, Opponents on May 6, 2011| 3 Comments »

Ken Boyer’s unselfishness played an important role in the 31-game hitting streak of Dodgers outfielder Willie Davis in 1969.

On July 21, 1969, in the Pirates’ 2-1 victory over the Dodgers in 15 innings, Davis was 0-for-6, dropping his batting average to .260. Boxscore

One of Davis’ teammates that year was Boyer, who had been the Cardinals’ standout third baseman from 1955-65. Boyer was in the last season of a 15-year big-league career and primarily was being used as a pinch hitter by the Dodgers.

Entering a four-game series against the Cardinals at St. Louis, Davis “put down his slim-handled whip of a bat and picked up a heavier model, one Ken Boyer had been using,” John Kuenster wrote in Baseball Digest magazine.

“He choked up four inches on the knobless handle and started to hit.”

Davis, a left-handed batter, embarked on a 31-game hitting streak, stretching from Aug. 1 in St. Louis to Sept. 3 in Los Angeles, using Boyer’s 38-ounce Louisville Slugger U1 model. It was the longest hitting streak in the National League since Tommy Holmes’ 37-game stretch for the Braves in 1945.

Writing in 2011 for Examiner.com, Jim Smiley reported, “Boyer stopped using his own bats when his supply dwindled down to only two. After all, a teammate with a long hitting streak comes first.”

In a September 1969 interview with Charles Maher of the Los Angeles Times, Davis said, “I choke up about four inches to get more bat control. And I never try to pull the ball. Nine times out of 10, I’ll be trying to hit through the middle or to the opposite side.

“I’m not going to stop using Boyer’s bats … I think I broke one of them and he’s got two left. I don’t think Kenny’s even using them now. He knows I want to use them.”

Boyer understood the importance of teamwork and the elements needed to grow a hitting streak. Boyer had a 29-game hitting streak for the Cardinals in 1959.

Davis faced the Cardinals seven times during his streak:

_ Aug. 1, Cardinals 7, Dodgers 2, at St. Louis: In Game 1 of the streak, Davis went 1-for-4, hitting a double against Steve Carlton. Boxscore

_ Aug. 2, Cardinals 7, Dodgers 6, at St. Louis: Davis had an RBI-single against Mike Torrez and a two-run double against Joe Hoerner. Boxscore

_ Aug, 3, Dodgers 5, Cardinals 0, at St. Louis: Chuck Taylor yielded a double and a single to Davis. Boxscore

_ Aug. 4, Cardinals 2, Dodgers 1, at St. Louis: Davis singled against Nelson Briles, who pitched a complete-game seven-hitter. Boxscore

_ Aug. 11, Cardinals 4, Dodgers 2, at Los Angeles: In his final at-bat of the game, Davis hit an RBI-single off Steve Carlton in the eighth. Boxscore

_ Aug. 12, Dodgers 5, Cardinals 2, at Los Angeles: After starting 0-for-2, Davis singled in the sixth against Ray Washburn and singled in the eighth against Joe Hoerner. Boxscore

_ Aug. 13, Cardinals 5, Dodgers 0, at Los Angeles: Chuck Taylor pitched a six-hit shutout, but Davis had two of those hits _ singles in the seventh and ninth innings. Boxscore

Davis didn’t face Cardinals ace Bob Gibson during the streak. Gibson was 20-13 with a 2.18 ERA in 1969. Davis had a .320 (40-for-125) career batting average against Gibson.

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Red Schoendienst: A Cardinals home run trendsetter

Posted in Games, Hitters on May 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

(Updated April 11, 2026)

Eight Cardinals have hit a home run from each side of the plate in a game. According to Baseball Almanac, the eight who achieved the feat:

RED SCHOENDIENST

Schoendienst was an unlikely candidate to be the first Cardinal to hit home runs from the left and right sides in the same game.

Schoendienst didn’t hit a home run in the first 56 games he played in 1951. He ended the skid in Game 2 of a July 8 doubleheader against the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

In the sixth inning, Schoendienst, batting left-handed, hit a solo home run against Ted Wilks, a former teammate.

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

TED SIMMONS

Simmons twice hit a homer from each side of the plate in a Cardinals game.

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 home run against 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 a home run 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 ex-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 former Cardinal, Lerrin LaGrow, giving St. Louis a 9-7 victory. Boxscore

REGGIE SMITH

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

On May 4, 1975, at St. Louis, Smith went 5-for-5, including two solo home runs _ 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 home runs 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 home run 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 home run against left-hander Tug McGraw was the game-winner. Three weeks later, Smith was traded to the Dodgers. Boxscore

MARK WHITEN

A week after he hit four homers left-handed in a game at Cincinnati, Whiten hit a seventh-inning solo shot against the Expos’ Kirk Rueter while batting from the right side, 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 home runs 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 Ted Simmons first hit a home run 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 home run 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 home run against starter Brian Matusz in the third. Batting left-handed in the seventh, Berkman hit a solo home run against 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, Beltran hit a two-run home run 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 against 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 home runs 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

DYLAN CARLSON

Carlson did it twice in the same month at St. Louis: Sept. 19, 2021, against the Padres and Sept. 30, 2021, versus the Brewers. Boxscore and Boxscore

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