RetroSimba

(Updated Dec. 21, 2024)

Lost amid the historical splendor of Albert Pujols’ performance in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series was the achievement of Yadier Molina.

Though it paled in comparison to the hitting of Pujols (the first Cardinals player with three home runs, five hits and six RBI in a World Series game), Molina also accomplished a franchise standard in Game 3.

Molina became the first Cardinals catcher with four RBI in a World Series game.

Molina produced a two-run double in the fifth inning off Scott Feldman, a sacrifice fly in the sixth off Mike Gonzalez and a RBI-double in the eighth off Mark Lowe in the Cardinals’ 16-7 victory over the Rangers Oct. 22. Boxscore

The performance by Molina continued a remarkable year for him at the plate. In the regular season, Molina hit a team-best .305, with 32 doubles, 14 home runs and 65 RBI.

Asked about his hitting approach, Molina said to Stan McNeal of Cardinals Yearbook in 2019, “One thing my dad told me was never strike out. Try to hit the ball. That’s something that has stayed with me. When I get two strikes, I just try to hit the ball.

“Right now, players want to hit the ball so hard, but they’re striking out too many times. Why? If you hit the ball 100 mph but strike out more than 100 times, why don’t you hit the ball 95, 90 mph and get base hits? They’re trying to hit the ball 450 feet, but you can hit it 380 and still get a home run.”

Recalling how Yadier learned to hit as a youth in Puerto Rico, his brother Bengie Molina, who also played in the majors, said in an article he did for the 2019 Cardinals Yearbook, “Our game was tape ball. We’d get a newspaper and scrunch it into the shape of a ball, then wrap it with electrical tape. For hitting, we’d cut a broomstick down to the length of a bat.

“We also learned to hit by doing a really challenging drill with my dad. He would sit in a chair and flip corn kernels or dried beans to us, which we tried to hit with a broomstick … The more we practiced that drill, the better our hand-eye coordination got. I believe that’s one reason Yadi has never struck out much.”

Until Game 3 of the 2011 World Series, Molina had played in 10 World Series games over three years (2004, 2006 and 2011) and had produced one RBI. That came on a double in Game 4 of the 2006 World Series against the Tigers. Boxscore

Tim McCarver and Joe Garagiola had held the club record for most RBI by a catcher in a World Series game, with three. McCarver did it twice. As a broadcaster on the telecast of the Cardinals-Rangers Game 3, McCarver witnessed Molina’s performance.

Here’s a look at the three-RBI games by McCarver and Garagiola:

TIM McCARVER

In each World Series game in which McCarver drove in three runs, one swing produced the RBI each time.

In Game 5 of the 1964 World Series, McCarver hit a three-run home run off Yankees reliever Pete Mikkelsen in the 10th inning, snapping a 2-2 tie and carrying the Cardinals to a 5-2 victory. Boxscore

Four years later, McCarver launched a three-run, fifth-inning home run off reliever Pat Dobson in the Cardinals’ 7-3 Game 3 victory over the Tigers in the 1968 World Series. Boxscore

JOE GARAGIOLA

One of three Cardinals in the game to get four hits (Whitey Kurowski and Enos Slaughter were the others), Garagiola drove in his three runs off three relievers in St. Louis’ 12-3 victory over the Red Sox in Game 4 of the 1946 World Series. Boxscore

Garagiola had a RBI-single off Jim Bagby in the third inning, a RBI-double off Bill Zuber in the seventh and a RBI-single off Mace Brown in the ninth.