RetroSimba

With a dominating hitting performance, Matt Carpenter joined an exclusive and eclectic Cardinals rookie club.

Batting sixth and starting at first base, Carpenter was 4-for-4 with five RBI, a home run and a triple in the Cardinals’ 10-3 victory over the Cubs on April 15 in St. Louis. Carpenter, a left-handed batter, had a RBI-single off left-hander Paul Maholm in the second inning, a two-run homer off right-hander Lendy Castillo in the fifth and a two-run triple off right-hander Rodrigo Lopez in the seventh. Boxscore

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Carpenter is the third Cardinals rookie with four hits, five RBI and a home run in a game. The others are third baseman Les Bell (1925) and first baseman Fred Whitfield (1962).

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and MLB.com, using information supplied by a Cardinals media relations staffer, reported outfielder Joe Hague also had four hits, five RBI and a home run in a 1970 game as a St. Louis rookie.

(Though Hague did achieve such a performance, I believe he wasn’t a rookie when it occurred. According to Major League Baseball, a player is considered a rookie if he hasn’t exceeded 130 big-league at-bats and hasn’t accumulated more than 45 days on a big-league team’s active roster. Hague accumulated more than 45 days on the Cardinals’ roster in 1969. He opened the ’69 season with the Cardinals and was with them until being demoted to the minor leagues in mid-June.)

Nonetheless, the magnitude of Carpenter’s achievement is placed in perspective when one considers it’s been at least four decades (and probably longer) since any other Cardinals rookie did the same.

Here’s how the others did it:

LES BELL

After appearing in fewer than 18 games for St. Louis in 1923 and again in 1924, Bell, 23, opened the 1925 season as the Cardinals’ everyday third baseman.

On April 18 at Chicago, the rookie, batting fifth, went 5-for-6 with two home runs and six RBI in the Cardinals’ 20-5 victory over the Cubs.

A right-handed batter, Bell hit a three-run homer off right-hander Guy Bush in the fourth and a two-run homer off right-hander Elmer Jacobs in the seventh. Bell also had two doubles and a single. It would be the only five-hit game of his nine-year big-league career. Boxscore

FRED WHITFIELD

A first baseman and left-handed batter, Whitfield as a rookie had a reputation as a potent hitter held back by fielding deficiences. On Aug. 12, 1962, Whitfield, 24, started at first base in the second game of a doubleheader against the Phillies at St. Louis. Batting third, he went 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBI, though the Phillies completed a sweep with a 9-7 victory.

In the sixth inning, Whitfield hit a grand slam off left-hander Bill Smith, giving the Cardinals a 7-6 lead. It was St. Louis’ first grand slam of the season. Whitfield also had a double and two singles. Boxscore

“Fred Whitfield is the greatest hitter I’ve ever seen _ for the number of times I’ve seen him bat against us,” Phillies manager Gene Mauch said to The Sporting News.

In 1970, Whitfield finished his nine-year big-league career with the Expos, managed by Mauch.

JOE HAGUE

Whether or not he was a rookie, Hague, a left-handed batter, deserves mention here for going 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBI in the Cardinals’ 9-2 victory over the Mets on May 28, 1970, at New York.

Batting sixth and playing right field, Hague, 26, had a two-run single off right-hander Don Cardwell in the first, a solo homer off left-hander Tug McGraw in the eighth and a two-run single off McGraw in the ninth. Hague also singled in the sixth. Boxscore

The home run was the first by a Cardinals batter other than Richie Allen or Joe Torre in nearly three weeks.

(Note: In the next game after Carpenter’s historic performance, he hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give the Cardinals a 2-1 win over the Reds on April 17. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Carpenter is the first rookie with a walk-off RBI in the major leagues this season.)

Previously: Is David Freese capable of 100-RBI season?