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In the ballpark on Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street and at the stadium downtown, Jim Wynn hit home runs to spots few others could reach in St. Louis.

Beginning with the Houston Colt .45s and continuing with their renamed version, the Astros, Wynn launched long balls wherever he played.

At Busch Stadium, formerly known as Sportsman’s Park, on the north side of St. Louis, Wynn twice hit home runs high off the left-field scoreboard, a structure situated behind and above the bleachers. A right-handed batter, Wynn also showed astonishing opposite-field power when he hit a home run onto the pavilion roof beyond the right-field wall.

A year after Busch Memorial Stadium opened in downtown St. Louis, Wynn hit a home run off the scoreboard in left-center. The rectangular scoreboard hung from underneath the upper deck and above the back end of the bleachers.

An outfielder who played 15 years (1963-77) in the big leagues, Wynn eight times hit 20 or more home runs in a season.

Uppercut punch

At 5 feet 9 and about 160 pounds, Wynn possessed the power of a giant.

“Wynn has developed one of the most lethal home run swings in baseball,” wrote Mark Mulvoy of Sports Illustrated. “He does not have the strong wrists of a Henry Aaron or a Frank Robinson (Wynn’s idol as he grew up in Cincinnati) or a Roberto Clemente, so he does not swing down on the ball. Instead, Wynn cocks his bat with a full extension of his left arm (much like the perfect golfer) and tries to uppercut the pitch. He works his muscular shoulders, arms and legs, all developed through extensive weight-lifting sessions, under and then up into the ball.”

Mark Whicker of Southern California News Group explained, “A home run hitter in Houston’s Astrodome, at least its old configuration, was like a fisherman in the Mojave. Wynn had a cannon-like arm, too, but his swing was the real fascination. He cocked and struck, unleashing all his musculature. He was a launch angle generator before anybody else claimed to be.”

Wynn was in his second season in the majors when he faced Cardinals left-hander Curt Simmons on April 26, 1964, at St. Louis. Batting in the first inning with two outs and a runner on first, Wynn got a fastball away and drove it onto the pavilion roof in right. Wynn’s ability to power a pitch the opposite way “shocked me,” Simmons told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“It wasn’t that bad a pitch, about belt high,” Simmons said, “but he went with it, even though the wind was blowing in from right. He has a quick bat.” Boxscore

A year later, on June 6, 1965, at St. Louis, Wynn, though hobbling because of a chipped bone in his knee, hit a pitch from rookie right-hander Nelson Briles over the “U” on the Budweiser sign on the scoreboard in left for a solo home run.

“Think where he might have put it if he hadn’t been hurt,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said to the Post-Dispatch. Boxscore

When Wynn and the Astros came back to St. Louis on Aug. 3, 1965, he hit another tape-measure home run. His three-run homer in the seventh against rookie right-hander Don Dennis struck the scoreboard above the word “American,” where the American League scores were posted, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Noting the scoreboard was topped by an image of an eagle in the Anheuser-Busch logo, Wynn chirped, “Now, I’m going for the bird.” Boxscore

Big boom

The Cardinals moved into Busch Memorial Stadium in May 1966 and, a year later, on June 6, 1967, Wynn hit a home run there for the first time. Leading off the fourth against right-hander Ray Washburn, Wynn got his bird, hitting a home run off the Anheuser-Busch eagle on the left side of the left-field scoreboard.

The Sporting News described it as “a tremendous shot” and added, “The size of the home run didn’t surprise anyone familiar with Wynn’s strength. Despite his compact 160-pound dimensions, Wynn generates tremendous power. When he hits a homer, it is as likely to be an awesome one as not.” Boxscore

Wynn’s home run in St. Louis was among multiple tape-measure shots he hit in 1967. Houston Chronicle sports reporter John Wilson began referring to Wynn as “Toy Cannon,” a nickname that stuck.

After leaving St. Louis, the Astros went to Cincinnati and Wynn hit a couple of mighty home runs. Both were against right-handers. The first was on June 10, 1967, against Mel Queen and the other the next day was off Sammy Ellis.

According to The Sporting News, Wynn hit the first home run “over the 40-foot scoreboard that sits directly in the power alley at Crosley Field. The next day, he hit one just to the left of the scoreboard _ and even farther than the one the day before. The ball crossed the edge of the parking lot, landed in the freeway feeder street, bounced up an embankment and came to rest some 600 feet from where it first changed direction in flight.”

The ball, The Sporting News added, was found “just short of a freeway 100 yards behind the stadium. It would have made the freeway except that it spent itself going up an embankment the last 40 or 50 feet.” Video

A month later, in July 1967 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Wynn hit a home run against Pirates right-hander Pete Mikkelsen “that left the park almost directly over the 457-foot marker,” The Sporting News reported, “a corner of the stadium so far from home plate that the batting cage is rolled out there during games.”

According to a ballpark security guard, the ball landed “on a playground diamond 50 or 60 feet behind the fence,” The Sporting News reported. Video

Wynn had 291 home runs and 225 stolen bases in the majors with the Colt .45s (1963-64), Astros (1965-73), Dodgers (1974-75), Braves (1976), Yankees (1977) and Brewers (1977). He posted a career on-base percentage of .366.

His career numbers versus the Cardinals: 24 home runs, 20 stolen bases and a .360 on-base percentage.