RetroSimba

(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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Like the Cardinals, Ray Lankford was having an uninspired season in 1995 when he suddenly jump-started it with a sizzling September.

As part of a 16-game hitting streak from Aug. 29 to Sept. 16, Lankford had multiple hits in seven consecutive games (Sept. 4 to Sept. 11).

As reported by Fox Sports Midwest in a story carried by Cardinals Best News Links, Lankford was the last Cardinal to achieve a multiple-hit streak of seven games until Lance Berkman matched it this year.

In a season that began late with the threat of using replacement players and included the firing of manager Joe Torre and the trading of popular first baseman Todd Zeile to the Cubs, the Cardinals had a 48-66 record the morning of Aug. 29. Lankford, 1-for-14 in his last four games, was batting .258.

The center fielder then hit safely in five consecutive games before entering a three-game series at Atlanta against the Braves. Facing three of the best pitchers of that era _ John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine _ Lankford launched into his unlikely multiple hits stretch.

Sept. 4 at Atlanta, Braves 6, Cardinals 5: Lankford went 2-for-3. Both hits came against John Smoltz _ a leadoff home run in the fourth and a one-out double in the sixth. Boxscore

Sept. 5 at Atlanta, Braves 1, Cardinals 0: Lankford had a double and two singles against Greg Maddux. But, with two on and two out in the third, Lankford struck out _ the only time Maddux retired him in the game. Boxscore

Sept. 6 at Atlanta, Braves 6, Cardinals 1: A left-handed batter, Lankford singled twice against left-hander Tom Glavine. Boxscore

Sept. 7 at St. Louis, Cardinals 5, Padres 2: Facing another left-hander, Glenn Dishman, Lankford solved him with a run-scoring double in the first and a two-run triple in the fifth. Boxscore

Sept. 8 at St. Louis, Cardinals 5, Padres 2: Lankford led off the fifth with a homer against starter Joey Hamilton and added a seventh-inning single against reliever Andres Berumen. Boxscore

Sept. 9 at St. Louis, Cardinals 7, Padres 5: Lankford lifted a two-out, fourth-inning homer against starter Willie Blair. In the eighth, Lankford greeted rookie left-handed reliever Ron Villone with a run-scoring single. Boxscore

Sept. 10 at St. Louis, Cardinals 13, Giants 4: After he contributed a two-RBI single against starter Jamie Brewington in a six-run second, Lankford smacked a homer against left-handed reliever Joe Rosselli, leading off the fourth. Boxscore

Lankford extended his hitting streak in the next game, hitting a home run in his fourth consecutive game, a shot off Giants starter Mark Leiter, but it was his only hit, ending the multiple hits stretch.

“I’m just … trying to make good contact and drive the ball,” Lankford told the Associated Press. “Fortunately, I’m hitting them out of the ballpark. The balls that I’ve been hitting out, I’ve been hitting on a line.”

After the hitting streak reached 16 games, Lankford went 0-for-3 against Ismael Valdez of the Dodgers on Sept. 17 at St. Louis.

In a syndicated column, Gordon Edes reported Lankford’s hitting streak “coincides with the recovery of his 1-year-old daughter (Racquel) from second-degree burns suffered last month in Los Angeles when she pulled a room service coffee container onto herself.”

“I knew I loved my daughter before,” Lankford said. “But now I realize how lucky I really am to have her.”

Lankford finished the 1995 season with a .277 batting average, 25 home runs and 82 RBI.

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