RetroSimba

(Updated April 2, 2026)

Solly Hemus, Ted Sizemore, Reggie Smith and Colby Rasmus are Cardinals who drew five walks in a game.

Here’s a look:

_ Sept. 15, 1951, Cardinals 10, Braves 1, at St. Louis: Batting leadoff, Hemus walked in all five plate appearances against four different pitchers and scored three times.

Braves starter Dave Cole issued walks to Hemus, Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial in the first inning and plunked Enos Slaughter with a pitch, forcing in Hemus with a run.

In the seventh, with George Estock pitching and St. Louis ahead 8-1, Hemus drew his fifth walk. Hemus attempted to steal second but was thrown out by rookie catcher Ebba St. Claire. Boxscore

_ Aug. 12, 1974, Cardinals 6, Padres 5, at St. Louis: Sizemore, batting second, went 0-for-2 with a run scored and five walks.

In the ninth, with Lou Brock on second, one out and a 5-5 score, Bill Laxton intentionally walked Sizemore and pitched instead to Bake McBride, who hit .309 that season. McBride reached on an error by third baseman Dave Hilton, loading the bases, but Laxton retired Luis Melendez on a pop-up and Ted Simmons on a fly out, forcing extra innings.

In the 13th, with Danny Godby on third, Brock on first and one out, Laxton again gave an intentional pass to Sizemore, loading the bases. McBride’s sacrifice fly to center scored Godby with the winning run. Boxscore

_ Sept. 13, 1974, Cardinals 7, Phillies 3, at Philadelphia: In the first inning, Smith was hit by a pitch from Jim Lonborg, his teammate on the 1967 American League champion Red Sox. Smith got his revenge in the third, with a RBI-single to right against Lonborg.

Smith drew his fifth walk of the game in the 14th inning.

In the 17th, the Cardinals scored five runs against Jesus Hernaiz, Eddie Watt and Tom Underwood. With two outs, Smith was batting against Underwood when the game was halted because of rain at 12:19 a.m. After a delay of 1:41, Smith resumed his at-bat against Underwood and flied out to left.

Philadelphia scored a run in the bottom of the 17th before Bill Robinson lined into a double play against Alan Foster to end it. Boxscore

The Cardinals had played a 25-inning game against the Mets on Sept. 11-12 and a 3-hour game against the Mets on Sept. 12 before the 17-inning rain-interrupted marathon against the Phillies on Sept. 13. The Cardinals won all three.

“Anybody caught getting back to the hotel before 4:30 a.m. is fined $100,” Smith told The Sporting News. “We’re an after-hours club. If anybody gets us past the ninth or 10th innings, they’re in trouble.”

Said manager Red Schoendienst: “We haven’t been getting to bed very early, but we’re winning.”

_ May 22, 2011, Cardinals 9, Royals 8, at Kansas City: Rasmus walked five times against five different pitchers. His bases-loaded walk in the top of the 10th broke a 7-7 tie.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the five walks given to Rasmus were “a sign of respect. It’s also a sign of him maturing as a hitter _ to have a good strike zone and not chase.”

However, Rasmus said to the newspaper, “I wasn’t looking to take a pitch at all. I was going up there every at-bat looking to swing at the first pitch.” Boxscore

In the first at-bat by a Cardinals designated hitter in a regular-season game, Dmitri Young singled to center field in the second inning against the Brewers’ Ben McDonald on June 16, 1997, at Milwaukee. The Brewers then were an American League franchise.

That successful start set the tone for what has been a well-utilized position for the Cardinals.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cardinals designated hitters have a .321 batting average and 83 RBI in regular-season games played in American League ballparks since interleague play began in 1997. No other National League team’s designated hitters have produced more RBI and none have managed a cumulative batting average as high as .280. 

Among the best-producing DHs for the Cardinals are Albert Pujols (.360 in 12 starts), Scott Spiezio (.333 in 11 starts) and Chris Duncan (.333 in nine starts), Elias Sports Bureau reported.

Dmitri Young, a switch-hitting first baseman and outfielder, went 1-for-4 as the first Cardinals designated hitter in a regular-season game. It was his only appearance as a designated hitter that season. Boxscore

(In a 13-year big-league career with the Cardinals, Reds, Tigers and Nationals, Young went on to appear in 318 games as a designated hitter, hitting .285 with 53 home runs from that position).

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa used four players as designated hitters in the first year that National League teams were able to employ the position during the regular season at American League ballparks.

After trying Young in that first game, he played Ron Gant and Scott Livingstone at designated hitter in consecutive games at Milwaukee.

In a three-game series in August 1997 at Kansas City, La Russa exclusively used Willie McGee as designated hitter. McGee’s three-run triple in the eighth inning snapped a 6-6 tie and carried St. Louis to a 9-7 victory on Aug. 29. Boxscore

Here is how Cardinals regular-season designated hitters have fared each year:

_ 1997: .160 batting average (4-for-25), 0 home runs, 3 RBI.

_ 1998: .294 batting average (10-for-34), 0 home runs, 4 RBI.

_ 1999: .320 batting average (8-for-25), 0 home runs, 3 RBI.

_ 2000: .394 batting average (13-for-33), 3 home runs, 11 RBI.

_ 2001: .292 batting average (7-for-24), 0 home runs, 1 RBI.

_ 2002: .200 batting average (4-for-20), 1 home run, 4 RBI.

_ 2003: .424 batting average (14-for-33), 4 home runs, 10 RBI.

_ 2004: .154 batting average (4-for-26), 0 home runs, 3 RBI.

_ 2005: .429 batting average (12-for-28), 3 home runs, 10 RBI.

_ 2006: .342 batting average (13-for-38), 1 home run, 5 RBI.

_ 2007: .378 batting average (14-for-37), 2 home runs, 10 RBI.

_ 2008: .371 batting average (13-for-35), 2 home runs, 7 RBI.

_ 2009: .333 batting average (7-for-21), 2 home runs, 6 RBI.

_ 2010: .211 batting average (4-for-19), 0 home runs, 1 RBI.

_ 2011: .182 batting average (2-for-11), 1 home run, 3 RBI.

The first Cardinals designated hitter in a post-season game was Gene Tenace, who went 0-for-3, in Game 1 of the 1982 World Series. Boxscore Cardinals designated hitters batted .462 (12-for-26) in the seven-game series, playing an integral role in St. Louis winning the championship.

(Updated Dec. 2, 2024)

Stan Musial is the oldest player to hit three home runs in a major-league game.

Musial was 41 when he hit three home runs against the Mets on July 8, 1962, at the Polo Grounds in New York.

It capped a stretch of four home runs in four consecutive at-bats for Musial.

Power streak

On July 7, 1962, Musial snapped a 2-2 tie with a home run off former teammate Craig Anderson in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, lifting the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Mets. Boxscore

The next day, a Sunday afternoon, Musial hit home runs his first three times at-bat, giving him four in a row over two games (tying a major-league record) and helping the Cardinals to a 15-1 victory.

“Trouble with the Amazin’ Mets isn’t that they have old ballplayers; it’s that they don’t have any old ballplayers named Musial,” wrote Dick Young in the New York Daily News.

Musial hit a solo shot in the first inning and a two-run home run in the fourth, both off Jay Hook. The first home run against Hook came on a 2-and-0 changeup. “The ball probably would have been caught in St. Louis, but it found the range in the Polo Grounds, which has a fence only 257 feet from the plate at the foul line,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The second home run off Hook was hit into the upper deck on a 3-and-1 slider.

(In the book “Voices From Cooperstown,” Musial said to author Anthony J. Connor, “Because of the fast break, I found the slider much more difficult to pick up than the fastball, curve or changeup.”)

Musial led off the seventh with a home run against Willard Hunter on a 2-and-2 fastball, up and in. Musial “tomahawked that one viciously against the right field roof,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

In the book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said, “The pitch was too far inside. Hunter seemed surprised I didn’t take it, but I didn’t believe in letting an inside pitch get away at the Polo Grounds.”

It was the second time in his big-league career Musial slugged three home runs in a game, and he was especially thrilled that his wife Lil and daughter Janet were in attendance to witness the feat.

Trying for another

In the eighth, facing former teammate Bob Miller with a chance for a fifth consecutive home run and No. 4 in the game, Musial admitted, “I was going for the fence.”

With the count 2-and-0, Musial watched a fastball cross the plate for a strike. Miller’s next pitch was a curve and Musial took “a wild, off-balance swing” and missed, the Daily News reported. Miller came back with another curve in the dirt. Musial tried to check his swing but couldn’t and struck out, but the ball eluded catcher Chris Cannizzaro and Musial reached first base safely. He was removed for a pinch-runner and received a roaring ovation from the New York crowd. Boxscore

Signing for kids

After the game, Musial posed for photographers with family and friends on the field. “An 11-year-old freckled red-haired boy named Kevin Charkowicz was brought down to the field, where he presented the ball” Musial hit for his third home run of the game, the Post-Dispatch reported. (See his comment in the response section below.)

According to the Post-Dispatch, Musial “stayed on the field to sign for youngsters who clustered around him.”

Among the group of kids cheering for Musial and getting autographs from him were Little League players in gray uniforms, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat noted.

Musial headed into the all-star break with a .333 batting average, .403 on-base percentage and .523 slugging percentage. Not bad for 41 years old.

Other sluggers at 40

Besides Musial, three others who reached 40 years of age hit three home runs in a game. The most recent was Jason Giambi, 40, who hit three home runs for the Rockies on May 19, 2011.

Babe Ruth (in 1935 for the Braves) and Reggie Jackson (in 1986 for the Angels) also hit three home runs in a game at age 40.

Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees was 39 when he hit three home runs in a game vs. the Twins on July 25, 2015 _ two days before his 40th birthday.