The St. Louis Cardinals are fresh off of a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. Masyn Winn was a star player who had a total of four hits in the two games as St. Louis won both tilts. However, everything pales in comparison to the momentous achievement of one of the greatest Cardinals in history on May 2, 1954.
Stan Musial set a record on this date by hitting five home runs in one day
Stan Musial, 33, had established himself as one of the game’s best players. In fact, a writer for the New York Post questioned Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky if Musial was the finest player in baseball before Game 1 of the doubleheader against the New York Giants at home. In response, Stanky said, “You have just answered your own question.” Musial was hitting at a terrific level when the Cardinals started their fifteenth game of the season. 346 and finished the season with three home homers.
Left-hander Johnny Antonelli took the hill for the Giants in the first game. After some early trouble that saw the Cardinals take a 2-0 lead, Antonelli was in the thick of things, having retired five consecutive batters. Musial walked up to the plate with one out in the third inning and went on to hit a pitch onto the roof of the right field pavilion for a solo home run.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, with Red Schoendienst on first base and Antonelli still on the mound, Musial clobbered another pitch out to right, giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead after the Giants rallied to take a 5-4 lead.
Musial, unfazed by the change, slashed one down the right field line that just cleared the fence, bringing home Schoendienst and Wally Moon, making it 9-6. The Cardinals would score one more run and earn the victory. The Giants were depending on former Cardinals right-hander Jim Hearn with the score tied at six in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Musial was informed by Cardinals veteran pitcher Al Brazle, who was given credit for the victory in Game 1, that if the slugger hit three more home runs, he would buy him a beer. The outfielder came really close.
Musial came around to score on a three-run double by Tom Alston, the first black player in Cardinals history, after walking in the first inning, much to the dismay of the home crowd. In the third, Musial launched a fly ball to deep center that a young Willie Mays caught on the warning track, just missing a home run.
The Giants took an 8-3 lead after flooding the scoreboard with eight runs in the top of the fourth inning. However, Musial refused to leave quietly. He closed the gap to three with another moonshot to right field off of future Hall of Fame knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm following a Schoendienst triple. Ray Jablonski, the next hitter, made it 8–6 with his own home run.
In the bottom of the eighth, Musial hit his last home run of the day. Musial hit a cab in the roadway beyond right field after Wilhelm threw a fluttering knuckler to the plate. To retrieve the ball, the motorist pulled over on the side of the road.
Musial was unable to hit a sixth home run. Musial led off the bottom of the ninth with the crowd cheering him on, but he was only able to pop out to the first baseman. The Cardinals lost 9–7 after the next two batters were retired. An interesting fact is that Nate Colbert, who would go on to smash five home runs in a doubleheader himself eighteen years later, was among the stadium’s patrons on that particular day.
Even though the Cardinals only split the doubleheader, it was nevertheless one of Musial’s best days as a player and a significant part of the team’s unrivaled history.
