Dark Bilious Vapors

I screwed up.

Yesterday, May 2, marked the 50th anniversary of a great baseball feat. In a doubleheader against the New York Giants on May 2, 1954 at Sportsman's Park (recently renamed "Busch Stadium" by relatively new Cardinals owner August A. "Gussie" Busch, Jr.) in St. Louis, Stanley Frank "Stan the Man" Musial became the first player in Major League history to hit a total of five home runs in a twin bill: three homers in the first game, and an additional two taters in the second. The fifth and last homer was, according to Musial, the best of the lot; it cleared the roof of the stadium in right center, and came off great knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, a pitcher who, Musial noted, he had never hit particularly well.

Musial's production for the day: 7 AB, 5 HR, 1 1B, 2 BB, and 21 total bases.

Incredible.

Source: The Baseball Hall of Fame's weekly "Inside Pitch" newsletter, which I just received today.

Len on 05.03.04 @ 09:26 AM CST