May 2, 1954: The day Stan Musial hit five home runs

<p>In this bonus episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball, we bring you PlayBacks, an audio series that brings to life the archives of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p> <p>On May 2, 1954, baseball's "Perfect Knight" sent three baseballs over the wall at Busch Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader against the New York Giants. Stan Musial munched on a sandwich between games, washed it down with a glass of milk, then went out and hit two more in the nightcap.</p> <p>Never considered a prototypical slugger, Musial became the first player in major-league history to club five homers in a doubleheader. Modest to a fault, Musial said afteward: "I still can't believe it. You mean real sluggers like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ralph Kiner — men like them — never hit five homers in a doubleheader?" Nope.</p> <p>Eighteen years later, San Diego's Nate Colbert duplicated the feat with five homers in a twin bill in Atlanta on Aug. 1, 1972. Here's the rest of the story: Colbert, a St. Louis native and Sumner High graduate, was in the stands as an eight-year-old that day in 1954 when Musial hit his five at Busch.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>