May 6, 1959: 399 Home Runs For The Man

     On May 6, 1959, Stan Musial hit the 399th home run of his career to spark an eighth inning rally that led the Cardinals to an 8-7 win over the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Cardinals came into the inning down 6-4 before Stan launched his solo shot that chased Philadelphia's starter Ray Semproch to the showers. The wheels fell off the Philadelphia bus from there, as Semproch's replacement, Jack Meyer loaded the bases before Joe Cunningham came up with a two-run pinch hit double that put the Birds on top 7-6. The Birds put one more on the board two batters later, which would prove crucial, as the Phillies plated a run with a Gene Freese sac fly off of Jim Brosnan in the ninth. Brosnan had pitched a scoreless eighth, then allowed a leadoff triple in the ninth, which led to Freese's opportunity. Brosnan allowed another hit before putting the Phillies to bed.

     Before the big inning the two clubs had been in a seesaw battle. With Stan's 399th long ball included, five flew over the wall that day. The Phillies right fielder Wally Post parked one in the seats in the fourth, his teammate Granny Hamner matched the feat in the fifth, then Ken Boyer hit a two run blast for the Cards in the sixth before Post hit his second of the day in the seventh. It was the fifth home run of the day that grabbed the headlines though, as the great Stan Musial was now just one big fly away from another milestone in his illustrious career. That big fly came the next day. Read about number 400 here: http://www.onthisdayincardinalnation.com/2014/05/may-7-1959-400-homers-for-stan-man.html

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI195905060.shtml