Aug. 1, 1972, Was Nate’s Great Day : Padres’ Colbert Made History With Five Homers in Doubleheader

Two dates in baseball history will always be most important in Nate Colbert’s memory book.

On May 2, 1954, Colbert was an 8-year-old fan in the stands in St. Louis when Stan Musial set a major league record by hitting five home runs in a doubleheader.

Eighteen years later, on Aug. 1, 1972, Colbert duplicated Musial’s feat while playing first base for the Padres in Atlanta.

Since nobody else has done this, Musial and Colbert have a common bond that has made them good friends.

Colbert, 43, looked back on those two historic days recently before taking the field as first base coach of the Riverside Red Wave, the Padres’ farm club in the Class A California League. An ordained minister after graduating from St. Louis Baptist College (now Missouri Baptist), he also serves the Padres in the off-season as a speaker in the community relations department.

“I grew up in St. Louis,” Colbert said. “I lived close to old Busch Stadium, and I sat in the bleachers with a glove, trying to catch batting practice home runs.

“Stan was my idol after that day (the five home runs). Now when I see him, he says, ‘We’re the only ones to do it.’ When I was in high school, I helped out in the clubhouse, and sometimes they let me take batting practice. I hit the scoreboard once in a tryout camp.

“Before games, I would sit in Stan’s locker, and he was great to me. He was always so kind.”

The Cardinals were Colbert’s team, the only one he ever wanted to play with. The amateur draft was still a year away when he finished high school in 1964, so he was able to sign with the team of his choice. He says he turned down 16 major league bonus offers and 30 college scholarship offers to sign with the Cardinals.

But Colbert never got to put on a Cardinal uniform. The Houston Astros drafted him out of the St. Louis organization after the 1965 season, and the Padres picked him off the Houston roster in the expansion draft when they entered the National League in 1969.

“I hated to leave St. Louis,” he said. ‘It took me till my mid-20s not to root for the Cardinals. Whenever I saw their uniform, I wished I was in it.”

Despite his homesickness, Colbert quickly became a favorite in San Diego. He hit 24 home runs, then 38, 27 and 38 again in the first four of his six seasons. His total of 127 at that point was 17 more than Hank Aaron had at the same stage of his career.

“I thought I could hit 500 or more,” Colbert said. “I felt like 30 a year was a foregone conclusion.”

Unfortunately, a chronic back problem limited Colbert to 46 more homers, for a total of 173. After just nine major league seasons, he was forced to retire, at 31.

“I dropped my goal, so I thought maybe I’d hit 300,” Colbert said. “Then my back got worse and worse. It was deterioration of the vertebrae.”

But nothing that happened as he struggled through his later years could dim the luster of his record-breaking performance 17 years ago.

It was a twi-night doubleheader at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, sometimes known as the Launching Pad. And Colbert didn’t just tie Musial’s record of five home runs in a doubleheader; he set major league records of 13 runs batted in and 22 total bases. He had seven hits--the two others were singles--in nine at-bats.

Colbert went on tie the National League record of eight homers in a week before being stopped in Los Angeles.

“I had a chance to blow the record all out of proportion,” he said. “But the Dodgers kept pitching around me, and even their fans were booing. One night, I didn’t get an official at-bat, just walks.

“A lot of Dodger players came over and congratulated me. Don Sutton said, ‘You’re not going to hit one off me.’ I had hit seven (homers) off him in ‘70, but he was right that time.”

Here is how Colbert recalled his never-to-be-forgotten night in Atlanta:

“I hit two in the first game and three in the second, to all fields and off five different pitchers.

“The first one was a three-run homer off Ron Schueler. The second was a solo shot off a left-hander, Larry Jaster, and it went to straightaway center. I got all of it. I hit both on the first pitch.

“In the second game, I hit one with nobody on off Jim Hardin on the first pitch, then I hit a grand slam off Pat Jarvis on a 1-0 pitch. I did look at a pitch that time. Finally, I hit a two-run shot off Cecil Upshaw--on the first pitch again.”

Note that Colbert hit his five home runs on just six pitches. Even for a confirmed first-ball hitter, this was incredible.

“The crazy thing about my fifth home run was that Upshaw threw me an overhand fastball,” Colbert said. “He was a submarine pitcher, and I don’t know what he was thinking going overhand against a right-handed hitter.”

The kicker to the amazing story is that Colbert came within inches of hitting two more home runs that night. Both of his singles came after fly balls that barely went foul before landing in the stands.

“My first time up, I hit one off Tom Kelley that went into the top deck,” Colbert said. “I stood there and watched it, and it looked fair, but the weather was kind of hazy, and I couldn’t tell for sure.

“I just hit everything they threw me. Once I tried to get out of the way of a pitch and hit a line drive up the middle for a single.”

Adding to the thrill of the occasion for Colbert was praise from Aaron. The home run king was playing left for the Braves, and he congratulated Colbert after the fifth homer.

“He (Aaron) stopped me as I went out to first base,” Colbert said. “He said, ‘That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.’ Coming from him, the greatest player I’ve ever seen, that really meant a lot.

“Rico Carty talked to me, too. He said, ‘Big boy, I’ve never seen that before.’ It took a while for me to come down to earth after a night like that.”

Colbert didn’t hit for high averages--his best was .270 in 1973--but he was one of the most feared hitters in baseball. In the year of his five-home-run night, he drove in 111 runs. He played in the All-Star Games of 1971, 1972 and 1973, appearing as a pinch hitter each time.

But Colbert’s back ailment kept getting worse. After he had hit .207 with just 14 home runs in 1974, the Padres sent him to the Detroit Tigers in a deal that also involved the Cardinals. The Padres got pitcher Bob Strampe, who didn’t make the club, and outfielder Dick Sharon, who hit .194 in 1975 and was heard from no more.

The Tigers used Colbert only sparingly before selling him in June 1975 to the Montreal Expos, who used him even less before releasing him in June 1976. The Oakland A’s signed him to a Tucson contract and brought him up in September, but he appeared in only two games and became a free agent.

After that, Colbert had one more chance. The Toronto Blue Jays invited him to camp in 1977. When his back didn’t come around, he retired.

“Those last years were real tough,” he said. “I had been around baseball long enough to know that once you’re traded, you’re always going to be traded. I was supposed to help those clubs as a power hitter, but I’d sit around, and it just wasn’t there anymore.

“I did have some moments in Montreal. I hit two game-winning home runs and two that tied games. But the pitchers knew I was a first-pitch hitter, so they changed speeds a lot on me. When they threw straight changes in fastball situations, they hurt me big-time.”

The subject turned to the original major league Padres, who lost 110 games, and to some of the players who helped Colbert to get the franchise off the ground.

“We didn’t have that many people at the ballpark, but we had a good bunch of guys, and we had fun,” Colbert said. “Some of the real characters were Al McBean, Bobby Pena and Jack Baldschun. And Dick Selma. He was crazy, but what a great arm he had.

“I thought Ollie Brown was our best player, but after he left, he never played regularly. It was probably because he came from an expansion team.”

Colbert’s best friend on that team was Cito Gaston, who recently became manager of the Blue Jays.

“Cito and I were roommates for six years,” Colbert said. “We used to talk about what we’d do after we quit playing, and neither one of us wanted to be a coach or a manager. But I’m real happy for Cito now. I know he’ll do a great job.”

Now that his old buddy has joined the thin ranks of black managers, Colbert was asked if he wanted to do likewise.

“No, not me,” Colbert said. “The job I’d like in baseball is in the upper echelon. I’d like to be a general manager or a farm director or a vice president of baseball operations.

“I was a player-manager in Mexico in ’82. It was a great experience, a lot of fun, but I don’t need that kind of stress. Having to worry about everyday slumps and injuries and family problems, that’s not for me. Everybody has goals, but I’ve never wanted to manage.”

Like so many athletes, Colbert did not find retirement easy.

“The first year (1977) was very tough,” he said. “About 3 o’clock every day, I’d get so antsy that my wife would say to me, ‘Get a basketball and go play.’ I was unbearable.

“But after taking that first year off, I got back into baseball with the Padre organization. I was a roving hitting instructor, worked in the front office and came back to the field in ’87 as a coach with Wichita (the Padres’ double-A farm). After two years there, I wanted to be closer to home, so I switched to Riverside. I enjoy it a lot.”

Colbert hasn’t given up active sports totally. He sponsors and plays for a slow-pitch softball team, and still hits the long ball.

“One time in ‘84, I hit six straight home runs in a doubleheader in Yuma,” he said.

Colbert and his wife, Kasey, who also is an ordained minister, have nine children and eight grandchildren. They have an outreach ministry and also some real estate investments.

“Considering my medical history, I probably shouldn’t even have played major league baseball,” he said. “I’m not satisfied with my numbers, but I look at my career as a gift of God. I feel very fortunate.”

COLBERT’S BIG NIGHT First Game Padres 9, Atlanta 0

SAN DIEGO ATLANTA ab r h bi ab r h bi DThomas ss 5 0 1 0 Baker cf 4 0 0 0 Roberts 3b 2 2 0 0 Stone p 0 0 0 0 Stahl lf 2 2 1 0 Garr lf 3 0 1 0 Morales lf 2 0 0 0 OsBrown lf 1 0 1 0 Colbert 1b 5 3 4 5 HAaron 1b 2 0 0 0 Gaston rf 4 2 2 2 Casanova c 2 0 0 0 EHnandz rf 1 0 0 0 EWilliams c 3 0 2 0 Jestadt 2b 4 0 0 0 Lum rf 3 0 0 0 Jeter cf 4 0 1 1 Evans 3b 4 0 0 0 Goodard c 3 0 0 0 Millan 2b 4 0 1 0 Kirby p 4 0 0 0 MPerez ss 2 0 1 0 Blanks ss 2 0 1 0 Schueler p 0 0 0 0 McQueen p 2 0 0 0 SJackson cf 1 0 0 0

San Diego 304 000 200--9 Atlanta 000 000 000--0

E--Kirby. DP--San Diego 1. LOB--San Diego 6, Atlanta 8. 2B--E. Williams, M. Perez, Gaston, Blanks. HR--Colbert 2 (27), Gaston (5).

IP H R ER BB SO San Diego Kirby W 8-11 9 7 0 0 2 7 Atlanta Schueler L 4-5 2 3 6 6 4 1 McQueen 5 6 3 3 2 4 Stone 2 0 0 0 0 1

WP--McQueen 2. T--2:32. Second Game Padres 11, Atlanta 7

SAN DIEGO ATLANTA ab r h bi ab r h bi DThomas ss 4 1 0 0 Baker cf 4 0 2 2 Roberts 3b 5 1 2 1 Garr lf 4 0 1 1 Stahl lf 3 4 2 0 HAaron 1b 5 0 1 0 Colbert 1b 4 4 3 8 EWilliams c 3 0 0 0 Gaston rf 5 0 1 1 Casanova c 2 0 0 0 Blefary c 3 0 1 0 Lum rf 4 2 3 0 Jeter cf 4 0 0 0 Evans 3b 4 2 2 2 FStanley 2b 4 0 0 0 Millan 2b 2 0 0 0 Acosta p 2 1 0 0 Blanks 2b 2 1 1 0 Corkins p 1 0 0 0 MPerez ss 3 1 2 1 Schaeffer p 0 0 0 0 TKelley p 0 0 0 0 Severinsn p 0 0 0 0 Jarvis p 1 0 0 0 SJackson ph 1 0 1 0 JHardin p 0 0 0 0 OsBrown ph 1 1 1 0 Hoerner p 0 0 0 0 Garrido ph 1 0 0 0 Upshaw p 0 0 0 0

San Diego 250 000 202--11 Atlanta 000 100 420--7

E--T.Kelley, M. Perez, Garr. DP--San Diego 3, Atlanta 1. LOB--San Diego 3, Atlanta 8. 2B--Blefary, Evans, Lum 2. HR--Colbert 3 (30), Evans (15). SF--Farr.

IP H R ER BB SO San Diego Acosta W 3-5 6 9 5 5 2 3 Corkins 1 2/3 3 2 2 2 1 Schaeffer 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 Severinsen 1 2 0 0 0 0 Atlanta T.Kelley L 5-7 1 1/3 1 4 3 5 1 Jarvis 3 2/3 4 3 3 1 3 J.Hardin 2 2 2 2 0 1 Hoerner 1 0 0 0 0 1 Upshaw 1 2 2 2 0 0

WP--Acosta, Corkins. Balk--Acosta. T--2:52.