Ed Spiezio mashed 15 homers in his first year in the St. Louis Cardinals’ system in the early ‘60s and hit as many as 18 as a 24-year-year-old in Triple-A in 1966. He hadn’t managed very many in the majors, but a familiar feeling, nonetheless, overcame the Padres’ third baseman as he waited in the on-deck circle for his fifth-inning at-bat at San Diego Stadium on this date — April 8 — in 1969.
“There were a few times in college,” a 78-year-old Spiezio recalled by phone from his home in Morris, Ill., “ where I’d go up to the scorekeeper and tell him to mark me down for another home run and then I’d go and hit one.