Ivan Herrera notches historic Cardinals achievement

Yadier Molina played for the St. Louis Cardinals for 19 seasons and hit over .300 five times with 176 career home runs, and slugging backstop Ted Simmons hit a personal record of 26 home runs in 1979 en route to 172 bombs in his 11 seasons with the Cardinals, but even the greatest catchers in Cardinals history was never able to match Ivan Herrera's accomplishment on April 2, 2025.

Ivan Herrera was the first catcher in Cardinals history to hit three home runs in a game.

Herrera's first blast, which came off of left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi in the fourth inning, was a solo shot that nearly scraped the left field foul pole and tied the game at 1. His next bomb was a two-run homer in the sixth inning, again off of Kikuchi. It hit the french fries logo on the sign for Big Mac Land and put the Cardinals up 3-1. His final home run, off of Brock Burke, was the cherry on top, as he smashed it well into the seats of Big Mac Land for a three-run shot that put the Cardinals ahead 12-5.

After the game, Herrera mentioned in an interview how he grew up without money and how he idolized Molina, who was a major reason for Herrera's decision to put on the Cardinals uniform. He credited watching Molina's tireless preparation as the motivation for his work. Herrera acknowledged that his home country of Panama is not a baseball hotbed — only 81 players in major league history have hailed from the isthmus — but he is trying to be a role model for kids in Panama in the same way that he idolized Molina growing up.

Herrera's arm behind the plate has been a large sticking point, and despite a stint at Driveline in an attempt to improve his arm strength, he has still struggled to control the running game early in the season. However, he showed in 2024 that he possesses one of the most potent bats in the Cardinals lineup after hitting .301 on the season, and his dynamic hitting has clearly carried over into 2025. He may have even added more thump to his piece of lumber, as he hit only five home runs last season and has just reached more than half of that in one game.

Herrera may have grown up without a lot of money to his family's name, but as long as he keeps hitting the way he has, he should earn more than enough to put food on the table for the rest of his life.