On Friday night, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus collected four hits at age 22, 312 days. That was not close to the record as it tied him with Joe Cunningham (1954) as the 15th youngest Cardinal since 1954 to do so.
Curt Flood holds the record for youngest in at least the last 55 years at age 20, 156 days, set in 1958.
| 1 | 20.156 | Curt Flood | 6/23/1958 | STL @PIT |
| 2 | 21.037 | Luis Melendez | 9/17/1970 | STL @CHC |
| 3 | 21.076 | Ken Reitz | 1972-09-08(1) | STL @NYM |
| 4 | 21.130 | Garry Templeton | 8/1/1977 | STL @ATL |
| 5 | 21.178 | Garry Templeton | 9/18/1977 | STL PHI |
| 6 | 21.205 | Curt Flood | 8/11/1959 | STL SFG |
| 7 | 21.220 | Lindy McDaniel | 1957-07-21(2) | STL @PIT |
| 8 | 22.003 | Ken Reitz | 6/27/1973 | STL @PIT |
| 9 | 22.005 | Ted Simmons | 8/14/1971 | STL @PIT |
| 10 | 22.026 | Ted Simmons | 9/4/1971 | STL CHC |
| 11 | 22.126 | Garry Templeton | 7/28/1978 | STL @SDP |
| 12 | 22.154 | Garry Templeton | 8/25/1978 | STL @ATL |
| 13 | 22.231 | Albert Pujols | 9/4/2002 | STL CIN |
| 14 | 22.307 | Ken Reitz | 4/27/1974 | STL CIN |
| 15 | 22.312 | Colby Rasmus | 6/19/2009 | STL @KCR |
| 15 | 22.312 | Joe Cunningham | 1954-07-05(1) | STL MLN |
| 17 | 22.316 | Yadier Molina | 5/25/2005 | STL PIT |
| 18 | 22.337 | Julio Gotay | 5/12/1962 | STL LAD |
| 19 | 22.347 | David Bell | 8/27/1995 | STL @COL |
| 20 | 22.351 | Joe Cunningham | 8/13/1954 | STL @CIN |
As always, thanks to Tom Orf for the data pull.
Luis Melendez?
Also, the presenceof Lindy McDaniel as the only pitcher on the list is fascinating!
Agree on the oddity with Lindy. He was a career .148 batter over 21 seasons. At age 21 in 1957, he had a career-best .257 average (19 for 74), including the four hits noted above. He went 37-for-304 (..122) over the other 20 seasons of his career.