League in 1949, he posted a record of 5–1 with a 3.42 earned run average (ERA) in 12 games, batting .455; the following year, with the Hamilton Cardinals of the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League (PONY League), he posted a record of 6–8 with a 4.39 ERA in 21 games while hitting .342. After seeing him hit so well, the Cardinals shifted him to third base, and he batted .306 for the Omaha Cardinals of the Western League in 1951. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953, he batted .319 with 21 home runs and 116 runs batted in (RBI) for the champion Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League in 1954. He joined the Cardinals after they traded Ray Jablonski following the 1954 season. Major leagues St. Louis Cardinals Boyer made his major league debut with the Cardinals on April 12, 1955, in a 14–4 road loss to the Chicago Cubs, hitting a two-run homer in the eighth inning off Paul Minner as his first hit, and batted .264 with 62 RBI his rookie season. In 1956, he received his first of seven NL All-Star selections and started at third base (first of five starts at third base) batting cleanup for the National League All-Star team; he finished the season with a .306 batting average, 26 home runs and 98 RBI, and led NL third basemen in assists (309) and double plays (37). He was shifted to center field in 1957 to allow rookie Eddie Kasko to break in at third, and led all NL outfielders in fielding percentage, but returned to third base in 1958, winning the first of four consecutive Gold Gloves and again collecting 90 RBI while batting .307 and scoring 100 runs for the first time. That year he also became the Cardinals' regular cleanup hitter, a role he would hold regularly for the remainder of his time with the club. His 41 double plays in 1958 equalled the second-highest total in NL history to that point, and fell just two short of Hank Thompson's 1950 league mark; he also led the league in putouts (156). He became the Cardinal team captain in 1959, and compiled a 29-game hitting streak from August 10 to September 12 of that year, during which he batted .350 with eight home runs and 23 RBI; it was the longest hitting streak in the major leagues since Musial's 30-game run