After a homerless game on Saturday, he clouted another on Sunday. Story now has seven home runs in the first six games of the season, surpassing the record of six set by three serious sluggers: Mays in 1964; Mike Schmidt in 1976; and Larry Walker in 1997.

Story was pegged by few as a record-breaker. In 2,350 plate appearances at all levels of the minors he had hit 70 homers, which might project to 15 to 20 homers a season in the majors. He seemed to be a player with routine power at best.

He is also not an extraordinarily imposing physical specimen at 6 feet 1 inch and 180 pounds. “He uses his lower half well,” Colorado Manager Walt Weiss told The Associated Press. “That’s usually where it comes from. The guys that hit from the ground up tend to have more power, and that’s what he does very well.”

This year’s spring training seemed promising. Story hit a team-high six homers in 53 at-bats, helping him earn the opening day start. The Rockies had traded their longtime starting shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, to the Blue Jays last July, and the shortstop they acquired in the deal, Jose Reyes, has been on paid administrative leave, after accusations of domestic violence in Hawaii. Charges have been dropped in the case, but Reyes remains in baseball limbo for now.