Having an unusual batting stance,Schmidt turned his back somewhat toward the pitcher and rocked his rear end back and forth while waiting for a pitch. By standing far back in the batter's box,he made it almost impossible to jam him by pitching inside. Schmidt was one of the best athletes of his era;teammate Pete Rose once said,"To have his body,I'd trade him mine and my wife's,and I'd throw in some cash."[3]
Early life
Schmidt's parents are Joseph Jack Schmidt (1926–2011) and Lois Jane Philipps (1926–2019). They managed the Philipps Aquatic Club founded by Lois's great-grandfather Charles A. Philipps. Schmidt was a lifeguard at the club.[4]
On June 11,1971,Schmidt was signed by Phillies scoutTony Lucadello,who had followed him since he played Little League Baseball.[7] Six days later,Schmidt made his professional debut in an exhibition game between the Phillies and their Double-A affiliate the Reading Phillies in Reading,Pennsylvania. Schmidt played the whole game at shortstop for the big-league Phillies,hitting a game-winning home run against his future Reading teammates.[8] Schmidt stayed in Reading,spending the rest of the 1971 season at the Double-A level. In 1972,he was promoted to the Triple-AEugene Emeralds of the Pacific Coast League. Along with shortstop and third base,Schmidt also played second base during his time in the minor leagues.[citation needed]
Major Leagues
1972–1979
Schmidt spent two seasons in the Phillies' farm system,where he batted .263 with 34 home runs and 122 runs batted in. After playing most of the 1972 season for Triple-A Eugene,he was called up to the Phillies in September and made his major league debut against the New York Mets on September 12.[9] Four days later,in Philadelphia on September 16,Schmidt ended Montreal ExpospitcherBalor Moore's streak of 25 scoreless innings pitched with his first career home run.[10]
Following the 1972 season,the Phillies dealt third baseman Don Money to the Milwaukee Brewers to open a spot for Schmidt in their infield. While he batted only .196 with 136 strikeouts during his first full season in 1973,Schmidt demonstrated his power potential by hitting 18 home runs.[citation needed]
Schmidt had a breakout season in 1974,increasing his batting average to .282 and receiving the first of his twelve All-Star nods.[11] On June 10,in the Astrodome in Houston,Texas,Schmidt hit a ball off Houston Astros' pitcher Claude Osteen that looked like a sure home run. The ball hit a public address speaker suspended 117 feet above and 329 feet away from home plate,falling into center field. By the ground rules,it remained in play and Schmidt was held to just a single,with the runners on first and second each advancing just one base. It is believed that had the ball not hit the speaker,it would have traveled beyond 500 feet.[12] For the season,Schmidt finished sixth in National LeagueMost Valuable Player balloting as he batted .282 with 116 RBIs and a league-leading 36 home runs to help the Phillies avoid a last-place finish in the National League East for the first time since 1970. His 404 assists in 1974 remains a record for third basemen.[citation needed]
Schmidt's batting average hovered below .200 through May 1975. Solid months of July and August saw his average rise to .249 by the end of the season as he led the league in home runs for the second year in a row,with 38. Schmidt started the 1976 season by hitting 12 home runs in Philadelphia's first 15 games,including four in one game on April 17,[13] becoming the 10th player in major league history to accomplish that feat. For the season,Schmidt drove in 107 runs,led the league in home runs for the third year in a row (38),and won his first of ten Gold Gloves to lead the Phillies to their first division crown since division play started in 1969.
In 1977,Schmidt signed a contract with the Phillies that paid him $561,500 per year (equivalent to $2,823,226in 2023),making him the highest-paid player in baseball history to that point and the first to surpass $500,000 annually.[14]
The Phillies captured the NL East crown three years in a row;however,they were swept by Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" in 1976,and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. On December 5,1978,the Phillies signed Pete Rose as a free agent,temporarily making Rose the highest-paid athlete in team sports with a four-year,$3.2-million contract. With Rose on board,the Phillies were early favorites to repeat as division winners in 1979.[citation needed] Instead,the Phillies finished the season at 84–78,and in fourth place in NL East. For his part,Schmidt broke the club record for home runs in a season with 45,eclipsing Chuck Klein's 43 homers in 1929.
1980–1986
On October 3,1980,the Phillies went into Montreal tied with the Expos for first place in the NL East. With a sacrifice fly in the first,and a solo home run in the sixth,Schmidt led the Phillies to a 2–1 victory to capture first place.[15] A day later,Schmidt hit his 48th home run of the season in the 11th inning to give the Phillies the 6–4 extra innings victory over the Expos,and clinch the division.[16] His 48 home runs broke his own team record,and led the National League by a margin of 13 over his nearest competitor. Coupled with a league-leading 121 RBIs,his home runs made Schmidt a unanimous choice for the National League's Most Valuable Player Award.[citation needed]
Schmidt's best season may have been the strike-shortened 1981 season. His 31 home runs were seven more than anyone else in the league. He also led the NL in runs scored,RBIs,total bases and walks,and set personal highs in batting average,on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He won his second consecutive MVP award,this time with 96% of the vote.
The Phillies led the NL East by 3.5 games when the 1981 Major League Baseball strike hit. As a result,the Phillies were named NL East champions for the first half of the season;however,they lost to the second-half champion Montreal Expos in the 1981 National League Division Series.
In 1983,in celebration of the team's 100th anniversary,Schmidt was voted by fans the greatest player in the history of the franchise. That year,he led the league in home runs for the sixth time in his career to lead the Phillies back to the postseason. Schmidt led his team with a .467 batting average and scored five runs as they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1983 National League Championship Series. It was,however,a much different story against the Baltimore Orioles in the 1983 World Series. The Phillies were held to a .195 team batting average;Schmidt went just 1-for-20 with a single.
Following the 1983 season,Schmidt was awarded the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award. That off-season,Pete Rose left the Phillies as a free agent and signed with the Montreal Expos. With a hole at first base,the Phillies played Tim Corcoran and Len Matuszek in a platoon system during the 1984 season. Neither player provided the offensive spark Rose did,and so a change was in order. Early in the 1985 season,Schmidt agreed to move to first base (starting from late May) through the end of the season with Rick Schu assuming third base duties. The Phillies finished with a record below .500 for the first time since 1974.
In 1986,the Phillies moved outfielderVon Hayes to first base and shifted Schmidt back to third base. He responded by winning his third MVP award,a record for third basemen,[18] with a league-leading 37 home runs and 119 RBIs. As of 2024,Schmidt is the most recent player to have led his league in RBIs four times.
Injuries to Schmidt's rotator cuff caused him to miss the last month and a half of the 1988 season. He returned healthy for the 1989 season. However,after a poor start,Schmidt suddenly chose to announce his retirement in San Diego,on May 29. Although he typically demonstrated little emotion on the field (and was known as "Captain Cool" by many in Philadelphia sports circles),Schmidt surprised many with an emotional,and occasionally tearful,retirement speech. He said in his retirement press conference,''Some 18 years ago,I left Dayton,Ohio,with two very bad knees and a dream of becoming a major-league baseball player;I thank God this dream came true."[20] His last game was May 28,1989,against the San Francisco Giants.[21]
Despite his own perceived subpar start and subsequent retirement on May 29,fans once again voted Schmidt to be the starting third baseman for the NL All-Star team. He decided not to play,but he did participate in the game's opening ceremony in uniform.[22]
Over his career,Schmidt set a vast array of hitting and fielding records. In addition to his MVP Awards,Schmidt won ten Gold Gloves,led the league in home runs eight times,in RBIs four times,OPS five times,and walks four times. He was named to 12 All-Star teams. He is the Phillies' all-time leader in games played,at-bats,plate appearances,runs scored,home runs,RBI,walks,strikeouts,total bases,runs created,sacrifice flies,outs,Adj. Batting Runs,Adj. Batting Wins,Extra Base Hits,Times On Base,and Power-Speed number. Schmidt's 548 home runs are the most ever hit by a player who spent his entire career with just one team.
Schmidt is one of only three players (along with Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr.) to win 10 Gold Gloves and hit at least 500 home runs,and is the only infielder ever to do so.
Schmidt opted,at first,to pursue a more private lifestyle after his career,rather than to become a manager or coach. He has written a number of articles on baseball for CBS and regularly participates in charity golf tournaments.
The Sporting News named Schmidt "The Player of the Decade" of the 1980s in their January 29,1990,issue.
His uniform number 20 was retired by the Phillies before a game at Veterans Stadium on May 26,1990. That same season,Mike was inducted as a member of the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame (he had previously been inducted as the third baseman for the Phillies' Centennial Team in 1983).
In 1991,he and Nolan Ryan were inducted into the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum's Hall of Excellence (established in 1988),thereby becoming only the second and third MLB players inducted into the Hall.
In 1995 (on his first ballot),Schmidt was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with what was at the time the fourth highest voting percentage ever,96.52%.[23]
Schmidt returned to his alma mater,Ohio University,in October 2014 for the retirement of his number 10 by the Ohio University Baseball Team,which he led to the College World Series in 1970.
On July 14,2015,Schmidt was named one of the Phillies "Franchise Four" as voted by the fans,along with Steve Carlton,Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts.
Schmidt has publicly expressed his thoughts on various baseball controversies. He has been a vocal advocate for the reinstatement of Pete Rose to baseball. In July 2005,he appeared on Bob Costas's HBO show Costas Now to discuss steroids,and said,"Let me go out on a limb and say that if I had played during that era I would have taken steroids... We all have these things we deal with in life,and I'm surely not going to sit here and say to you guys,'I wouldn't have done that.'" In his 2006 book,Clearing the Bases:Juiced Players,Monster Salaries,Sham Records,and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball,he somewhat recanted that statement,saying that he understood the desire to get a competitive advantage even though he could not condone breaking the rules to do so.
Coaching
Starting in 2002,Schmidt works with the Phillies as a hitting coach during each Spring training. In October 2003,Schmidt was named the manager of the Phillies' Single AFlorida State League affiliate,the Clearwater Threshers. He managed them for just the 2004 season,then resigned. In 2009,he served as third-base coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
Philanthropy
In 2001,Schmidt began sponsoring an annual fishing tournament known as the Mike Schmidt Winner's Circle Invitational at Old Bahama Bay in West End,Grand Bahama Island. The first event raised $27,000,and has since raised over $1.5 million for cystic fibrosis.[26]
NBC used Schmidt as a guest analyst (Marv Albert served as the pregame host) for Game 1 of the 1989 NLCS. Schmidt subsequently,did on-field reporting throughout the series. Schmidt also provided periodic commentary (albeit,taped prior to the playoffs) for ABC during the 1988 NLCS.
Schmidt spent the 1990 season as a color analyst with the Phillies broadcast team on the now-defunct PRISM network,where he was partnered with play-by-play announcer Jim Barniak,and was known to be very candid and honest with his commentary. From 2014 to 2019,he served as a color analyst for the Phillies.[28] Starting in 2014,he provided commentary during Sunday home games on NBC Sports Philadelphia. In 2015,Schmidt also provided commentary during Saturday home games,creating a "Weekends with Schmidt" format. He returned to NBC Sports Philadelphia as a color commentator during Phillies games in 2022.
Illness
On March 16,2014,Schmidt disclosed that he had battled stage-3 melanoma cancer[29] during the summer of 2013,but that he was now cancer-free.[30]
Kashatus, William C. (2000). Mike Schmidt: Philadelphia's Hall of Fame third baseman. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p.94. ISBN0-7864-0713-1.
Kashatus, William C. (2008) Almost A Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the 1980 Phillies Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN9-780812240368
Related Research Articles
Ryne Dee Sandberg, nicknamed "Ryno", is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies (1981) and the Chicago Cubs.
Harold Joseph "Pie" Traynor was an American third baseman, manager, scout and radio broadcaster in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career between 1920 and 1937 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Traynor batted over .300 ten times, posting a career average of .320, and had seven seasons with over 100 runs batted in (RBI). With home runs limited by playing in Forbes Field, the most difficult park for power hitting in the National League (NL), he compensated by reaching double digits in triples eleven times, leading the league in 1923. He batted .346 in the 1925 World Series to help the Pirates take their first championship in 16 years.
Patrick Brian Burrell, nicknamed "Pat the Bat", is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, and San Francisco Giants. Burrell won two World Series championships. During his playing days, he stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall, weighing 235 pounds (107 kg). He batted and threw right-handed.
Andrés José Padovani Galarraga is a Venezuelan former professional baseball first baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals (1992), Colorado Rockies (1993–1997), Atlanta Braves (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2001), San Francisco Giants and Anaheim Angels (2004). He batted and threw right-handed. During his playing days, Galarraga stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall, weighing 235 pounds (107 kg).
Scott Bruce Rolen is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, and Cincinnati Reds from 1996 to 2012.
John Wesley Callison was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons and is best known for the 10 years he spent with the Philadelphia Phillies as a right fielder, from 1960 through 1969. He was an All-Star for three seasons and four All-Star games. He led the National League (NL) in triples twice and doubles once, and gained his greatest prominence in the 1964 season in which he was named the MVP of the All-Star Game and he was the runner-up for the NL Most Valuable Player Award. He also led the NL in outfield assists four consecutive times and in double plays once, and ended his career among the top five Phillies in home runs (185) and triples (84).
Albert Oliver Jr. is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and first baseman from 1968 through 1985, most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won five National League Eastern Division titles in six years between 1970 and 1975 and, won the World Series in 1971. A seven-time All-Star, Oliver was the 1982 National League batting champion and RBI champion as a member of the Montreal Expos. He was also a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner.
Willie Edward Jones, nicknamed "Puddin' Head", was an American professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (1947–1959), Cleveland Indians (1959), and Cincinnati Reds (1959–1961). He batted and threw right-handed.
Michael Robert "Mickey" Morandini, is an American former professional baseball second baseman and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays. His career highlights include selection as a 1995 National League (NL) All-Star, playing for the Phillies in the 1993 NL Championship Series and World Series, and appearing for the Cubs in the 1998 NL Division Series.
Ryan James Howard, nicknamed "the Big Piece", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Howard spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, from 2004 to 2016. He is known for being the fastest player in baseball history to reach 100 home runs and 200 home runs. Howard holds numerous Phillies franchise records.
Lafayette Napoleon Cross was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1887 to 1907. Cross played most of his 21-year career with Philadelphia-based teams in four different leagues. One of the sport's top all-around players in the years surrounding the turn of the 20th century, when he retired he ranked fifth in major league history in hits (2,644) and runs batted in (1,371), ninth in doubles (411) and total bases (3,466), and third in games played (2,275) and at bats (9,064).
Deron Roger Johnson was an American professional baseball infielder, outfielder, designated hitter, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox, over the course of his 16-year big league playing career. While an active player, Johnson stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall, weighing 200 pounds (91 kg). He batted and threw right-handed.
Richard Joseph Hebner is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1968 through 1985, most prominently as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won five National League Eastern Division titles in six years between 1970 and 1975 and won the World Series in 1971. After his playing career, Hebner spent several years as a hitting coach at the major league and minor league levels. He also managed minor league teams in the Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles organizations.
Sidney Eugene Bream is an American former professional baseball first baseman. From 1983 through 1994, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1983–85), Pittsburgh Pirates (1985–90), Atlanta Braves (1991–93), and Houston Astros (1994). He is best remembered for his game-winning run scored in the 1992 National League Championship Series (NLCS) that sent the Braves to the World Series.
Michael Eugene Fontenot Jr. is an American former professional baseball infielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Fontenot was commonly used at second base, shortstop, or third base during his career. He won a World Series with the Giants in 2010.
The 1997 Major League Baseball season was the inaugural season for Interleague play, as well as the final season in the American League for the Milwaukee Brewers before moving to the NL the following season. The California Angels changed their name to the Anaheim Angels. The Florida Marlins ended the season as the World Champions defeating the Cleveland Indians in a seven-game World Series, four games to three.
Billy Cordell Grabarkewitz is an American former professional baseball infielder, who played seven years in Major League Baseball (MLB).
The 1986 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 104th season for the Phillies. Under second-year manager John Felske, the Phillies stayed just below the .500 mark for roughly two-thirds of the season, until a charge after the All-Star break pushed the club past the St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos into second place in the National League East.
The 1987 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 105th season for the Phillies. It was the third and final season with John Felske as manager, as he was fired on June 18 when the team won just 29 of their first 61 games. With Lee Elia at the helm, the team maneuvered itself to 51 wins in the next 101 games to finish fourth in the National League East.
The 1980 Major League Baseball season concluded with the Philadelphia Phillies winning their first World Series championship.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
