Liberty Ball

If 1973 was a disappointing season for Mike Schmidt, 1974 was a break out season.  In the Phillies home opener, Schmidt homered and drove in two runs as the eighth hitter in the lineup.  While Schmidt would hit eighth for most of April, he finished the month hitting .300/.425/.467.  He had only three homers that month, but the Phillies recognized what they had on their hands and hit Schmidt either third, fourth or sixth the rest of the season.

And while Schmidt struggled in May, he had a fantastic June.  His best month of the year, Schmidt hit 10 homeruns and drove in 32 in 27 games.  He hit .394/.487/.777 that month and with 19 homeruns entering the All Star break, Schmidt got the nod to play in his first All Star game.  Schmidt’s numbers tapered off in the second half but he still led the league in homeruns (36) and slugging (.546) and he was second in OPS (.941), runs (108), and RBIs (116).  Schmidt played in all 162 games and all of this netted Mike Schmidt a sixth place finish in the National League MVP voting.

As Schmidt went, so went the Phillies.  With his breakout season, the Phillies finished in third place.  They fell just short of a .500 record (80-82) but that was the most wins a Phillies team had since 1967 when they won 82 games.  It also broke a seven season streak in which the Phillies finished in fifth place or worse.

So things were looking up.  The Phillies were still a couple of years away from putting together the teams best run in franchise history and they’d do a lot of it on Mike Schmidt’s back.

Here’s a look at Mike Schmidt’s numbers in 1974:

Games 162
AB 568
Runs 108
Hits 160
Doubles 28
Triples 7
Homeruns 36
RBIs 116
Walks 106
Strikeouts 138
Stolen Bases 23
Caught Stealing 12
BA .282
OBA .395
SLG% .546
OPS .941
RC 129
RCAA 55
RCAP 54
RC/G 8.06
ISO .264

 Mike Schmidt’s Hall of Fame career didn’t get off to a good start.  in fact in Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, James listed Mike Schmidt as having the worst rookie season of any player who’s in the Hall of Fame.  The only thing Schmidt seemed to do well was strikeout.  In only 367 at bats, Schmidt struck out 136 times and it would be the only season until 1988 where Schmidt had an OPS+ of less then 111. 

On June 27, 1973, Mike Schmidt had his first two homerun game.  He drove in five of the seven runs the Phillies scored in that game.  On August 10, 1973, Mike Schmidt had his only three hit game of the season and he also homered twice in that one.  Generally though, Schmidt wasn’t driving in runs unless he hit homeruns.  For most of the season he actually hovered right above the Mendoza line but after August 10, 1973, his batting average never got above .220.  He went 0 for 25 in the final seven games of the season and that dropped him below the .200 mark at seasons’ end.

Of course this would be the end of the bad for Mike Schmidt.  By 1974, he was already contending for the MVP and as Mike Schmidt went, the Phillies went and the team continually improved throughout the rest of the decade.

Here’s a look at Mike Schmidt’s numbers in 1973:

Games 132
AB 367
Runs 43
Hits 72
Doubles 11
Triples 0
Homeruns 18
RBIs 52
Walks 62
Strikeouts 136
Stolen Bases 8
Caught Stealing 2
BA .196
OBA .324
SLG% .373
OPS .697
RC 47
RCAA -9
RCAP -12
RC/G 4.09
ISO .177

Mike Schmidt made his major league debut on September 12, 1972.  It was just over a year ago that he was taken with the sixth overall pick in the 1971 amateur draft, in which he was passed up by the Kansas City Royals.  With the fifth pick, the Royals choose another eventual Hall of Fame third baseman, George Brett.

In that first game, Mike Schmidt didn’t get the start at third base.  Don Money made an error in the first inning that helped the Mets score two runs and in the second inning, Mike Schmidt replaced him.  He struck out in his first at bat but he got his first career hit, a single, in the fifth inning.  He struck out again in the seventh then he drew a walk in the ninth inning to load the bases and was replaced by pinch runner Larry Bowa.  The Phillies scored two of their three runs in that ninth inning but they came up short and lost to the Mets 4-3.

Three days later, in his third game, Mike Schmidt hit his first career homerun.  Playing against the Expos and down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Mike Schmidt hit a three run homer to win the game for the Phillies.  He scored his first career run and had his first career RBI in that game as well.

Mike Schmidt never really lit it up that September.  After that homerun, Schmidt was five for twenty four with one run and no RBIs.  He finished the season with 15 strikeouts in only 34 at bats and he hovered around the .200 batting mark for most of that last month.  Little did we know that the Phillies had a star in the making and that Phillies fans would have to sit through a horrible rookie year by Schmidt before he realized his potential.

Here’s a look at Mike Schmidt’s numbers in 1972:

Games 13
AB 34
Runs 2
Hits 7
Doubles 0
Triples 0
Homeruns 1
RBIs 3
Walks 5
Strikeouts 15
Stolen Bases 0
Caught Stealing 0
BA .206
OBA .325
SLG% .294
OPS .619
RC 4
RCAA 0
RCAP 0
RC/G 4.00
ISO .088

Over the next several months, I’m going to go back and take a look at the career of the greatest Philadelphia Phillie ever.  Mike Schmidt is arguably the best third baseman ever with George Brett being a close second. Schmidt was the MVP of the team that won the only World Series in the franchise’s history and he finished his career with more then 1,500 runs and RBIs and hit 548 career homeruns.  His eight homeruns titles are the second most of any player.  Only Babe Ruth had more.

And if you have any Mike Schmidt memories, be sure to leave a comment.  Schmidt also has an upcoming book that I’m sure I’ll check out.