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
