Philography: Mike Schmidt

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Michael Jack Schmidt, the greatest player in Phillies history

This Philography series has now weaved its way through 20 individuals who have played a big part in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise. So it is perhaps fitting that we now take a look back at the career of #20 himself, the greatest player in franchise history, Mike Schmidt.

Philography began with 18 pieces that I wrote during each off-season between 2014-17. Over the last few months I re-introduced the series here at Phillies Nation with two of the players whose actual uniform numbers the Phillies have retired: Richie Ashburn and Jim Bunning.

Entire books can be written – have been written – in order to fully tell the story of one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball. I’m not going to try to do that here. If you are interested in getting in deeper, check out a fine biography at this link written back in 2010 by Rob Maaddi titled Mike Schmidt: The Phillies’ Legendary Slugger.

In order to keep this to a reasonable article-length piece, I will simply rehash the early playing career, and then key on the 1980 highlights of the greatest third baseman in the history of the game, with a little background tossed in here and there. It should make for a great introduction for younger fans, and a fun bit of nostalgia for those who, like me, actually got to see him play.

BEGINNINGS

Schmidt was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio and stayed home to play college baseball at Ohio University. He was a shortstop in those days and was selected at that position to the 1970 College Baseball All-America Team after leading the Bobcats to the College World Series.

With the sixth pick in the second round of the 1971 MLB Amateur Draft, the Phillies selected Schmidt at 30th overall. That was just one pick after the Kansas City Royals had chosen a California shortstop by the name of George Brett.

Schmidt described his contract signing process in a 2015 piece by Matt Monagan for MLB.com’s Cut 4:

“The next day, Mr. Lucadello (Phillies scout Tony Lucadello) came to the house, pulled in the driveway, opened his trunk and he pulled out a typewriter. He pulled a typewriter out, walked in the house, set the typewriter down, had a piece of paper and said, “We’re prepared to offer Mike $25,000 if he’ll sign with the Phillies right now.” And my father said, “No way. Come back when you can give us $40,000.” We ended up settling on $37,500 and I went out and bought a Corvette for $7,000.”

As an advanced college prospect, Schmidt went straight to Double-A Reading that same summer. He appeared in his first 74 professional games there, hitting .211 with eight homers and 31 RBI over 268 plate appearances.

With a full off-season of rest, Schmidt moved up to Triple-A Eugene for the 1972 season and really showed his ability. He slashed .291/.409/.550 while slamming 26 home runs and driving in 91 runs over 131 games.

Philography: Jim Bunning

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The late Jim Bunning at the 2014 Phillies Wall of Fame ceremony

Earlier this off-season my “Philography” series highlighting the playing career of various important figures in Philadelphia Phillies history came here to Phillies Nation.

The series began a few years back and has now grown to 19 individuals for whom I have presented a mini-biography. This year I’ve chosen to go right to the cream of the crop, the five individuals for whom the Phillies organization has actually retired an official uniform number.

Back in late November it was Richie Ashburn, whose uniform #1 was retired by the Phillies when he became the second man honored with a spot on the franchise Wall of Fame in summer 1979.

Now the series resumes with the sixth person honored with a spot on that Wall of Fame in 1984, pitcher Jim Bunning. The right-hander who pitched with the Phillies from 1964-67 and again to close out his big-league career in 1970-71 had his uniform #14 retired on April 6, 2001.

Bunning actually played more seasons with the Detroit Tigers of the American League (9) than his half-dozen years in Philadelphia. And his second career as a politician in which he became a state senator, then a U.S. Congressman, and finally a United States Senator from his home state of Kentucky was perhaps even more notable than his baseball accomplishments.

But those baseball accomplishments were certainly more than just notable. They were strong enough that Bunning was elected for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame by the veteran’s committee in 1996.

Per a tremendous piece by Ralph Berger for SABR, which I urge you to read at that link, Bunning was born into a tightly-knit middle-class Catholic family who lived on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, just across from Cincinnati.

Per the Berger bio, Bunning became a pitcher as a boy since he owned the only ball among his friends’ group. He grew up as a Cincinnati Reds fan. His favorite player was pitcher Bucky Walters, who became the National League MVP in 1939 when Bunning was just seven years old.

Bunning played not only baseball, but also football and basketball as a teenager at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. Then as a freshman at Xavier University, Bunning was offered a contract by a scout with the Detroit Tigers. He would ultimately sign for a $4,000 bonus and $150 monthly salary.

One of the stipulations of his signing was that he be allowed to complete his college education at Xavier. Thus, he would start the first few seasons of his pro career a few months later than his teammates.

Philography: Richie Ashburn

Ashburn was a part of the Phillies organization
for 47 years as a player and broadcaster

Four years ago, I began writing a series of Philadelphia Phillies mini-biographies. The series was inspired by my twin interests in the Phillies ball club and the subject of history in general.

What I decided to call my “Philography” series was never meant to present a comprehensive life story on each player. I just wanted to learn for myself a bit more about each player’s background and accomplishments, how they fared either before coming to or after leaving the Phillies, and share that with other fans.

In the beginning this off-season series was scattershot, covering a wide range of players across the team’s now 136-season history. In the winter of 2015-16, I keyed on shortstops. Last year it was the catching position.

What has now grown to an 18-chapter series will extend by five more over the next couple of months. This year, I have chosen to cover some of the most important players in Phillies history. The five players who have both played with the team and who also have actually had a uniform number retired by the club.

Those five ball players will be presented in numerical order, beginning with this piece on Richie Ashburn. During December and January, Philography stories will cover the careers of Jim Bunning, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, and Robin Roberts.

Donald Richard “Richie” Ashburn was born on March 19, 1927 in the small town of Tilden, Nebraska. Tilden lies exactly in the middle of nowhere, about 150 miles northwest of Omaha. He had a twin sister named Donna, and so their dad Neil and mom “Tootie” began calling him by that takeoff on his middle name.

Ashburn’s father was a huge influence on his early life, particularly on his gravitation towards sports in general and baseball in particular. In a fine piece for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Seamus Kearney describesthe relationship as follows:

“Ashburn’s father…played semipro baseball on the weekends…Neil Ashburn had a very close relationship with his athletically-inclined son – he encouraged Richie in his boyhood activities and steered the boy throughout his developmental years. Ashburn tried to play all the sports – except football; his father ruled that out because of the threat of injury, but baseball and basketball were his favorites. He began playing baseball in 1935 as an 8-year-old in the Tilden Midget Baseball League under the tutelage of Hursel O’Banion. He played catcher because his father thought it would be the quickest way to get him to the major leagues, and he batted left-handed because his father said his speed would give him a better jump to first base…”

Richie played both baseball and basketball for his high school team and also played American Legion ball. Even out in the sticks of Tilden, talent like Ashburn’s didn’t escape the eyes of baseball scouts. He was signed three different times by big-league organizations.

The Phillies were fortunate that those first two signings didn’t work out. The Cleveland Indians first inked Ashburn at age 16, but that deal was nixed by the Commissioner as teams were prohibited then from signing high schoolers. He then was signed by the Chicago Cubs, but that deal was also shot down due to an illegal contract clause.

In 1945 at age 18, Ashburn had a contract approved with the Phillies. Kearney’s SABR bio quotes the Phillies scout who finally signed him, Ed Krajnick: “Something tells me this is about the most important deal I ever made."

Philography series to resume with Phillies retired number legends

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Phillies legends Schmidt, Carlton, Bunning to be covered as 'Philography' series resumes

It was just over four years ago that I first decided to write mini-biographies about famous Philadelphia Phillies figures of the past. The effort was largely for me. I have always enjoyed history and biographies of influential and famous figures from the past, not just sports-related.

While I knew the “baseball card” information on most of the players, I knew very little about their backgrounds. Where did they come from? What was the specific path leading them to Philadelphia?

If they played for another team, what achievements did they enjoy with that club? How did their career, and in some cases their lives, come to an end? Did they enjoy a post-baseball career?

Out of this natural curiosity on my part the “Philography” series was first born. I decided that I wanted to write about the playing careers, and touch on other aspects of the lives, of some of my own Phillies favorites of the past. The series would begin with a star player from my youth, “The Bull” himself, Greg Luzinski.

Over the next two months, I produced a new piece each week, picking from the team’s past in no specific pattern: Mitch Williams, Chris Short, Von Hayes, Placido Polanco, Jim Konstanty, Dick Allen, Dick Ruthven, Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander, Darren Daulton,

Paintings and memorabilia adorn the walls and fill the
halls on the Hall of Fame level at Citizens Bank Park

The Philography series was officially born. I then made the decision that this would become a regular off-season project, to write a handful of Phillies mini-bios each fall and winter.

In December 2015 a piece on Larry Bowa was produced, and we were off and running once again. A month later I reached back in time to produce a piece on Sherry Magee. Before spring training began for the 2016 season there would be installments on Kevin Stocker, Granny Hamner, and the only female to appear thus far, Edith Houghton.

The series returned in December of 2016 with a piece on Bob Boone, and I made a decision to push the series in a specific direction for the first time. That off-season, I would go after the Phillies all-time best catchers who hadn’t previously been covered. With Daulton and Boone in the books, the series continued with Wall of Famer Mike Lieberthal and old-timer Red Dooin.

And then the series was shelved. Last off-season saw a number of changes in my life, and most of my writing took a back seat for a while. I returned to regular baseball writing this summer upon joining the staff here at Phillies Nation. And now, the series will be making its return as well.

Philography: Red Dooin

Red Dooin was Phillies catcher for entirety of the 1900's

My off-season series of Philadelphia Phillies mini bios has featured some of the most popular players and other individuals in team history.

At the catcher position, “Philography” has already covered the relatively recent careers of Bob Boone, Darren Daulton, and Mike Lieberthal.

Daulton was the first catcher covered in the series, featured back in December 2014 while I was still with the “That Ball’s Outta Here” site here at FanSided.

Wanting to feature the catcher position more during this current off-season, the careers of Boone and Lieberthal were added to the series in December 2016 and January 2017 respectively.

Now the series continues with a look back at the career of Red Dooin. Over 134 seasons of play, Dooin is second only to Lieberthal in the number of games behind the plate for the Philadelphia Phillies franchise.

Philography: Mike Lieberthal

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Mike Lieberthal may have been the greatest all-around catcher in Phillies history

Since 1978, the Philadelphia Phillies have honored the greatest individual contributors to the success of the franchise with a place on the Phillies Wall of Fame.

The Wall includes plaques dedicated to remembering and honoring the Phillies all-time greats. This includes the contributions of club executives, broadcasters, and of course, dozens of players.

Of those players, only two performed at the position of catcher. One of those was Bob Boone, who was selected to a place on the Wall during the 2005 season.

The only other catcher in a history that stretches back to the 1883 season to be honored with a place on the Wall is Mike Lieberthal.

'Lieby' played for the Phillies from 1994-2006. His career is overlooked by some younger fans, often lost due to the period in which he performed.

Lieberthal broke into the big leagues during the strike-killed 1994 season, a year after the Phillies unexpected romp to a National League pennant. His career ended just before the glory of five straight National League East pennants began in 2007.

Lieberthal's career largely spanned a frustrating period in club history. But there is no denying the numbers or his reputation. Lieberthal may have been the greatest all-around catcher to ever pull on a Philadelphia Phillies uniform.

VIDEO: MIKE LIEBERTHAL ON HIS WALL OF FAME INDUCTION

Philography: Bob Boone

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Bob Boone caught for 19 big-league seasons, winning seven Gold Gloves

The Philadelphia Phillies franchise was founded in 1883. Since 1978, the club has honored the greatest individual contributors to its success with a place on the Phillies Wall of Fame.

There are club executives and beloved broadcasters on the Wall. And of course, there are dozens of players.

The players on the Wall range from 19th century trailblazers to 20th century Hall of Famers to 21st century superstars.

But of those players, only two played the position of catcher. One of those was Bob Boone, selected to the Wall in 2005.

Boone was the seventh player from the 1980 World Series champions to be so honored. He thus joined Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Tug McGraw, Greg Luzinski, and Garry Maddox on the Wall of Fame.

A native of San Diego, Boone played there at Crawford High School. He would then become the Phillies sixth round selection in the 1969 MLB Amateur Draft as a third baseman out of Stanford University.

Philography: Phillies Bios Series History to Date

After joining the TBOH staff at Fansided back in the summer of 2014, I decided that with a personal interest in history in general and now in my fifth decade of following Phillies baseball, that a regular series on the history of the team would be right up my alley.

I came up with the idea of running a regular series of Phillies mini-biographies. It would feature key figures, mostly players but also front office, ownership, broadcasters, and others of interest and importance in club history.

While the series would cover some items of interest in the personal lives and backgrounds of the individuals featured, I was looking mostly to focus on their involvement in baseball in general, and with the Phillies organization in particular.

And thus, “Philography” was born. 

Since the first piece in the series published back in the fall of 2014 there have been 13 released to this point. It is my intention to produce about a half-dozen over the course of each off-season as we move forward.

So far in the series, I have tried to avoid the obvious greatest players in franchise history from the last half-century or so. 

You won’t find a piece on Mike Schmidt, Richie Ashburn, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts, or Jim Bunning – the five Phillies players who have their individual numbers retired based on service with the team, all of whom are Baseball Hall of Famers. 

At least not yet.

What you will find is something that will continue to be a goal as the series moves forward – individuals from all across team history. 

Philography: Edith Houghton

Edith Houghton, baseball's first female scout

The Phillies have a rich historical tradition that includes being the North American pro sports franchise with the longest-running, continuous use full name (Philadelphia Phillies), the losingest franchise in Major League Baseball history, and the first team to wear pinstripe uniforms.

On February 15th, 1946 the Phillies added to that historical legacy by hiring the first solo female scout, in fact one of the very first female game-related employees, in the history of baseball.

Edith Houghton was a native of the city, born and raised in North Philly into a typically large family at the time, the youngest of ten children. Her father had been a semi-pro ballplayer, and began to teach young Edith the game as a child.

As Shawn Selby wrote in his piece that appeared with SABR, “She would play games with neighborhood kids whenever she had the chance and from her parents’ bedroom window on the second floor she would watch night games on the field outside her house.”

“So enamored with baseball was she that by the time she was 8 she was the on-field mascot for the local police league teams,” wrote Selby. “The job even allowed her to sit next to the mayor at games from time to time. At 9, young Edith was already doing hitting and fielding displays on the field before games.”

Philography: Granny Hamner

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Starting shortstop for the 'Whiz Kids', Granny Hamner manned the position for the entirety of the 1950's with the Phillies

Since the fall of 2014, I’ve been running an off-season series titled “Philography” in which I present a brief biography of the important players in the Phillies’ past, both recent and distant. 

In this series, I try to mostly key on their playing careers, but also like to toss in a few personal tidbits to frame each player's background.

In two chapters of the series earlier in this current off-season, I covered a pair of shortstops who were vital to National League pennant-winning Phillies teams of the past. 

Larry Bowa was the starting shortstop with the NL pennant winners who also won the World Series in 1980, and Kevin Stocker solidified the position during the magical 1993 summer of Macho Row.

This current chapter continues that shortstop theme as we take a look into the life and career of “Whiz Kids” shortstop Granny Hamner, the 9th player selected to the Phillies Wall of Fame back in 1987.

Hamner was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, and was first signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent out of high school back in 1944 as a 17-year old. 

His older brother, Garvin, was already in affiliated ball, playing with the New York Giants’ B-level Richmond minor league club.

Philography: Kevin Stocker

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Kevin Stocker came late to the '93 party, but became integral to that success

During this current off-season, the “Philography” series has covered 1970’s era shortstop and franchise icon Larry Bowa, and early 20th century outfielder Sherry Magee.

In this piece, we’ll take a look at an often overlooked, but extremely vital piece to the ‘Macho Row’ NL pennant winners of the 1993 season, shortstop Kevin Stocker.

Stocker was born on February 13th, 1970 in Spokane, Washington. He grew up in that Pacific Northwest town, attended high school there, and went on to play baseball in-state at the University of Washington.

In the 1991 MLB Amateur Draft, the Phillies made a pitcher out of Wichita State University, Tyler Green, their first round pick at 10th overall. In the second round with the 53rd overall pick, the Phils selected Stocker.

To say that Stocker didn’t hit well in his first professional season during that summer of 1991 at Spartanburg would be an understatement. He produced just a .220/.310/.272 slash line with a dozen extra-base hits in 290 plate appearances.

But Stocker did flash some speed, swiping 15 bases in 18 attempts. And he fielded the shortstop position extremely well. At just 21 years of age, he looked like the prototypical good glove, light-hitting shortstop with some speed whose ability to actually reach the Major League Baseball level was extremely questionable.

In 1992, Stocker got stronger and improved his offensive production. He split the season between High-A Clearwater and AA-Reading, producing a .267/.339/.349 slash line with 74 runs scored and 32 steals over a combined 550 plate appearances. He showed that improved strength and adjustment to pro pitching with 30 extra-base hits, including his first two professional home runs.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, the Phillies were seriously struggling. The big league club finished 70-92 and in last place in the NL East in what was a 6th consecutive losing season for the franchise.

Philography: Sherry Magee

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Sherry Magee may have been the greatest Phillies hitter of the 1900's

This time around we’re entering the Way Back Machine, back to the first decade of the 20th century, and giving fans a bit of a background on a Phillies Wall of Famer.

Sherwood Robert Magee, better known as Sherry Magee to baseball fans of his day, was born on August 6th, 1884 in Clarendon, Pennsylvania, a tiny borough in Warren County, just north of the Allegheny National Forest, about 140 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

If you want a rough comparison to a contemporary baseball great, think Pete Rose. Magee was described by John J. Ward in ‘Baseball Magazine‘ as “a man for whom it is easy to conceive a great liking or a passionate hatred,” per Tom Simon at SABR‘s baseball bio project, who further sketched out my Rose comparison by writing: 

“Though he stood only 5’11” and weighed 179 lbs., he was physically imposing-“husky” and “burly” were adjectives commonly used to describe him.”

Simon reports that it was a Phillies scout by the name of Jim Randall who happened to be disembarking a train in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, just outside Harrisburg, in early summer 1904 when he overheard some locals raving about a local ballplayer.

Randall stopped to see the kid, and offered him a contract that same day. The next day, the 19-year old Magee was in Philly practicing with the team. Just two days after first being seen, Magee was starting in left field for manager Hugh Duffy‘s squad at Baker Bowl in an 8-6 loss to the Brooklyn Superbas.

Philography: Larry Bowa

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Larry Bowa has seen it all with the Phillies over the last half-century

From his very first moment in front of Phillies scouts as a teenage ballplayer in California right through the current day, Bowa has been a fiery, emotional, heart-on-his sleeve, hard-working, straight-talking, blue-collar player and coach, the type that Philly fans have always embraced.

His father, Paul Bowa, had been a minor leaguer in the Saint Louis Cardinals system during the 1940’s, and a player-manager in that Cards’ system in both 1946 and 1947. Much as his future son, and in contrast to a grandson who would also reach the big leagues, Nick Johnson, Paul was a speedy, slick-fielding infielder.

In the off-season prior to his father’s debut as a  manager, on December 6th, 1945 in Sacramento, California, Larry was born. By the early 1960’s, the scrawny Bowa was trying out for the team at McClatchy High School in Sacramento. He would never make the team in the entirety of his high school days.

“It was very disappointing. The reason they gave me was not because I wasn’t good enough but because I was too small,” Bowa told saccityexpress.com early this month.

Philography: Darren Daulton

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Perhaps the greatest "Captain" in Phillies history, Darren 'Dutch' Daulton

The Philography series continues with the final weekly installment before moving to a bi-monthly (every two weeks) schedule during the off-season. This week we take a look at the career of 1993 ‘Macho Row’ team Captain, fan favorite Darren ‘Dutch’ Daulton.

Darren Daulton was born on January 3rd, 1962 and raised in the same town of Arkansas City, Kansas. He attended his hometown Arkansas City High School, was a star athlete, and became the Philadelphia Phillies 25th round selection in the 1980 Draft as an 18-year old.

Over the next few years, Daulton rose through the Phillies system a level at a time, first to Rookie league Helena, then Low-A Spartanburg, and then to High-A Peninsula. At each stop, his playing time and his productivity increased.

By 1983 at age 21, Daulton had reached the AA level Reading Phillies, where he raised his game another level. He had career highs in nearly every category, and showed

Philography: Grover Cleveland Alexander

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Grover Cleveland 'Pete' Alexander led the Phillies to the 1915 NL championship

As told by Jan Finkel in a biography of Grover Cleveland Alexander at the SABR website, he was "the only ballplayer named for a sitting United States president and portrayed on film by a future one."

In the 1952 biopic film "The Winning Team", Ronald Reagan portrayed Alexander, with Doris Day playing Alexander's wife, Aimee. It told his story from his amateur into pro days, and his battles through alcoholism and epilepsy.

U.S. President Grover Cleveland is the only Chief Executive to have served for two non-consecutive terms (1885-89, 1893-97), and thus he is considered both the nation's 22nd and 24th President.

The ballplayer was born into a large family in a Nebraska farming community. He began to show prowess as a baseball pitcher in his youth, and took a job with a company stringing telephone lines, pitching on weekends for local club teams.

In 1909 at age 22, Alexander hooked on with his first pro team, signing with the Galesburg Boosters of what was then known as the Class 'D' Illinois-Missouri League.

He went 15-8, but his season was ended, and nearly his career, when he was struck in the head by a thrown ball while running the bases. He recovered, and in 1910 had a dominant 29-11 record for the Class 'B' Syracuse Stars.

His performances in Syracuse caught the eye of major league scouts, and Philadelphia Phillies owner/president Israel Durham approved the purchase of his contract. 

At age 24, Alexander made his Phillies debut in the 1911 season, and his dominance continued there against the best competition in the land. He went 28-13 with 7 Shutouts and 31 Complete Games as a rookie.