Schmidt, "Mike" (Michael J.)
Baseball
b. Sept. 27, 1949, Dayton, OH
With his combination of power hitting and defensive ability, Schmidt may have been the greatest third baseman in baseball history. He won a record eight NL home run titles, three most valuable player awards, and ten Gold Gloves, second only to Brooks Robinson.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Schmidt joined the Philadelphia Phillies late in the 1972 season and played all four infield positions in 1973, when he was terrible offensively. He struck out 136 times in just 367 at-bats and hit only .196.
Playing winter ball in Puerto Rico after that season, Schmidt "found a swing that made things happen," as he put it. He returned to the Phillies in 1974 to lead the league with 36 home runs and a .546 slugging percentage while hitting a respectable .282.
Schmidt was the league leader with 38 home runs each of the next two years and he led in walks with 120 in 1979. He won his first most valuable player award in 1980, when he had a league-leading 48 home runs, 121 RBI, and .624 slugging percentage. In Philadelphia's six-game World Series victory over the Kansas City Royals, Schmidt batted .381 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI.
He repeated as MVP in the strike-shortened 1981 season, when he hit 31 home runs, scored 78 runs, had 91 RBI and a .644 slugging percentage to lead the league in each category. Schmidt led in home runs again with 40 in 1983 and 36 in 1984, when he also had a league-leading 106 RBI.
In 1986, Schmidt was named MVP for the third time, again winning the home run title with 37 and also leading the league with 119 RBI and a .547 slugging percentage. After 35 home runs and 113 RBI in 1987, injuries limited Schmidt to only 108 games and he announced his retirement during the 1989 season, when he was hitting only .203.
Schmidt had a career batting average of .267 with 2,234 hits, including 408 doubles, 59 triples, and 548 home runs. He scored 1,506 runs and had 1,595 RBI. He is seventh all-time in career home runs.