Phillies: Top five moments of Ryan Howard’s career

Ryan Howard is arguably the top first baseman to put on a Phillies uniform. Here’s a rundown of the top five moments of his career.

Ryan Howard is arguably the best first baseman in franchise history, having retired second in Phillies history with 382 home runs and third in RBI with 1194. Howard will be honored for his career by the Phillies in a ceremony before the July 14 game against the Washington Nationals. We take a look back at the top five moments in Howard’s career.

No. 5: Fastest to reach 100 Major League home runs

Howard appeared in 19 games with the Phillies in 2004, hitting two home runs in 42 at-bats. After Jim Thome went on the disabled list with an elbow injury in 2005, Howard stepped into the starting lineup. He took advantage of the opportunity, belting 22 home runs with 63 RBI in 88 games. His efforts were good enough to win the NL Rookie of the Year.

Howard went on to have a monster year in 2006, crushing Mike Schmidt’s franchise record for most home runs in a season and flirted with the 60 home run plateau. He finished with 58 home runs and entered the 2007 season only 18 home runs shy of a first career milestone, the 100 home run club.

Howard got off to a relatively slow start in 2007, hitting just .221 with three home runs through the first month, spanning 21 games. He added three more long balls over the first nine days of May but then didn’t appear in a game due to injury until May 25. Howard launched two bombs on May 27th and finished the month with nine home runs for the season.

He was hitting just .217 at the start of June but went on a hot streak, hitting nine home runs for the month through June 27th, raising his average to .256. With the home run on the 27th, Howard became the fastest player in Major League history to reach the milestone, doing so in just 325 games.