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Phillies: Top five moments of Ryan Howard’s career

By Kerry Kauffman |
PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 02: Ryan Howard
PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 02: Ryan Howard
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 01: Ryan Howard #6 of the Philadelphia Phillies in action against the New York Mets during a game at Citizens Bank Park on October 1, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 01: Ryan Howard #6 of the Philadelphia Phillies in action against the New York Mets during a game at Citizens Bank Park on October 1, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

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.

WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 3: Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies fields a ground ball during a game against the Washington Nationals on September 3, 2005, at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. The Nationals defeated the Phillies 5-4. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 3: Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies fields a ground ball during a game against the Washington Nationals on September 3, 2005, at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. The Nationals defeated the Phillies 5-4. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

No. 4: Rookie of the Year

Howard hit two home runs in a late-season cup of coffee with the Phillies in 2004. With Jim Thome coming off back-to-back 40-plus home run seasons, Howard did not appear in a game for the Phillies in April of 2005 and hit only .217 with one home run in 30 at-bats in games from May 3rd through the 17th.

After Thome went down with an elbow injury, Ryan Howard took over at first base on July 2nd. He only went deep once in his first eight games as the starter but hit four homers over his next eight games. Howard produced a nine-game hitting streak the end of July to the beginning of August, raising his average to .280.

Howard was inconsistent with his power in August, failing to reach the seats for nearly two weeks; however, he continued to get hits. All told, Howard went deep five times in August and raised his average to .286.

After hitting 11 home runs through August, Howard went on a tear in September, launching himself as Rookie of the Year favorite. He hit 11 home runs in September and finished the season with 22 home runs and 63 RBI in only 88 games.

Howard earned 19 first-place votes to win the Rookie of the Year over Willy Taveras and Jeff Francoeur. Howard joined Jack Sanford (1957), Dick Allen (1964) and Scott Rolen (1997) as the only players in Phillies history to win the honor.

Tamp Bay Rays against the Philadelphia Phillies Ryan Howard at Citizen’s Bank Park during game three of the World Series in Philadelphia, PA Oct. 25, 2008. Phillies won 5-4. (Photo by Jay Drowns/Sporting News via Getty Images)
Tamp Bay Rays against the Philadelphia Phillies Ryan Howard at Citizen’s Bank Park during game three of the World Series in Philadelphia, PA Oct. 25, 2008. Phillies won 5-4. (Photo by Jay Drowns/Sporting News via Getty Images) /

No. 3: Two home runs in Game Four of 2008 World Series

Howard was a huge part of the Phillies team that won the NL East in 2007 for their first playoff appearance since 1993. Although the Phillies got swept by the Rockies in the NLDS, the Phillies reached the World Series in 2008.

In the first game of the 2008 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Phillies got off to an early lead on a Chase Utley home run. A third run added in the fourth was enough for Cole Hamels, as the Phillies won by the score of 3-2. Howard struggled in the opener, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

The Rays evened the series the next night, scoring three runs off Brett Myers in the first two innings and never looked back, winning 4-2. Howard had two of the Phillies nine hits, including a double, in five at-bats.

The Phillies led 4-1 in the seventh inning of Game 3 behind Jamie Moyer before the Rays tied the game in the eighth. The Phillies won the game on a slow chopper to third by Carlos Ruiz, scoring Eric Bruntlett. Howard went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in the sixth.

Howard went on to have his best postseason game at the right time. Ahead 2-1 in the fourth of Game 4, Howard launched a three-run bomb to put the Phillies up 5-1. Ahead 6-2 in the eighth, the Phillies put the game out of reach with a four-spot. Howard was a big part of that, hitting his second home run of the game. He finished 3-for-4 with five RBI.

The Phillies won the game, 10-2 and took the World Series in five for their second World Series championship in franchise history.

PHILADELPHIA – OCTOBER 21: Ryan Howard #6 of the Philadelphia Phillies is sprayed down with champagne by teammate Pedro Martinez #45 as they celebrate defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 to advance to the World Series in Game Five of the NLCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park on October 21, 2009, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA – OCTOBER 21: Ryan Howard #6 of the Philadelphia Phillies is sprayed down with champagne by teammate Pedro Martinez #45 as they celebrate defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 to advance to the World Series in Game Five of the NLCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park on October 21, 2009, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images) /

No. 2: 2009 NL Playoffs

After leading the NL with 48 home runs and 146 RBI in 2008, Howard nearly duplicated that during the 2009 season, hitting 45 home runs with a league-high 141 RBI. Heading into the playoffs, the Phillies were looking to get back to the World Series for the second straight season.

Howard showed clutch hitting during the 2009 playoffs. In the Phillies three games to one NLDS win over the Colorado Rockies, Howard went 6-for-16 with three doubles and six RBI, leading the team in both categories.

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The high point of the series for Howard came with two outs in the top of the ninth in Game 4. With the Phillies down 4-2 heading into the ninth, Howard told his teammates “just get me to the plate.” With Shane Victorino on second and Chase Utley at first, Howard doubled to right, scoring both Victorino and Utley, backing up his confident statement.

Howard then scored on a Jayson Werth single in the next at-bat, giving the Phillies a 5-4 lead they would not relinquish. Brad Lidge closed out the game and the series, winning three out of four against the Rockies.

Howard went on to have an excellent NLCS against the Dodgers, hitting .333 with two home runs and eight RBI. All told, Howard went 11-for-31 with two home runs and 14 RBI. Although he struggled in the World Series, hitting just .174, Howard’s efforts in the playoffs were a big reason the team went back to the World Series at all.

UNITED STATES – AUGUST 26: Philadelphia Phillies’ first baseman Ryan Howard watches the flight of his grand slam home run to right field as he rounds the bases during the fifth inning of game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. The Phillies were held scoreless for the rest of the game as the Mets won, 11-5. (Photo by James Keivom/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – AUGUST 26: Philadelphia Phillies’ first baseman Ryan Howard watches the flight of his grand slam home run to right field as he rounds the bases during the fifth inning of game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. The Phillies were held scoreless for the rest of the game as the Mets won, 11-5. (Photo by James Keivom/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) /

No. 1: 2006 NL MVP

Howard just came off a Rookie of the Year campaign in 2005 and didn’t even have a full season’s worth of games under his belt. That’s what makes his 2006 season, the best of his career, all the more remarkable.

Starting the season with a home run against the Cardinals, Howard went through a home run drought over the next ten games. However, he was getting his share of hits, hitting .317. A two-home run game on April 23rd gave Howard five for the season and was hitting .343. He finished April with five home runs, 12 RBI and a .306 batting average.

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Howard got hot to start May, hitting three home runs and nine RBI over the first four games. He hit ten more home runs the rest of the month, ending May with 18 home runs and a .294 batting average.

A two-home run, seven RBI performance in a 9-7 loss to the Yankees on June 20th highlighted a month in which Howard went deep nine times. He was hitting .294 with 27 home runs 77 games through the season. Eight more long balls in June and Howard was at 35 through 101 games, putting Howard well ahead of Mike Schmidt’s franchise record 48 home runs in a single season.

Howard was hot at the start of August, collecting 12 hits and four home runs through the first six games of the month. He also ended the month hot, hitting home runs in four straight and six of the last eight with 16 RBI. Howard was up to 49 home runs for the season, for a franchise record.

By September 22nd, Howard had reached 58 home runs for the season and had an excellent shot at surpassing 60. However, he failed to homer in the last ten games.

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All told, Howard had a remarkable season, batting .313 with 58 home runs, 149 RBI and 104 runs scored. His efforts earned him 20 first-place votes for MVP, winning the honor over Albert Pujols.

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