January 8, 1995: Philadelphia Phillies legend Mike Schmidt is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot
There might not be any Philadelphia Phillies elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, so instead of looking forward, let’s take a minute to look back.
On January 8, 1995, Mike Schmidt was officially elected to the Hall. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest players in franchise history, if not the greatest.
Schmidt spent his entire professional career with the Phillies, who drafted him in the second round of the 1971 June draft. The 22-year-old infielder debuted on September 12, 1972, and would spend 18 years in a Phillies uniform.
Over those 18 years and 2,404 regular-season games, Schmidt hit .267/.380/.527 with a .908 OPS. He hit 548 career home runs, including 13 seasons of 30+ home runs, and is one of only 18 players in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game. He led MLB in home runs six times, including three years in a row between 1974-76, and frequently led in on-base, slugging, OPS, OPS+, and total bases.
Schmidt finished his career with 10 Gold Glove awards, including nine consecutively between 1976-84. He was a Silver Slugger six times and elected to 12 All-Star Games. He won three MVP awards, including going back-to-back in 1980-81.
The third baseman was instrumental to the Phillies winning their first-ever championship in 1980. On October 4, his 11th-inning home run against the Montreal Expos won the Phillies the NL East and cemented his first MVP season.
During that postseason, Schmidt hit .289/.353/.467 with a .820 OPS, a pair of doubles, and a pair of home runs. In addition to a World Series ring, Schmidt won World Series MVP for his efforts.
Despite being an All-Star in his age-39 season, Schmidt retired abruptly early that year. On May 29, 1989, he suddenly announced that he was retiring, saying he felt like “a shadow of the player used to be.”
However, the ‘player he used to be’ will forever be one of the greatest to wear a Phillies uniform. He is the franchise leader in WAR among position players, Offensive and Defensive WAR, games played, plate appearances, runs scored, total bases, home runs, RBI, walks, runs created, adjusted batting runs and wins, extra-base hits, times on base, sacrifice flies, intentional walks, WPA, and championship WPA.