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Mike Schmidt - An Uneasy Fame

Despite the glowing statistics and broken records, Schmidt's years in baseball weren't always easy. He spent his entire career playing for the Phillies, becoming one the best players they ever had. Still, he had an uncomfortable relationship with Phillies fans that effected his personal life. Obsessed with succeeding, Schmidt was quiet, introspective, and superstitious. His focus on the game came at the expense of fun. Looking back Schmidt related to Frank Fitzpatrick, a Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service writer, "There's no question at all that I didn't enjoy my professional life like I wished I would have.… I didn't allow myself to enjoy it because of my obsession for succeeding, my obsession for wanting to be the best."

Schmidt was often criticized in Philadelphia newspapers and by fans for being too sensitive or for not trying hard enough. He was just as likely to be booed by Phillies fans as he was to be cheered. He stopped inviting his family to home games because people in the crowd would yell at them. Schmidt endured the criticism quietly by focusing on his game throughout his career. He told Fitzpatrick about the moment when he finally felt reconciled with Phillies fans, "It was a night at the end of '86, when I passed Lou Gehrig, who had 494 homers, and was getting close to 500. I got a great ovation, and there was something about that night that got me over the hump."

Career Statistics

Yr Team AVG GP AB R H HR RBI BB SO SB
EE: Eugene Emeralds (Pacific Coast League, Class AAA); PP: Philadelphia Phillies; RP: Reading Phillies (Eastern League, Class AA).
1971 RP .211 74 237 27 50 8 31 27 66 3
1972 EE .291 131 436 80 127 26 91 87 145 6
1972 PP .206 13 34 2 7 1 3 5 15 0
1973 PP .196 132 367 43 72 18 52 62 136 8
1974 PP .282 162 568 108 160 36 116 106 138 23
1975 PP .249 158 562 93 140 38 95 101 180 29
1976 PP .262 160 584 112 153 38 107 100 149 14
1977 PP .274 154 544 114 149 38 101 104 122 15
1978 PP .251 145 513 93 129 21 78 91 103 19
1979 PP .253 160 541 109 137 45 114 120 115 9
1980 PP .286 150 548 104 157 48 121 89 119 12
1981 PP .316 102 354 78 112 31 91 73 71 12
1982 PP .280 148 514 108 144 35 87 107 131 14
1983 PP .255 154 534 104 136 40 109 128 148 7
1984 PP .277 151 528 93 146 36 106 92 116 5
1985 PP .277 158 549 89 152 33 93 87 117 1
1986 PP .290 160 552 97 160 37 119 89 84 1
1987 PP .293 147 522 88 153 35 113 83 80 2
1988 PP .251 108 390 52 97 12 62 49 42 3
1989 PP .203 42 148 19 30 6 28 21 17 0
TOTAL .267 2404 8352 1506 2234 548 1595 1507 1883 174

It took fourteen years playing in Philadelphia for that reconciliation to arrive. During most of his career he felt uncomfortable with the attention he received from fans. He felt his privacy was invaded, and avoided going out in public as much as possible. If he did appear in public, he would try and disguise himself with hats and sunglasses. That discomfort and fear of the fans lingered even when Schmidt was accepting his 1995 induction to the Hall of Fame. With an estimated 25,000 to 28,000 people in attendance, most of them Phillies fans, Schmidt was worried. He told Jayson Stark in the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, "I was concerned about it. Probably more than anything, I worried about catcalls or some nasty thing called out during some quiet time." Luckily for Schmidt, the fans had nothing but love and appreciation for him and fellow Phillies inductee Richie Ashburn.

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