Mike Schmidt’s First Major League Homerun: September 16, 1972

Mike Schmidt wearing #22 in 1972

The Philadelphia Phillies drafted future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt out of Ohio University in 1971 in the second round of the June Amateur Draft. After a half season at AA Reading, and a full season at AAA Eugene, where he hit .291 with 26 homeruns, Schmidt was a September 1972 callup to the big leagues. He played in his first game and got his first hit, a single, when he entered a September 12 game against the Mets in the second inning. The Phillies regular third baseman, Don Money, had to leave the game with a muscle spasm in his right shoulder. Schmidt got his first start the next night and went 0-for-4. 

Schmidt's second start, against the Montreal Expos at Veterans Stadium on September 16, was a memorable one. At this point in the year, both the Expos and the Phillies were playing out the string on a long season. The Expos were 64-76, in fifth place in the National League East Division 25.5 games behind the division leading Pittsburgh Pirates. The Phillies at 51-89 had the worst record in the major leagues. A small crowd of 6,471 was in attendance, but that group did include Schmidt's parents, Lois and Jack "Smitty" Schmidt. 

The pitching matchup was the Phillies Wayne Twitchell (3-8) against the Expos 21-year-old rookie Balor Moore (8-7), a left-hander, who was coming off two consecutive shutouts. The Phillies lineup featured so many September callups that Montreal manager Gene Mauch spoke to his veteran catcher Tim McCarver before the game saying, "We're going to have to talk things over when we get back [in the clubhouse]. I don't know anything about Craig Robinson or Bob Boone or Mike Schmidt." McCarver said, "I don't know anything about Schmidt, either."* Later that night Schmidt would give them a lesson in pitching to Schmidt.

Twitchell retired the Expos in order in the first. With one out in the bottom of the first the Phillies threatened when Terry Harmon tripled to centerfield. Harmon was erased, however, when he tried to score on Luzinski's flyball to right. Right fielder Ken Singleton gunned Harmon down at the plate.

The game remained scoreless until the fourth when the Expos eked out a run. With one out, Singleton walked and moved to third on a Ron Fairley single. Singleton scored as McCarver rolled weakly to short into a force out. Meanwhile, the Expos Moore kept extending his scoreless streak. That streak had reached 25 innings when the Phillies came to bat in the seventh inning.

Harmon led off the seventh with a single to left and moved to third when Luzinski followed with another single to left. Joe Lis then smashed a screaming line drive that shortstop Tim Foli snared with a dive to his right. Luzinski, who had been running on the pitch in an effort to avoid a double play, was easily doubled off first. It looked like the nascent rally might die, but at this point manager Mauch faced a decision. Phillies right fielder Roger Freed strode to the plate.

Freed was in his second year with the Phillies, who traded Grant Jackson and Jim Hutto to the Baltimore Orioles to get him after Freed had put up impressive numbers at Rochester in the International League. Freed had been a disappointment, hitting just .221 with six homeruns in his rookie year of 1971. His sophomore campaign had been little better, but with the tying run on third, two out, and an untested rookie on deck, Mauch ordered Balor to walk Freed intentionally.

Pitcher Moore tells the story of what happened ** "[McCarver] comes to the mound and asks what I know about Schmidt. We decide not to get beat on anything but my fastball. After two pitches we have the count in our favor, 0-2 and call for a fastball low and away. Good call. Bad pitch. Normally my fastball away will tail off the plate but, in this instance, it started low and away and ran back over the heart of the plate."

Schmidt smashed the pitch over the wall for a three-run homerun, the first of his 548 major league homers. Schmidt slapped hands with Harmon and Freed at the plate and the Phillies suddenly had a 3-1 lead. In the eighth inning, lefty Mac Scarce replaced Twitchell with two men on and two out. Scarce escaped that jam with no damage and closed the game out with a scoreless ninth inning for his third save of the season. 

Talking about his big homerun after the game, Schmidt told the Philadelphia Inquirer's, Bruce Keidan, "I consider myself a power hitter, in the sense that a power hitter is someone who doesn't have to get all of the ball to hit it out. I didn't get all of that one tonight. I got it down on the end of the bat. I really didn't have any idea it was going out." A reporter reminded Schmidt his 26 homeruns tied him for second in the Pacific Coast League with teammate Joe Lis and Schmidt replied, "I also led the league in strikeouts with 140 something."

And so, Phillies fans were not only introduced to Mike Schmidt the power hitter, but also to Mike Schmidt the enigmatic analyst of his own performance. It would be quite a ride for the next 17 years.

*Bruce Keidan, "Mike Schmidt's First Homer Gives Phils Win Over Expos," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 17, 1972: 66.

**from Every Pitcher Tells a Story by Seth Swirsky (Times Books, 1999). Moore's memory may be a bit faulty here. Newspaper reports say the count was 1-2 when Schmidt connected. Keidan also reported that the pitch was a high fastball.