Philadelphia Phillies: Remembering Mike Schmidt’s First-Year Struggles

I know that many people including myself have been slightly critical of the performance of Domonic Brown.

It is not that I doubt his potential or don’t want him in Philadelphia, but sometimes I wonder whether or not he is ready for what will be hopefully a run to the World Series.

However, whenever I think like this, I have to remember one particular rookie campaign that all Phillies fans remember and point to whenever there are rookie struggles.

The year was 1973. The previous season had been a largely forgettable year except for the fact that Steve Carlton had been stellar and posted the best year of his career.

Although fans did not know it at the time, 1973 would have been largely forgettable as well.

However, 1973 started something in Philadelphia. A 23-year-old third baseman took on a job that he would hold in Philadelphia until 1989.

This was the season that Michael Jack Schmidt began his Hall of Fame career in Philadelphia.

He tallied 548 career home runs and 1,595 RBI while he wore a Phillies uniform.

He won nine Gold Glove awards and three MVPs.

But before all of this history was made, he got off to a very rough start.

He basically played full-time during that first season by appearing in 132 games.

He hit 18 home runs and drove in 52 runs.

Those numbers would not seem awful, but when you combine them with a .196 batting average and the fact that he struck out about one out of every three at-bats, the season begins to look a little bit more shaky.

Whenever I want to criticize any young player too harshly, I have to remember this.

Not that I am necessarily calling Brown a future Hall of Famer. He might be, but he also very well might not be as a lot of players don’t make it.

The Phillies are being patient with him though, so we can only hope that he will start killing that ball.

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