On this day in 1971, Phillies drafted an all-time great
On June 8, 1971, the Philadelphia Phillies used their first-round pick in the MLB Draft on Roy Thomas, a right-handed pitcher. With their next pick, in the second round, they got arguably the greatest third baseman of all time.
Thomas never played for Philadelphia, but Mike Schmidt went on to have an 18-year career with the team. In 1995, he was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
As Schmidt recalled in 2020, per the Associated Press, Philadelphia had been scouting him since his Little League days. A Phillies scout named Tony Lucadello recommended him to general manager Paul Owens, who made him an offer he could actually refuse.
The Phillies offered Schmidt a $25,000 signing bonus. Schmidt's "agent," his dad, refused, as he did their next offer of a $35,000 bonus the following day. Finally, the Schmidts settled on a deal that included a $37,500 signing bonus and a trip to Philadelphia to work out with the team.
The club had an upcoming exhibition game in Reading, Pa., with its Double-A team. Schmidt played shortstop with the major league team and homered to win the game.
In 2,404 games as a Phillie, Schmidt hit 548 home runs. He led the National League in home runs eight times and RBIs four times. His home run total remains a franchise record and is good for 16th place all-time.
Schmidt also won 10 Gold Gloves, nine more than the player drafted right before him in 1971, fellow Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett. Schmidt and Brett are two of three Hall of Fame players taken in the draft. Boston’s Jim Rice is the third.
Brett, who played 21 seasons for the Royals, and Schmidt faced one another in the 1980 World Series. Schmidt had two home runs, seven RBIs and batted .381 for the series. Brett batted .375 with three RBIs and a home run. Philadelphia won the series in six games.
For obvious reasons, the two are forever linked in baseball history. They even finished their careers with the same number of RBIs, sort of. Schmidt and Brett each had 1,595 RBIs when they retired. But Brett, per Schmidt, "hired someone" to go back through his career to find another RBI.
Now the HOFer third baseman has 1,596 RBIs, one spot ahead of Schmidt, just like in 1971.
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