On this day in 1981, Philadelphia Phillies great and Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt won his second consecutive National League MVP Award. In doing so, Schmidt became only the third player in MLB history at the time to accomplish this feat, along with Joe Morgan and Ernie Banks.
Schmidt led the majors in home runs (31), RBI (91), on-base percentage (.435), slugging percentage (.644), OPS (1.080), OPS+ (198), and total bases (228). Schmidt also added another All-Star Game selection, Gold Glove Award, and Silver Slugger to his list of accolades for his career thus far. He won one more MVP Award in 1986.
In 2011, Roy Halladay fell short of a Cy Young repeat when he finished behind Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw for the Award. Halladay finished with a 19-6 record, 2.35 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 2.20 FIP, eight complete games, 233.2 innings pitched, and 220 strikeouts.
In 2016, the Phillies were awarded with the Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence at the MLB owners' meetings. They were recognized for the $17 million they raised to fight ALS since 1984.
And finally, Mitch Williams was born on this day in 1964. Happy 57th birthday to the Wild Thing!
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