35 Years Ago This Week, The Ending Came At Last For Mike Schmidt

Photo byThe Press Box

By Matthew Veasey

In 1973, Art Garfunkel released the beautiful ballad “All I Know,” and one of its final refrains has always touched me:

“But the ending always comes at last
Endings always come too fast
They come too fast
But they pass too slow”

I am quite sure that the end for the greatest player in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise and the greatest third baseman in the history of the game, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, certainly did pass too slow.

Over the course of a brilliant 18-year MLB career, Schmidt surpassed all those who had previously made the “hot corner” their home and set the standard for all of those to come. He was a 12-time National League All-Star, three-time NL Most Valuable Player, a 10-time Gold Glover, and the Most Valuable Player of the 1980 World Series. When the Silver Slugger Award was introduced beginning in 1980, Schmidt won six of the first seven at his position.

Schmidt blasted 548 home runs during his career, leaving the game ranking seventh on the all-time MLB list. Even after some who would surpass him on that list did so during the questionable Steroid Era, he remains 16th on that list today.

In 1987, at age 37, Schmidt slashed .293/.388/.548 while producing a 35-homer, 113-RBI campaign. Then at the outset of the 1988 season, everything seemed to be pointing towards yet another great one for Schmidt as he homered in each of the Phillies’ first two games of the year. But by August he had just 10 more. As it turned out, there was a physical reason.

In mid-August, shoulder pain drove Schmidt to the disabled list. Testing over the next couple of weeks revealed that he had a small but full tear in the rotator cuff of his right shoulder. On Sept. 7, Schmidt went under the knife. By December, he was ready to return healthy for the 1989 season. Per Joe Cialini at UPI, the third baseman stated that he was “planning on being 100 percent physically by spring training.”

“I’m as hungry going into this season as I have ever been,” Schmidt said. “If you look on the back of my baseball card, you can see I’ve never had two years off in a row. If Mother Nature allows me to have a healthy year this year, I’m not going to have an off year. I don’t care what else happens.”

Schmidt did indeed appear hungry and healthy at the onset of the 1989 campaign. Over the Phillies’ first 24 games, Schmidt had six homers and 21 RBIs, a pace that would result in a mid-30s home run total and over 110 RBIs in a full season.

On May 2, after going 2-for-3 with a home run vs. Houston in front of the home crowd at Veterans Stadium, Schmidt was slashing .275/.343/.549 and was back to being the best third baseman in the game at age 38. Little did he know, it was all about to come crashing to a sudden, horrific end. Little did the 15,832 on hand that night at The Vet know, they had witnessed Schmidt’s final home run.

After going 0-for-11 during a brief four-game road trip to Atlanta and Cincinnati, the Phillies returned to the friendly confines of home on May 9. Schmidt produced what would be the final multihit effort of his career that night, drilling a pair of singles off a 21-year-old Atlanta fireballer named John Smoltz.

This brings us back to another “little did he know” segment of the story. Schmidt had no way of knowing that not only was this the last multihit game of his career, but he would also only have three more hits left, period.

In what turned out to be the final 13 games of Schmidt’s career over the next two weeks, he hit just .071 with no power. Fifty-one plate appearances yielded just three singles, eight walks, and one sacrifice fly. He reached on an error three times and was thrown out in his only stolen base attempt.

As May was ending, the club set out on a long west coast trip to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. Schmidt never played a single game on the final leg and never again entertained the home fans in Philadelphia.

Opening the trip at Dodger Stadium on May 23, Schmidt delivered a first-inning sacrifice fly and a two-out RBI single in the fifth during a 4-1 Phillies win. These would prove to be his final two career runs batted in, as well as his final career victory with the ball club.

Two nights later, in the top of the eighth inning facing Dodgers starter Tim Belcher, Schmidt laid a perfect bunt single down the third-base line. It was his final career hit.

When the club moved on to San Francisco, Schmidt was mired in a deep 5-for-48 slump. Things only got worse as he went hitless over 13 plate appearances at Candlestick Park. In the field, the longtime Gold Glover led the team with eight errors.

To make matters worse, the Phillies had dropped the final two games in L.A. and then all three in San Fran. At 18-28, they were in last place in the NL East Division standings, already 8.5 games out of first and going nowhere.

It was Memorial Day when the club arrived in San Diego. Schmidt had already decided to retire, telling manager Nick Leyva as much on the plane ride from San Francisco the prior evening.

As Schmidt told a reporter with the Philadelphia Daily News: “I was wondering if I could compete with those guys anymore. I’m watching them and feeling like a shadow of the player I used to be. And that was telling me it was time to turn the reins over to somebody else.”

In the aftermath, Schmidt was voted as the National League starter for the All-Star Game in Anaheim. While he chose not to play, he did make an appearance in uniform and acknowledged the fans when introduced to a loud ovation.

The ending for Mike Schmidt had come at last. It came too fast, 35 years ago yesterday, in a season that had begun with so much promise. And it passed too slow over those agonizing final weeks.

Matt Veasey is a retired three-decade Philadelphia Police supervisor and instructor, now the voice behind @PhilliesBell on X/Twitter, the most informative and interactive Philadelphia Phillies news and history social media account. His email is matthew.veasey@verizon.net