Mike Schmidt
Mike Schmidt
Michael Jack Schmidtis an American former professional baseball third baseman who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseballfor the Philadelphia Phillies. Schmidt was a twelve-time All-Star and a three-time winner of the National LeagueMost Valuable Player award, and he was known for his combination of power hitting and strong defense: as a hitter, he compiled 548 home runs and 1,595 runs batted in, and led the NL in home runs eight times and in RBIs four times. As a fielder,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth27 September 1949
CityDayton, OH
CountryUnited States of America
The whole Pete Rose issue, I believe, is dead for all practical reasons,
There's a lot of sad elements in that thing. It was sad that Pete bet on baseball. It was sad that Pete thought he could get away with it. It was sad the way he confessed, so to speak. The way the league perceived that he admitted to it was sad, and it's sad now the way baseball is handling it. It truly could be put to bed one way or the other, and I think we all sort of wish that would happen for all the parties.
There's a real possibility of getting buried up there. The mid layer is solid but the layer below that could break down to the ground and rip all the way out. There's a huge possibility for a big slide.
It's sort of a study in the human nature of how things like this can happen and how turning a blind eye on the subject allowed baseball to recover in the late '90s and 2000 with the offensive explosion. And now, how the right steps have been taken by the players' association and the commissioner's office to totally cleanse the game.
About a year after the Milwaukee meeting, I phoned Bud to ask what was holding up his decision on Pete's reinstatement. Bud confided that he didn't think Pete understood the gravity of his commitment.
This is a big lifestyle change for me,
There's a 95-percent chance there's no one up there.
This is as early as I've ever seen it get this wild.
I sort of ride the fence on that whole steroid era issue. I don't have a definite opinion like some of my fellow Hall of Famers. Some of the guys were very, very adamant about a person being associated with steroids: 'They'll never be in the Hall of Fame. If they are, I'll never come back.'
I feel comfortable that any player from when I played through today is going to find that it's truthful and enlightening. I don't think I cross the line, but I go up to the line a little bit.
I've got to tell you right out of the chute, Ryan Howard, to me, is very interested in my input in his hitting. To me that makes me really feel good. We've chatted over the years about hitting.
They read their sports pages, know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans, pro or con, over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there.
It isn't that hard to get RBI's when you're hitting home runs, you generally get a least one.
I could ask the Phillies to keep me on to add to my statistics, but my love for the game won't let me do that.