Philadelphia Phillies starting lineup of the all-time greats
By Tim Boyle
Batting fifth for the Philadelphia Phillies we have 1B Ryan Howard.
As awesome as Schmidt’s career was, I was unfortunately not alive to see it happen in real-time. But when I was a younger gentleman, I got to see the next closest thing in the form of Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard.
The peak years of Howard were massive. The preview in 2004 and 2005 didn’t prepare us for the 58 home run, 149 RBI season he would have in 2006. The Big Piece won the MVP that season and things were finally beginning to turn around for a franchise that had stunk my entire baseball-watching-life.
Howard would end up spending his entire big league career with the Phillies, blasting 382 home runs in the process. The end was tough to watch, but those wonderful years until the end of 2011 were something to behold.
Howard led the league in home runs twice, RBI three times, and topped 100 RBI each of his first six full seasons. In fact, in seasons where he played in 130 games or more, only the 2014 campaign didn’t include triple-digits in this category. A fraction of his former self that season, Howard still managed to drive in 95.
He’s batting fifth in this lineup with Schmidt doing what so many of us wanted in those golden Phillies years—break up the lefties. For his greatest years, this might be a tad lower than he probably deserves. But if we average it with the latter ones, it’s a kind gesture.