Mike Schmidt (born 1949) is best known for his skill as a third baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1972 to 1989.
He finished his career with a .267 batting average, 2,234 hits, 548 home runs, and 1,595 runs batted in. He was a 12 time All-Star, a three time NL MVP, 10 time Gold Glove Award winner, eight time NL home run leader, and six time Silver Slugger Award winner. Also, the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, and Schmidt was the World Series MVP.
Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Schmidt was raised in a blue collar community. His upbringing influenced his work ethic, as Schmidt later
remarked, “If you could equate the amount of time and effort put in mentally and physically into succeeding on the baseball field and measured it by the dirt on your uniform, mine would have been black.”
Schmidt attended Ohio University, and he was a second round pick in 1971. After a brief stint in the minors, Schmidt was called up.
His rookie season was dicey, where he hit .196 over 132 games. He soon proved himself, and he made his first All-Star team the next year in 1974.
Schmidt soon became known as one of the best power hitters in MLB. In addition to stunning home run achievements, Schmidt also got on base, and he retired with a .380 on-base percentage. Lastly, he was an excellent fielder with his 10 Gold Glove Awards.
With power hitting, his on base percentage, and fielding, Schmidt was just a great athlete. Pete Rose commented, “To have his body, I’d trade him mine and my wife’s and I’d throw in some cash.” Schmidt once responded, “Pete Rose is the most likable arrogant person I’ve ever met.”
Schmidt hit four home runs in one game on 4/17/1976. This is a storied accomplishment. No player has hit more than four in one game, no player has done it more than once in their career, and only eighteen players have done so in MLB history. In 1999 Sporting News writers called this, “baseball’s greatest single-game accomplishment.” It is the capstone to Schmidt’s excellent power hitting career.
In 1980, Schmidt hit 48 home runs in the season, which broke the record for a third baseman. When he finished his career with 548 home runs, he was ninth all time.
The Philadelphia Phillies retired Schmidt’s no. 20 jersey and put him on their Wall of Fame. Later, Schmidt was named to the MLB All-Century and All-Time teams. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995 on the first ballot with 96.5% of the vote.
Schmidt was honored with several other Halls, statues, and nominations. He mostly retired from public life.
Schmidt stayed somewhat involved through public comments and writings. He advocated strongly for the reinstatement of Pete Rose, and he publicly wrote and commented on the steroid issues of the 90s and 00s.
Having played from 1972 to 1989, Schmidt’s cards enter an era where the price of cards begin to decline. The cards from his early career are expensive, but as you enter into the 80s, some of his cards are too cheap. This could be good or bad depending on your perspective, but this article will take you through a few of the most sought after Mike Schmidt cards, which are mostly from his first few years.
1972 Puerto Rican League Sticker Mike Schmidt
There is not much available information about this set. There are 231 stickers known to exist. Schmidt’s card is the most important in the
The set is somewhat less common, and there are 75 cards of Mike Schmidt registered by PSA.
Sales are infrequent. The most recent and expensive sale was for a PSA 10 for $21,000 from December 2020. If you had a $1,000 budget, you could probably snag a PSA 6 or 7, but since these are up for sale rarely, it is hard to tell.
1973 Topps Mike Schmidt Rookie Card
The 1973 Topps set has 660 cards of standard size. Mike Schmidt is the most important key to the set, while the rookie cards of Davey Lopes and Ron Cey are important too. This set also has the last year of Willie Mays featured on a card as an active player.
Schmidt is featured on card #615. He is on a card for rookie third basemen, and he is next to Ron Cey and John Hilton.
This is a popular card on the secondary market. PSA has over 7,000 cards registered just on their service.
A PSA Gem Mint 10 sold for $174,000 in December 2020, making it one of the most expensive baseball cards. Prices drop fast, and PSA 9’s were selling for a few thousand in 2020. With a budget of $1,000, a PSA 8 is very plausible.
1974 Topps Mike Schmidt
The 1974 Topps has 660 cards of standard size. The set was distributed all at once instead of series for the first time since 1952. There are many different subsets, error cards, but no real short prints.
The set is well preserved, and there are over 3,000 cards of Mike Schmidt registered by PSA alone. 13 of those cards are Gem Mint, and over
300 are Mint condition.
The limited PSA 10’s floating around have been inconsistent in price. One sold in October 2020 for $7,495. Prices fall fasts for PSA Mint 9’s, which have sold for between $200 and $600 since 2019.
1974 O-Pee-Chee Baseball Mike Schmidt
There are 660 cards in this standard size set which functioned as the counterpart for Topps to be distributed in Canada. The 1974 Topps is almost identical to the 1974 O-Pee-Chee.
Since O-Pee-Chee was less widely distributed and collected than Topps, as well as being all around less valuable, so there are fewer copies available today. PSA has 33 copies registered, and only one of them is in Mint condition.
O-Pee-Chee is often a less respected brand in baseball (it is often more respected in hockey). So, PSA 8’s sell for a couple hundred dollars, and lower grades will be very cheap. In a way, it is the sophomore release of a great player at a bargain price, but according to the market, the Topps brand makes all the difference.
Conclusion
Mike Schmidt is one of the best power hitters in MLB history, and he undeniably accomplished his statistics without steroids, which is a massively important fact to many baseball fans. He was also an all-around great player, and he is often considered one of the best players (or the best) of his day.
There are plenty of options available, from the ultra-cheap 1974 O-Pee-Chee, to the ultra-expensive prices of a PSA 10 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt rookie card, as well as oddball 1972 Puerto Rican League stickers. Luckily for collectors, Mike Schmidt comes at a time when there is something available for every collector.