Monster Card Monday: 1981 Mike Schmidt

81-Schmidt.jpg

Scott Fennessy forwarded on this 1981 Mike Schmidt card and makes us all wonder “what would have happened if that fateful season had been allowed to play out to its full schedule.

The 1981 season was cut short due to the players’ strike and the Philadelphia Phillies only got in 107 games in going 59-48.  That didn’t prevent Mike Schmidt from hitting 31 homeruns and driving in 91 runs anyway.  He also hit .316 and stole 12 bases while playing a near flawless third base.

He led the NL in homers, rbis, runs (78) as well as OBP (.435) and slugging percentage (.644).  He was an All-Star and won the NL MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

Worthy of note… slugger Schmidt walked more (73) than he struck out (71) in 1981.

 

Split G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
1981 Totals 102 434 354 78 112 19 2 31 91 12 73 71 .316 .435 .644

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 3/30/2015.

 

This Schmidt card is definitely a great all-around card.  First, he is one of few 3B-6 you will see.  For his era, his power is one of the best with EBH numbers of 1-1-5-6.  Schmidt has some decent hit numbers too with a 44-7.

Not only that, Schmidt’s card had some good speed.  He is rated Fast on this card and has a 15-11.  With his six walks, I consider leading him off if it weren’t for those nice power numbers.

Fun numbers: 22-5, 26-14, 24-14

The Phillies won the NL East in first half of the 1981 season though the Expos took care of them in the NLDS 3 games to 2.

Time for the Cincinnati Reds fans to lament about that season was handled.

thanks, Scott!

Thomas Nelshoppen

I am an IT consultant by day and an APBA media mogul by night. My passions are baseball (specifically Illini baseball), photography and of course, APBA. I have been fortunate to be part of the basic game Illowa APBA League since 1980 as well as the BBW Boys of Summer APBA League since 2014. I am slogging through a 1966 NL replay and hope to finish before I die.

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