When it comes to Phillies all time home run leaders, it’s Mike Schmidt and then everyone else.
Nobody has matched the Hall of Fame third baseman’s consistently elite production and longevity over the years. He’s easily Philadelphia’s all-time home run leader. The distance between Schmidt and second place is the same as the distance between second place and eighth place on Philly’s all-time list.
Let’s get into some of the details, shall we? First, we’ll talk about the top five in-depth before listing out the remainder of the top 37.
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Until Ryan Howard came along and had a record-breaking 2006 campaign, Schmidt was actually at the top of the Phillies home run leaders for both a career and a single season. It’s safe to assume that what he did during his 18-year career will remain at the top for a while. As if he didn’t accumulate enough accolades along the way, his 509 homers as a third baseman are also the most in MLB history.
Schmidt led the league in home runs on eight different occasions. His first three single-season home run crowns came in consecutive years (1974-76). After a short break, he did it in 1980 and 1981 before doing it again in 1983 and 1984. And he did all this while winning a bunch of Gold Glove awards. Now that’s the total package.
His ’83 season was an interesting one. Schmidt placed third in NL MVP voting after leading the league with 40 home runs. He added 109 RBI and a .923 OPS, none of which was odd. What made up his triple slash was a little weird based on what had happened in the years surrounding it. In 669 plate appearances, the third baseman slashed .255/.399/.524. That .399 on-base percentage led the league for the third consecutive year.
By the time Howard was 29 years old, he had accomplished plenty in the big leagues. The dude had four top-five NL MVP finishes (including one win), an NL Rookie of the Year award, and a World Series title. Oh, and his 58 homers in 2006 were not only a Phillies single-season record, but it’s one of the most powerful seasons in MLB history. There’s a reason why he’s still the fastest player to hit 100 and 200 homers in a career.
Howard hit at least 45 homers in each of the first four full seasons. Phew. In addition to leading the league in homers twice during this time, he also led the league in RBI three times. He never drove in fewer than 130 runs. When looking at his averages during this span, it’s impossible to not shake your head in disbelief.
Over the course of 2,755 plate appearances between 2006 and 2009, Howard averaged 50 homers, 28 doubles, 143 RBI, and 102 runs scored. He did that while slashing .278/.379/.589. The man spent 13 years in the big leagues, but nearly 52% of his career homers came during this four-year period. He added two more seasons of 30-plus homers in 2010 and 2011, as well.
It’s fair to wonder what could’ve been for Howard if he hadn’t torn his Achilles on the final play of the 2011 NL Division Series. Although he did post three more seasons of 20-plus homers, he was clearly never the same. His triple slash during the final five years of his career dropped down to .226/.292/.427 with an average of 19 homers and 66 RBI.
Del Ennis was a hometown kid. He went to Olney High School in Philly before spending the first 11 seasons of his 14-year MLB career with the Phillies. When looking at the three-time All-Star’s Baseball-Reference page, nothing really sticks out. He led the league in two categories throughout his entire career — RBI (126 in 1950) and grounding into double plays twice (25 in ’50 and 23 in ’54).
But it was consistency that helped him become the Phillies’ all-time home run leader for a while. Until Schmidt blew past him like he was standing still, of course.
Ennis reached double-digit home runs in each of his first 12 big-league seasons. The power breakout didn’t come until 1948, which was his age-23 season. Over his first two years in the majors, Ennis slugged 29 homers in 1,164 plate appearances. In the 641 plate appearances that followed in ’48, the outfielder hit 30 dingers. He’d proceed to slug at least 20 in a season eight more times. He’d surpass 30 again just once when he hit 31 in 1950.
During that campaign, Ennis was an equal-opportunity slugger in a couple of respects. His home run numbers were nearly identical at home (16) and away (15). The same could be said about his first-half performance (15) and his second-half performance (16).
Pat Burrell, aka Pat the Bat, was good at a few things during his MLB career. These things included getting on base at a high clip, racking up some strikeouts, and hitting lots of dingers. He was the top overall pick in the 1998 draft by the Phillies. Was he a bust? It’s tough to call anyone who hung around in the big leagues for 12 years a bust, but maybe some thought he was because of the high expectations put upon him.
When looking at his career in Philly, though, he was certainly an asset at the dish. Plus, he was part of the organization’s second World Series championship, so that counts for something.
After hitting 18 home runs in 111 games as a rookie in 2000, he enjoyed eight straight years of 20-plus homers. His career-high mark was 37 in 2002, and it was one of four times he surpassed the 30-homer plateau. However, there was only one time when he slugged 30-plus dingers in consecutive seasons. It was his final two years with the organization (2007 and 2008). Burrell combined for 63 dingers during this time while posting a .888 OPS.
Chuck Klein technically had three separate stints with the Phillies. But with 15 of his 17 seasons coming with the franchise, he comes as close to being a career Phillie as anyone without it actually happening. He’s also one of three players in team history to hit four home runs in a game. One of those three is Schmidt because of course it is. He and Klein are also joined by Ed Delahanty in this club.
The beginning of Klein’s big-league career is when he did most of his damage in the power department. He hit 11 homers in 64 games as a 23-year-old rookie in 1928. But then, he led the league in home runs four times in the following five years. He hit at least 30 dingers four times, with two of those efforts going for 40-plus. Klein also finished in the top two of MVP voting three times, and he took the hardware home in 1932. He followed that year up by winning the triple crown in 1933 after leading the league with a .368 average, 28 home runs, and 120 RBI.
It’s kind of insane to combine these five years together to see exactly how dominant he was at the plate. In addition to averaging 36 home runs, 46 doubles, nine triples, 139 RBI, and 132 runs scored, Klein also slashed .359/.414/.637.
Here’s what the remainder of the Phillies’ top-37 home run hitters in franchise history looks like:
Although they already have a World Series title to cement their legacy, it’s nice to see guys like Howard, Rollins, and Utley find their way on here. That was a fearsome trio. For those wondering who is on the outside looking in, you can see the full list on FanGraphs.
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