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Ryan Howard

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This article is about the baseball player. For the fictional character on the American television show The Office, see Ryan Howard (The Office).
Ryan Howard
Philadelphia Phillies – No. 6
First base
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
debut
September 1, 2004, for the Philadelphia Phillies
Career statistics
(through June 19, 2007)
AVG.294
HR100
RBI265
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a baseball player who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies, and is the reigning National League MVP. He graduated from Lafayette High School in 1998 and attended Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). He bats and throws left handed; he has a twin brother, an older brother, and a sister, and claims to be the smallest of the Howard sons. As of the 2007 season, Ryan Howard's profile is as follows: Howard is listed as six feet, four inches tall and 255 pounds. He is 27 years old and in his third year in the Big leagues.

Howard is best known for his hitting, but has been criticized for his defense. As with many Philadelphia players who have played near the end of Veterans Stadium before its destruction and almost all "Phan Phavorites" at Citizens Bank Park, Howard has a fan club known as "Howard's Homers", with the group sporting Homer Simpson masks. His 58 home runs in 2006 led Major League Baseball.

Career

Minor League Years

Selected in the 5th round of the 2001 draft, Howard quickly ascended the Phillies' minor league system, earning consecutive MVP awards in the Florida State and Eastern leagues (2003-2004). While doing this, he impressed scouts enough that general managers of several teams tried to lure the Phillies' Ed Wade into trading him, as Jim Thome was blocking his path to the majors. Rumors circulated that Howard would be traded to the Pirates for starting pitcher Kris Benson. Wade refrained from doing so and Thome was later traded by new GM Pat Gillick.

2004: A "Cup of Coffee"

Ryan Howard had 42 plate appearances in 19 games with the Phillies in 2004. He posted a .282 batting average with two home runs and five RBI; he also hit five doubles, drew two walks, and was hit by a pitch. Between playing for Double-A Reading, Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and the Phillies, Howard hit 48 home runs, which was tied for the highest total in organized baseball in 2004 along with Adrián Beltré of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On September 1, Howard made his first Major League plate appearance, striking out against Jaret Wright in a pinch-hit at-bat (for Vicente Padilla) in a 7-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. On the 6th, Howard logged his first Major League hit in a single at-bat in a 3-1 loss to the Braves; on the 8th, he recorded his first multi-hit game with a double and a single in a 4-1 win over the Braves. On the 11th, Howard hit his first Major League home run off Bartolome Fortunato, driving in his first RBI and scoring his first run in an 11-9 win over the New York Mets.

2005: Rookie of the Year

On May 15, Howard recorded his first three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with a double, two singles, and a run-scored in a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. On August 23, he recorded his first four-hit game, going 4-for-5 with a double, a home run, two singles, three RBI and three runs-scored in a 10-2 win over the San Francisco Giants. In early July, Howard became the Phillies' everyday first baseman when slugger Jim Thome was sidelined for the season with an elbow injury.

Howard, who led all major league rookies with 22 home runs, also posted a .288 average and 63 RBI in just 312 at-bats and 88 games. He hit eleven home runs and 27 RBI in September and October as the Phillies battled the Houston Astros for the National League wild card until getting eliminated on the last day of the season. Howard was rewarded for his effort by being named NL Rookie of the Year, the fourth Phillie to win the award.

After the 2005 season, the Phillies faced a dilemma involving Thome and Howard. Both were very talented and proven power-hitters; Thome was the biggest free agent player the Phillies signed prior to the 2003 season, but Howard was the reigning Rookie of the Year. Before the 2006 season, Thome was traded, along with $22 million cash, to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Aaron Rowand and minor league pitching prospects in order to make room for Howard. Howard finished his rookie season with 17 doubles, two triples, 52 runs-scored, and 100 strikeouts.

An example of Ryan Howard's unique stance he takes before taking a pitch.

2006: Most Valuable Player

On April 23, Howard became the first player to hit a home run into Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank Park. The blast traveled 496 feet (though many claim that the ball fell at least 10 feet short of a 500-foot marker in Ashburn Alley) and was hit off Sergio Mitre of the Florida Marlins. It was the first of two Howard would hit in the game, the first multi-home run game of his career. [1]

He also became the first player to hit a home run into the third deck of the park in right field when he connected off Mike Mussina on June 20, a 481-foot long-ball that was again his first of two home runs. To honor the home run, the Phillies painted a white H on the seat where the ball was caught. Howard collected seven RBI on the two home runs and a triple in the 9-7 loss, becoming the first Phillies batter to drive in seven runs since pitcher Robert Person on June 2, 2002.

Howard was named to his first All-Star game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh as a reserve first baseman, by the player ballot. He participated in the Century 21 Home Run Derby prior to the game, and won the contest with a total of 23 home runs, defeating the New York Mets' third baseman David Wright in the final round. Howard was the second consecutive Phillie to win the Derby, with Bobby Abreu hitting a record 41 home runs in 2005.

From August 25 to August 29, Howard hit home runs in four consecutive games; on the 29th, Howard hit his 48th home run of the season to tie Mike Schmidt for the Phillies single-season record; two days later, on August 31, Howard hit a home run into the upper deck of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium to surpass Schmidt as the Philadelphia Phillies single-season home run record holder.

On September 3, Howard went 4-for-4 with three home runs and a single in an 8-7 win over the Atlanta Braves, to become the first Philadelphia Phillies batter and the 24th player in Major League history to hit 50 home runs in a season. Reaching 52 home runs in the game, Howard also broke Ralph Kiner's 1947 record for home runs in a sophomore season, becoming just the second batter to hit 50 home runs in a second season.

On September 5, Howard was named the NL Player of the Month for August. His 41 RBIs were the most any player had in one month since Frank Howard(no relation) had 41 in July 1962. With 14 home runs, he also set new franchise records for both statistics in the month of August.

On September 22, Howard became the 8th player in history to hit 58 home runs in a season, belting a three-run round-tripper off Florida Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco. The same day, Howard was awarded the third annual Mike Schmidt Most Valuable Player honor by the Philadelphia Baseball Writers Association of America [2]

On October 2, Howard was named the NL Player of the Month for September. Howard, who also won the award in August, became the first player since Albert Pujols in May and June 2003, to win the award back-to-back.

In 2006, he struck out 31.2% of the time, the second highest percentage in major league baseball. [3]

Season awards

On October 10, Howard was named The Sporting News 2006 Player of the Year. On October 25, Howard was awarded the 2006 National League Hank Aaron Award.

On November 8, Howard was named by his fellow Major Leaguers as the Player of the Year and the National League Outstanding Position Player in the 2006 Players Choice Awards balloting. He succeeded Atlanta Braves outfielder Andruw Jones, the 2005 winner of both awards. On the same day, following a 5-3 win over Nippon Professional Baseball that capped a five-game international sweep by the MLB in the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series, Howard was named the Series MVP; he hit .558 with eight runs, three doubles, four homers and eight RBI.

On November 10, Howard was awarded the National League Silver Slugger Award at first-base.

On November 20, he won the National League MVP award, and became only the second player in baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in successive seasons, joining Cal Ripken Jr. (Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki are the only players to win both awards during the same season).

2007

On March 2, 2007, the Phillies renewed Howard's contract in a one-year deal for $900,000, the greatest salary ever offered to a player not eligible for salary arbitration. [4]

On Wednesday May 9 Howard hit his 4th career Grand Slam against Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Medders when he came into the game as a pinch hitter for Wes Helms.

On Sunday May 13, Howard was placed on the disabled list with a left quadricep strain after missing five straight games. Howard fielded grounders for about 45 minutes before the Phillies game with the Blue Jays on Sunday May 20. Howard returned to the lineup on Friday May 25,after a rehabilitation assignment with the class A Lakewood team as a designated hitter. On Sunday the 27th he hit two home runs in a win that helped the Phillies sweep the Braves.

Trivia

Swinging
  • Ryan's nicknames are "Powered Howard" and "Rhino" (a nickname he shares with former Chicago Cubs second-baseman Ryne Sandberg) by Philadelphia fans. He was also dubbed "Hawitzer" by several local newspapers and at least one sports talk radio station in the area.
  • Howard Recently appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman on April 11, 2007
  • Howard also has his own following group in Citizens Bank Park called "Howard's Homers".
  • Howard became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc in the Fall of 2000 and his line name is BLUE HURT.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Howard makes a memory". phillies.com. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  2. ^ "Howard receives honor Lefty slugger earns Mike Schmidt Player of the Year Award". phillies.com. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  3. ^ "Fangraphs-2006 Strikeout%". fangraphs.com. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  4. ^ Zolecki, Todd (March 3, 2007). "The $900,000 Man". Philadelphia Inquirer. philly.com. Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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