50 for Schwarber! Slugger is 2nd to reach HR milestone for Phillies

PHILADELPHIA -- Ryan Howard finally has some company in the Phillies' 50-homer club.

Kyle Schwarber became just the second player in franchise history -- and only the 34th in MLB history -- to reach the milestone when he teed off for No. 50 in the seventh inning of Tuesday night's 9-3 victory over the Mets at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies toasted Schwarber’s milestone moment in the clubhouse following the game, led by a brief speech from manager Rob Thomson.

“Fifty homers in a season,” Thomson said. “You're the 34th person to hit 50 in the history of the [expletive] game."

"That's pretty sweet," Schwarber interjected quietly.

• A complete list of every 50-homer season

“Congratulations,” Thomson continued. “You've had a hell of a year."

That’s an understatement.

Schwarber leads the National League in homers (50) and RBIs (123) -- each of which is a career high. The 32-year-old designated hitter has also quietly matched a career high with 10 stolen bases.

Schwarber is only the 10th player in MLB history with 50 homers, 120 RBIs and double-digit steals in a single season. The others: Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

“It's cool, right? Get to a nice round even number,” Schwarber said of No. 50. “It's cool to hear the stats of how many people have done things before in the game. It's something that you don't take lightly.”

It had been a long time coming for Schwarber ... well, by his standards anyway. The Phillies slugger had not homered since his record-tying four-homer game on Aug. 28 -- a season-high 10-game drought.

Schwarber ended that streak in style, smashing a three-run shot off Mets righty Justin Hagenman that gave the Phillies a 7-1 lead. The ball smashed off the pitch clock in straightaway center field after leaving Schwarber's bat at 110.4 mph and traveling a Statcast-projected 437 feet.

“Just super excited for him and happy for him,” said Ranger Suárez, who had a career-high 12 strikeouts over six scoreless innings. “He's a tremendous player, but even more so, he's a tremendous teammate.”

Added rookie third baseman Otto Kemp: “It's unbelievable. It really just looks like a video game for the guy.”

The Phillies have had some close calls outside of Howard's single-season record 58 homers in 2006, but no other player had reached the half-century mark. Mike Schmidt hit 48 in 1980. Howard himself hit 48 two years after his record-setting season. Jim Thome hit 47 in 2003 -- a number Howard matched in '07.

Meanwhile, Schwarber hit 46 in 2022 and 47 in '23 -- the only other 40-homer seasons in his 11-year career.

Could he ever have imagined hitting 50?

“That's a great question,” Schwarber said. “I don't think so.”

He may be the only one surprised by the feat at this point.

Howard himself had talked openly this year about wanting -- and fully expecting -- Schwarber to get to 50. Likewise, Schwarber has long idolized Howard, going all the way back to a series between the Phillies and Cubs at Wrigley Field from July 24-26, 2015.

At the time, Schwarber was just breaking into the big leagues as a rookie catcher for the Cubs. Howard, playing in the penultimate season of his 13-year career, hit two home runs in that three-game series -- but also had a couple of other close calls.

"I felt like he should have had six homers,” Schwarber joked on Tuesday night.

Fast forward a decade and Schwarber finds himself in Howard’s company.

“Just to join him, it's an honor, it's a privilege,” Schwarber said of Howard. “That guy has done so many great things for Philadelphia. You can only hope to follow the way he went about his business and the way that he played the game and the way he brought excitement to the fans here.”

Schwarber has done plenty of that over his first four seasons as a Phillie -- especially this year.

There was the aforementioned four-homer game. There was his historic performance in the All-Star Game swing-off and his homer in his first at-bat of the second half, just moments after he had been honored for winning the All-Star Game MVP Award. And then, the very next night, getting a curtain call after hitting a go-ahead grand slam against the Angels.

Schwarber received another curtain call after hitting No. 50. But the number he cares most about right now isn’t 50. It’s nine. That’s the Phillies’ lead over the Mets atop the NL East with 17 games to play.

“I've always said the personal accolades will probably mean more when it's all said and done,” Schwarber said. “I feel like we've got so much more baseball here and we've got a group of guys that feel like we can make a deep run -- and that's what we want to do.

“So it's a cool moment, and obviously, you want to enjoy it. But there's still a lot more baseball to be played.”

Thomson may have put it best in that clubhouse speech:

“You've had an unbelievable year,” he said. “We're not done yet.”