(The Associated Press)
My father had turned off the television by the time I arrived home.
I'd been playing ball with some friends early that Saturday afternoon, and as I took a shortcut through the woods, I was looking forward to watching the Phillies game. It was very early in the 1976 season, and given Philadelphia's improvement the past few years, we fans had high expectations. But the Phils had dropped three of their first four games.
Game No. 5 was at Wrigley Field, and when I asked about the blank TV screen, Dad explained that the Phillies were hopelessly behind. I turned the set back on, and he was absolutely right: Cubs 13, Phillies 2, top of the fifth.
I was about to turn it back off when my favorite player, Mike Schmidt, came to the plate. So I figured I'd watch him, then go do something else. He launched one into a stiff breeze for his second home run of the year, cutting the Chicago lead to nine, and I figured I might as well sit down. I didn't have anything better to do in those days before computers and video games.
Schmidt came up again in the seventh and belted another one out of the park to make it 13-7. That still was a big margin, but I still didn't have anything better to do.
The score was 13-9, though, when Schmidt came up again in the eighth, with two men on base. Boom! He did it again, and I ran upstairs to tell Dad about the historic event: three home runs in one game!
That looked to be it for Schmidt's day when the Phillies scored three more times in the ninth to take a 15-13 lead, having outscored the Cubs 12-0 since I started watching. The usually reliable Tug McGraw took the mound in the bottom of the inning, but Steve Swisher's single with two outs tied it again.
Schmidt was due to bat second in the 10th inning, and after Dick Allen walked, the Cubs brought in Paul Reuschel (his brother Rick had started the game).
I don't remember if Harry Kalas or Richie Ashburn made the call on the broadcast. But I remember jumping up and down as the ball sailed over the left-field wall, marking just the ninth time in major league history that a player had hit four home runs in one game.
Mike Schmidt had started making a name for himself by leading the National League in home runs in 1974 and '75. But his performance on April 17, 1976, marked the real start of his road to Cooperstown as the generally acknowledged greatest third baseman of all time.
I cut the game story and box score out of the newspaper the next day and had it hanging on my bedroom wall for a long time. Schmidt's numbers that afternoon: 6 at bats, 4 runs, 5 hits, 8 RBI, 17 total bases (one short of Joe Adcock's record).
Trivia question 20: The Phillies' starting pitcher on April 17, 1976, gave up seven runs (all earned) before being relieved in the second inning. Who was he?
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