It is hard to imagine now, but when sports talk radio shows were at their peak, almost everyone was listening. Even Major Leaguers and their mothers-in-law.
Count Mike Schmidt and his mother-in-law as part of the robust listening audience in Philadelphia when he was a star third baseman for the Phillies.
“I listened to talk radio all the time when I played there,” the Hall of Famer said to Jon Paul Morosi in a recent episode of the podcast “The Road to Cooperstown.”
Fans were invited to call in, Schmidt recalled, and he asked his mother-in-law to call WIP, a local station, to defend him against a disgruntled caller.
“‘Call this number, call in and say, 'That’s not true,’" Schmidt remembered saying. “I didn’t want to call in, obviously, so I had my mother-in-law call.”
Although he does not remember what specifically the person on air was saying, he laughed at the thought of his mother-in-law defending him, per his request.
“It only takes one person out of that crowd of 30 people there, it only takes one to call WIP and tell them what an [expletive] Schmidt is,” he told Morosi.
“The Road to Cooperstown,” which airs weekly, focuses on the challenges and obstacles some of the game’s greatest players overcame on their way to achieving baseball’s highest honor. Schmidt’s episode is part of the second season of the podcast series, which also includes conversations with Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, Edgar Martinez, Chipper Jones, Randy Johnson, Lee Smith, Fred McGriff and Robin Yount.
Drafted by the Phillies as the 30th overall pick of the 1971 Draft, Schmidt did not know how the city located approximately 250 miles away from Cooperstown, N.Y., would outline his career.
While it is not secret to anybody that Schmidt’s relationship with Philly fans, as he described it, was “negative,” during his Hall of Fame induction speech in 1995, he embraced his challenging, often combative time in the city.
“If I had it to do all over again, I’d do it in Philly,” Schmidt said. “The only thing I would change would be me. I’d be less sensitive, I’d be more outgoing, I’d be more appreciative of what you expected of me.”
Since his interaction with the crowd was limited -- back then, there were stricter rules about players throwing baseballs into the stands between innings -- he harbored some regret that he could not have that connection with the fans.
Beyond that, other factors prevented him from developing that fan-player relationship: nights where he could not sleep because he had a bad game, when he was in his garage hitting off the tee to refine swings, or when he was getting to the park five hours before the first pitch.
“What goes into that happens a lot before the fans are even in the stands,” Schmidt said.
After playing 18 seasons, Schmidt finished with 548 home runs, 1,595 RBIs and a .267 average. For the 1980 World Series champion and 10-time Gold Glove winner, the tough fanbase helped him become the player he was destined to be.
“I spent all my time trying to be the best that I could be in front of the Philly fans,” Schmidt said. “Philly fans helped drive me. To some degree … if there was not a lot of negative reaction coming out of the stands when you failed or struck out with the bases loaded, maybe it wouldn’t have driven me so much.”
Growing up with parents who both played sports, Schmidt’s athletic career started in earnest in college. After trying out for the Ohio University basketball team and being removed from the roster due to knee surgeries, he switched to baseball.
“They said, ‘What position do you play?’... I said, ‘I don’t know,’” Schmidt told Morosi.
That is where it started -- from playing shortstop with the freshman team to joining the varsity lineup and training in the gymnasium during the winter.
Starting off with a few home runs as a freshman, Schmidt became a Bobcats legend, leading the school to its first College World Series in 1970.
“I think it was my relentless search for the perfect stroke,” he said to Morosi. “It’s a search that will never end in success. But I was tremendously hard on myself.”
Later in the podcast, Schmidt recalled how his teammates helped shape his career. When he joined the Phillies, he met Dick Allen -- a fundamental mentor in his journey.
Allen, who is being posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend, was a friend and a confidant. Schmidt also was given a first-hand view of what African American players had to deal with, from a racism perspective.
“His big mistake was becoming the best player on the team,” he told Morosi. “He had a rough go of it.”
Teammates who became friends and mentors, his many accolades in the game and a lifetime lesson of being more outgoing with the fans shaped Schmidt as a person.
“A lot of times I’m not recognized, but what I am, I’m almost opposite of the guy that I was when I played,” Schmidt said.
Listen to all of the episodes of The Road to Cooperstown, a podcast by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and SiriusXM.