THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
Mike Schmidt made up his mind to retire during a game against the Giants at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on May 28, 1989. But he still had to decide how to break the news. It came out in bits and bits over the next 24 hours.
Schmidt: "It was going to be my last series, my last game, my last at-bat. I was thinking, 'I need a mentor here. Who do I tell first? My wife? The owner? The general manager? A friend?'
"It turned out to be [first-base coach] Tony Taylor. I walked [in the ninth inning] and when I got to first I looked at him and said. 'You've just seen my last at-bat.' He looked at me like, 'Are you crazy?' "
Taylor, who retired from baseball after the 2004 season and now lives in Miami: "It happened exactly like that. I was very surprised. I said, 'No, no, don't do it.' I was more than surprised. I was shocked. I never expected him to do that. I knew he was still a great player."
After the game, as the rest of the team was getting ready to fly to San Diego for the next series, Schmidt called his wife, Donna, and his agent. Manager Nick Leyva found out at the airport, before the charter flight took off.
Schmidt: "I asked Nick Leyva if I could speak to him. We walked back down the stairs of the plane and onto the tarmac. I told him I wanted to retire. He was a little shocked. He said all the things you would expect. 'Are you sure? It's a big step.' That sort of thing."
Leyva, now third-base coach for the Toronto Blue Jays: "I had no idea. We had kind of speculated about it. He didn't look like he was enjoying himself. He was a proud man and he wasn't playing up to his capabilities.
"I was sitting on the plane. He came up and said, 'I need to talk to you.' He said, 'I've made up my mind . . . ' I said, 'Are you sure?' I mean, when you're the manager of a player the caliber of Mike Schmidt, you want to talk him out of it."
After the plane leveled off at its cruising altitude, Schmidt asked to address his teammates. He took the microphone and told the rest of the traveling party, which included outfielder/first baseman Von Hayes, that he planned to retire.
Hayes, now in his second year as manager of the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League: "It came as quite a surprise. He didn't go around announcing it to everybody that he was going to do it. We knew he was struggling. We knew there was a possibility he might retire at the end of the year. But nobody expected it in the middle of the season.
"Mike always had to do things a little dramatically. I'll never forget the time he struck out four straight times and then hit a two-run homer off Jeff Reardon, one of the best relievers in baseball. I said, 'That's a Hall of Famer right there.'
"He had always been such a steady influence on me, and having him hit behind me in the order always made it easier for me. It was a sad day for him. Very emotional."
After the plane landed and the team arrived at its Mission Valley hotel, the players held an impromptu party. Meanwhile, club president Bill Giles and general manager Lee Thomas, who were back in Philadelphia, had to be informed.
Schmidt: "When we got to San Diego, Darren [Daulton] and Bedrock [Steve Bedrosian] put together a team party. It wasn't funereal. It was celebratory, but at the same time we were all shedding some tears because it was over. We had a lot of fun reminiscing and telling stories. Lots of laughing and crying."
Thomas, now living in St. Louis: "Nick called and said, 'He wants to retire.' I was shocked at the way he did it. And I was surprised because, just a year earlier, he was talking about wanting a contract extension. So I was really taken by surprise."
By then, it was already late Sunday night on the East Coast. The news conference to let the public know that Schmidt had played his game would be held the next day. *
