{"id":29674,"date":"2015-06-19T18:38:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T22:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seamheads.com\/?p=29674"},"modified":"2015-06-19T18:38:31","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T22:38:31","slug":"an-interview-with-the-incomparable-mike-schmidt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/19\/an-interview-with-the-incomparable-mike-schmidt\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with the Incomparable Mike Schmidt!!!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey baseball fans!<\/p>\n<p>Now, as most of you know, my favorite baseball player of all time is Hall of Famer\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schmimi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mike Schmidt<\/a><\/strong>, which is why I am absolutely elated to tell you that I just interviewed him! Shoutout to my principal at Golda Och Academy, Mr. Adam Shapiro, for making this possible. Anyway, I can&#8217;t produce words that explain how honored I am to have interviewed such a great hitter! But as always, before I get to the interview, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.njbaseballmag.com\/index.php\/2013\/03\/baseball-with-matt-mike-schmidt\/\">click here<\/a> to read a quick bio on Mr. Schmidt.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a style=\"margin-left: 1em;margin-right: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/492b9-hr.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/492b9-hr.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Now that you know a little bit about one of the greatest players ever (and a member of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballwithmatt.blogspot.com\/2012\/05\/matts-dream-team-52612.html\">my all time Dream Team<\/a>), here&#8217;s the interview!<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>How&#8217;d you get into baseball?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Baseball was always my best sport. I started hitting a tennis ball with a broomstick at age 3. I played all sports, went to college and walked on in basketball, and became a freshman starter only to be told the school wouldn&#8217;t insure my knees. Both knees had surgery in high school from football injuries. Then I walked on in baseball and made the team, eventually got a starting job as a sophomore, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Describe the experience you had while playing in Veterans Stadium.<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Veterans Stadium was the coolest thing going in 1970 when it was first built as a multipurpose AstroTurf stadium for all sports. It was my home for 18 years.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a style=\"margin-left: 1em;margin-right: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/3b19e-vet.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/3b19e-vet.jpg?w=279\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"206\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Going into the 1980 World Series, were you confident that you and the Phillies could beat the Royals?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>In 1980, we believed we could beat anybody, especially after going into Montreal and winning two of three, and Houston three of five to get into the Series.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a style=\"margin-left: 1em;margin-right: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/3214d-phil1980.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/3214d-phil1980.jpg?w=284\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>How&#8217;d you get so good at playing third base?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>I played shortstop my entire young life and 2nd base in triple A. I had a middle infield mentality and quickness, so playing 3rd base was easy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a style=\"margin-left: 1em;margin-right: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/f8e16-3b.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/f8e16-3b.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Who was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/ryanno01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Nolan Ryan<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>The 1983 Phillies are comically known as the Wheeze Kids because of the stars&#8217; ages. Did you and your teammates take offense to that?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>No, that was one of my favorite years. In fact I thought we&#8217;d win it all that year, but the Orioles had a different idea.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a style=\"margin-left: 1em;margin-right: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/6bd60-1983phils.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/baseballwmatt.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/06\/6bd60-1983phils.jpg?w=275\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"212\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>What&#8217;s your most memorable home run and why?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>My most memorable HR came in Montreal in 1980, number 48 that year. It won the game that got us into the NLCS.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Matt:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>What do you like to do in your spare time?<br \/>\n<b><i>Mike:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Play with my two granddaughters and be on my boat.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you so much to Mike Schmidt for taking the time to answer my questions. I&#8217;m so grateful to have interviewed my favorite player ever! Anyway, thanks for reading this interview and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back soon for more of &#8220;all the buzz on what wuzz.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>By the way, if you want to read about other Hall of Famers or just learn more about baseball history, please check out my book, <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Amazing-Aaron-Zero-Zippers-Nadel\/dp\/193854546X\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1432570432&amp;sr=1-1\">Amazing Aaron to Zero Zippers &#8211; An Introduction to Baseball History<\/a><\/i>. \u00a0All of my proceeds go to the following four charitable foundations: the Hall of Fame, ALS, Turn 2 and the Jackie Robinson Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey baseball fans! Now, as most of you know, my favorite baseball player of all time is Hall of Famer\u00a0Mike Schmidt, which is why I am absolutely elated to tell you that I just interviewed him! Shoutout to my principal at Golda Och Academy, Mr. Adam Shapiro, for making this possible. Anyway, I can&#8217;t produce [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}